As noted in my blog yesterday, I'll be out of town Friday through Monday, at Philcon and the SFWA Reception So I'll probably take my first blogging vacation until Tuesday, unless I find time to put something together in Philadelphia or New York. I've blogged every night starting Aug. 16; can the world survive four Larry blogless nights? (Well, we've survived nearly eight years of you know who, so I'm guessing we'll keep a stiff upper lip.) I'm off to Philcon tomorrow afternoon - I'm already packed and ready for my two panels!
 
A month ago, only 40% of Americans had a favorable view of the Republican Party. Well, that didn't last! Now they are down to just 34% favorable rating, with 61% having an unfavorable view of the Republican Party. In a situation like this, there's only one thing for them to do. I wonder which Democrat they'll attack tomorrow?

When President Bush was elected for his second term, the cover on the U.K.'s Daily Mirror read, "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb?" The day after Obama's victory, the paper's cover read, "GOBAMA!" Here's a good article on CNN on how America's image has declined throughout the world since Bush took office. According to John Quelch, senior associate dean at Harvard Business School, Obama's victory "enables the United States to start again with a clean slate. Americans can actually go to dinner parties and cocktail receptions around the world today and not have to apologize for the United States the way they have had to do the last several years. The election has made life a little bit easier for Americans living and traveling abroad to hold their head up high again."

Reasons mentioned in the article on why the U.S. reputation has been tarnished so much include the invasion of Iraq and alleged torture and abuse of prisoners, the perception of hypocrisy, unilateralism, lack of contact with Americans and the perceived war on Islam.

Huckabee says he's not settling scores as he settles scores. But the truth is that everything he says about Mitt Romney is true. Now we'll all have to wait for the Romney book, where he'll falsely defend himself while saying true things about Huckabee. (IMHO, Huckabee is an honorable ignoramus, while Romney is dishonest slime with a brain.)

This is downright scary; the headline alone should cause panic to all Americans with any intelligence. (I don't see anyone screaming in the streets, which means....) From the Washington Post: China Tops Japan in U.S. Debt Holdings; Beijing Gains Sway Over U.S. Economy. Read this, and tell me you're not worried about America's future.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: What are the two missing words? (And yes, this involves a president.) "In this [two words] the man whose heart is always clean and serves his people truthfully.
Answer: "In this [tub bathes] the man whose heart is always clean and serves his people truthfully." This was inscribed on one of President Truman's two bathtubs.

Today's Quiz Question (probably not answered until next Tuesday night, when I return): What president spent about one hundred days per year during his presidency at this non-White House, non-Camp David location?

*****
61 Days Until the Inauguration
1447 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

The Republicans just can't help themselves, it's a habit. What, you ask? Attacking whatever the Democrats do. In this case, Obama is hiring a number of people from the Clinton Administration to work for him. You know, people from back when the U.S. wasn't fighting two wars, the economy was sound, and the president, after eight years of attacks by Republicans, left office with a 61% approval rating. The Republicans say that hiring people from the Clinton years isn't change. Yes, it is change - change away from the Bush years, which is what people voted for. And Mike Duncan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee (how'd he do?), called them "retreads." I suggest he and others look in the mirror to see who the retreads are. What will these Republicans be the next time a Republican wins the presidency? Either retreads, or - better still - it'll be so distant in the future that they'll just be bad memories.

Meanwhile, the CEO's of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - the "Big Three Automakers" - flew into Washington on their three separate personal jets ($20,000 cost each way), hat in hand, asking for money. What's wrong with this picture?

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said it perfectly:

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses. It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious. Couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

The Daily Show, with cooperation from CNN, did a great spoof of CNN's Magic Wall. Yep, it's great to be the King!

But this is even funnier, and shows why writers should NEVER put cell phones in the hands of their characters.

I'll be at the Philcon SF Convention this weekend. I'm on two panels:

FUNNY FANTASY- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMOR AND PARODY
Sat 3:00 PM in Plaza V (1 hour)
How do you create humor that is an original creation rather than a reflection of something else?
Gregory Frost (M), Larry Hodges, Bud Sparhawk, Richelle Mead, John Grant
TOPICALITY IN SCIENCE FICTION
Sat 5:00 PM in Plaza V (1 hour)
 How effective is science fiction as a tool for writing about current events?
Judith Moffett (M), Larry Hodges, James L. Cambias, Ian Randal Strock, Ellen Asher 

After Philcon, I'm off to New York City for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's annual New York Reception on Monday evening, November 24 2008, from 7:00 to 10:30 PM at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10021.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: Who smoked marijuana on the roof of the White House?
Answer: Willy Nelson, who spent the night at the White House as a guest of President Jimmy Carter.

Today's Quiz Question: What are the two missing words? (And yes, this involves a president.) "In this [two words] the man whose heart is always clean and serves his people truthfully.

*****
62 Days Until the Inauguration
1448 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

It looks like the Alaska senatorial race is pretty much over, with Democrat Mark Begich defeating incumbent Republican and convicted felon (seven counts) Ted Stevens in an extremely close race. Just what would Stevens have to do for him to lose badly? Murder, rape? Probably not enough. There's a lot of lipstick on this . . . never mind.

They finally indicted Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales. Will it lead to anything?

Dear Federal Government,
I run a small psychiatric institute. Even though I have a regular customer named Charlie, I only charge five cents, and so am having financial difficulties. I do not want to raise my price as rising process can lead to inflation, unemployment and a recession. However, the American Psychiatric Industry is at risk, and if it goes bankrupt, it could lead to millions of support industries folding, with psychiatrists and sofa makers starving in the streets. Could you please send me fifty billion dollars to solve this problem? Thank you, Lucy van Pelt.

Yes! Star Trek is coming! Here are two trailers for the new Star Trek, coming out next May, which has new actors playing all the roles from the original Star Trek: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, etc. (The first trailer still mistakenly has the original release date, Dec. 25, 2008.) The new Mr. Spock really looks like Spock. (Wouldn't it be great to start each new Star Trek movie with the aging Shatner & Nimoy reminiscing about the good old days, and then segway to the past with the new actors?)

It's Harry Potter #0! More specifically, here's the 800-word prequel to Harry Potter penned by J.K. Rowling. You can also see it in her original hand-written version, part 1 and part 2.

On the Writing Front: after taking several days off, I'm back at work on my novel. Did about 1700 words tonight (putting me at 54,713), and may try to do another 300 to hit 55,000.

Today's Quiz Question: Who smoked marijuana on the roof of the White House, and admitted to it later?

*****
63 Days Until the Inauguration
1449 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

Joe Lieberman probably will be allowed to keep his chairmanship. Here's John Scalzi's take on this. Be forewarned - it's rather graphic and profane! Read through as many of the 127 comments on this as possible - lots of interesting stuff.

Obama met with McCain today, but nothing public came of that. Many other meetings among Obama transition team members and others happened, but nothing was made public. Basically, nothing happened today that's public. Only Obama insiders and intelligent flies on walls have any idea of what happened today. Obama answered questions on 60 Minutes, and shows that he's mastered the art of talking without saying anything when he needs to. Someday, today may go down as the most boring day in history. (I did play tennis tonight, hit some nice shots, but the historians may not have recorded the specifics for posterity.)

A man in a crowd watched Barack Obama give a speech. The man became so excited that he ran forward, pushed a secret service agent aside, and ran toward Obama. The agent shot and killed the man. Moral? Never get between Barack and a guard's place.

(You may groan now.)

I watched three great documentaries on the History Channel, back to back, on Edison, Tesla, and Einstein. (The first two were an hour each, Einstein's was two hours.) This partially made up for their wasting time on ESP on their special on the brain yesterday.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: What famous term was made official by Teddy Roosevelt?

Answer: The White House. It was generally called the Executive Mansion until 1901, when Roosevelt officially named it the White House.

Today's Quiz Question: What writer, during the waning days of President George W. Bush's administration, writes daily presidential trivia quiz questions, and wonders how many people are still interested in them? Please respond if you want to see more - I'm trying to get a feel for whether I should keep putting these up.

*****
64 Days Until the Inauguration
1450 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

We're calling this an agreement with Pakistan? U.S. officials described the deal as one in which "...the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan's government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes." This should help Bush's legacy! Why don't we make a deal with President Bush: He refuses to publicly acknowledge his poor leadership while the American people continue to complain noisily about him.

The Iraqi Cabinet voted yesterday to set a deadline of June 30, 2009 for U.S. troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns, and to leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. (The measure has to pass the Council of Representatives to make it official, but that's basically a done deal.) Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said these dates are "set and fixed" and are "not subject to the circumstances on the ground." This goes against President Bush's (and McCain's) vows not to set a timetable. Now he has to decide if, as he's said many times, if Iraq is a sovereign country or just a puppet of the U.S. It's long been a fact that the Iraqi people want the U.S. troops to leave, and the Iraqi leaders have said numerous times they welcome the U.S. to leave . . . so why don't we leave? It should be Iraq's call, not ours. Or is it an occupation? (Bingo!!!)

I watched what was almost a great two-hour program today on the History Channel on the brain. I saw "almost" because near the end they decided to waste 20 minutes talking about ESP. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! Put that on the SF Channel!!! I also get irritated at the History Channel's tendency to constantly run items on the history of UFO hunting, etc. I actually find the history aspect interesting, but they run these programs as if it were real science being done.

I hit a bit of writer's block recently. My novel reached 53,000 words on Thursday. I then went to see a midnight showing of the James Bond movie. Since then, I've been feeling tired all the time, and haven't gotten much done on it. Hopefully I'll work on it some tonight.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: Where do they grow crabapple trees at the White House?

Answer: The Rose Garden.

Today's Quiz Question: What famous term was made official by Teddy Roosevelt?

*****
65 Days Until the Inauguration
1451 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

If Hillary is named Secretary of State, would it help her as a springboard to the presidency in 2016? (Note - she'll turn 69 one week before that election.) It's been over 150 years since the last time a Secretary of State became president - James Buchanan in 1857 (and we all know how that presidency turned out - think Civil War!).  It used to be normal - besides Buchanan, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Martin Van Buren all served as Secretary of State, and Madison, Monroe and Adams went straight from that office to the presidency. However, Hillary is a different case. Most Secretary of States over the last 150 years were more or less foreign policy experts, not political generalists, and so were not really thought of as presidential contenders. Also, contrary to the early years of our country, the Vice Presidency has increased in stature, and so they are the ones who often become president. (Credit fivethirtyeight.com for bringing up this subject.)

Fox News and William Ayers: I watched Fox News for a few minutes today. They all were talking about Ayers as if it's a given that he's a major mentor and associate of Obama! It's no wonder that so many Americans are misinformed on these issues. If I watched Fox News regularly, and didn't know better, I wouldn't even suspect that Ayers hasn't been a major part of Obama's life. The reality is they had two connections: like hundreds of others, Ayers ran a fundraiser for Obama when he ran for office, and they served on various boards together, mostly involving education in Chicago - where OTHERS chose the members of these board. It's a tenuous connection, but you wouldn't suspect that if you watched Fox News.

Proposition Eight: I wonder how many years it'll take before the people in California (and elsewhere) realize that those who support Proposition Eight (against marriage for gays) are in the same situation as those who opposed the various civil rights movements of the past? Once again, people are singling out a specific group to force their views on them to stop them from something they don't like. In this case, they can't even argue that it affects them, because it doesn't affect them in the least. The thought of eating shellfish makes me sick, but I'm not about to try to outlaw the eating of shellfish. (Shellfish eaters of the world, someday you'll understand the errors of your ways - putting that dirty, slimy stuff in your mouth! Yuck!!!)

Robert Ebert said it best: James Bond is not an action hero! I saw the new James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace," a couple of days ago. What a disappointment . . . they have turned him into just another action hero. I go to James Bond movies for the character of Bond. Action is one ingredient of a Bond movie, but the character of Bond is what makes them compelling. They forgot about that part. Where's the attitude, the flamboyance, the silly puns, etc.? The opening scene set the course of the movie - a blindingly fast car chase scene, with mindless action but nothing original, nothing new. Unfortunately, the movie may set box office records for Bond movies, and we'll never see a real James Bond movie again.

I suddenly realized (after some online searching) that the only Bond movie I definitely haven't seen is "From Russia With Love." (I’m not sure about a couple others.) I rented that, and will watch that tonight.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: Which president, when he moved into the White House, had the most family members move in with him?

Answer: Benjamin Harrison in 1889, with eleven including himself.

Today's Quiz Question: Where do they grow crabapple trees at the White House?

*****
66 Days Until the Inauguration
1452 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

America has gone dog-happy over the imminent arrival of a new puppy at the White House. Here is my nominee for the name of the Obamas' new dog: Jefferson.  Why?

• Who was the black family on TV that was all about a black family making it? The Jeffersons. And how did they make it? Through the dry cleaning business - and our government needs a thorough cleaning. (We'll ignore that Mr. Jefferson's first name was . . . George.)
• Who is considered the most intellectual of our presidents, and would symbolize the end of eight years of non-intellectual thinking? Thomas Jefferson. He was president 1801-1809, so Obama will take office on the 200th anniversary of when Jefferson's ended. There's also the Thomas Jefferson Dog Park in New York City! (We'll ignore that, while Jefferson raised Briard shepherd dogs - thick-coated dogs that would not be good for Malia's allergies - he once wrote to a friend, "I participate in all your hostility to dogs, and would readily join in any plan of exterminating the whole race.")
• What is Bill Clinton's middle name? Jefferson, so it symbolizes a return to a popular Democratic presidency where the economy was strong and the U.S. was mostly at peace.
• It honors the 16 cities in the U.S. called Jefferson.
• We'll ignore that Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederacy.

What are your suggestions for the dog's name (and breed)?

Here are two articles that just came out about the Republican Party no longer being a party of ideas, and how they've been taken over by slogans instead of thinking. One is by Fareed Zakaria on CNN.com (GOP bereft of ideas or trapped by wrong ones), the other in The Economist (Ship of Fools: Political Parties Die From the Head Down). When 86% of a party has a positive opinion of a non-thinker like Sarah Palin, you know there's something wrong.

Bush in pictures - gone soon, but never to be forgotten. Let's face it, these eight years are seared into our brains, where torture was alive and well in American - we were the torturees!

Yesterday's Quiz Question: A president wanted to build a porch at the White House, but ran into an unexpected problem. Which president was he, and what was the problem?

Answer: Harry Truman wanted to build the porch, but couldn't because of the high cost of redoing the plates used for the back of the $20 bill, which would have to be redone if they added the porch.

Today's Quiz Question: Which president, when he moved into the White House, had the most family members move in with him?

*****
67 Days Until the Inauguration
1453 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

Lots of rumors about who should be Secretary of State. Before today, most rumors had John Kerry the strong favorite, with other options being Bill Richardson, Susan Rice, Dick Lugar, and Sam Nunn. Today all sorts of rumors are coming out that Hillary Clinton might be named. Anyone have thoughts/preferences on who you'd prefer?

Here's a link to CNN's analysis of who's in consideration for the cabinet positions.

It would be interesting if Obama put together a cabinet that included John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and others of that level. It could be like Abraham Lincoln's "Team of Rivals."

Here's a take on the election by Scientific American, "Beyond Red and Blue: 7 Ways to View the Presidential Election Map," with some fascinating graphics.

Asked why she chose to hold her first formal news conference now, Palin replied, "The campaign is over." Okay, I'm confused. Wouldn't it be during the campaign that she should be holding news conferences??? You know, to get info out about her to the voters? Wouldn't that be more important before the election???

On the Writing Front: I reached 53,000 words this afternoon on my novel, "Campaign 2100." (I keep erratic writing hours - sometimes I work late at night, such as midnight to 4AM, but other times I write in the morning or afternoon.)  I've done about 39,000 words since Oct. 1, and 12,000 since Nov. 1.

A strange thing just happened in the novel. As of two days ago, the mayor of Mexico City (remember, this is the year 2100) was a minor character who ran a fundraiser for our candidate. He doesn't show up until after the 50,000 word mark. Now, 3000 words and two days later, he's going to be a major character the rest of the novel, and very well might be a major antagonist in the sequel. (The novel is planned as book one of a trilogy.) His character just took over the pages, and now I plan on doing some minor rewriting of some earlier sections to make him responsible for a number of things that have happened. He's corrupt, ambitious, incredibly wealthy, bluntly honest, and wants to be Secretary of the Treasury for Earth - and a campaign official inadvertently hinted that he might get that position. Conflict!!!

It's not too late to order a copy of "Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic," which includes my story, "Ping-Pong Ambition." Here's the description from amazon.com:

"Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic views sports and games with a speculative twist, in prophesied futures, parallel presents, and imagined pasts. From tennis matches with Death to chess games with Oberon, from free throws with the Fairy Court to surfing with werewolves, every sport imaginable (and a few unimaginable) exist within this speculative city of games. 42 authors, veterans and rookies alike, have contributed flash fiction and poetry that will take you from pong with a dust mote at the beginning of the world to sailboarding through the stars at the universe's edge. Contributors include: Paul Abbamondi, Marge Simon, Robert Frazier, E. C. Myers, C. A. Gardner, James S. Dorr, Todd Wheeler, Deborah P Kolodji, Jude-Marie Green, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Samantha Henderson, Roger Dutcher, Amanda M. Hayes, Ruth Berman, Lawrence Schimel, Larry Hodges, G. O. Clark, Jennifer Crow, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Rob Rosen, Andrew C. Ferguson, and 21 more."

Yesterday's Quiz Question: Which president created his own bible?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson, as correctly answered by Geoffrey Jacoby. Here is the well-documented explanation from Wikipedia:

From his careful study of the Bible, Jefferson concluded that Jesus never claimed to be God.^[62] He therefore regarded much of the New Testament as "so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture".^[64] He described the "roguery of others of His disciples", ^[65] and called them a "band of dupes and impostors", describing Paul as the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus", and wrote of "palpable interpolations and falsifications".^[65] He also described the Book of Revelation to be "merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams".^[66] While living in the White House, Jefferson began to piece together his own condensed version of the Gospels, omitting the virgin birth of Jesus, miracles attributed to Jesus, divinity and the resurrection of Jesus. Thus, primarily leaving only Jesus' moral philosophy, of which he approved. This compilation titled The LIFE AND MORALS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH Extracted Textually from the Gospels Greek, Latin, French, and English was published after his death and became known as the Jefferson Bible.

Today's Quiz Question: A president wanted to build a porch at the White House, but ran into an unexpected problem. Which president was he, and what was the problem?

*****
68 Days Until the Inauguration
1454 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)

Sarah Palin yesterday told Fox News that she wouldn't hesitate to run for the presidency in four years "if it's God's will." Now it seems to me that God would only ask one candidate to run for president, and this leaves others free to claim he/she has done so, and we have no way of knowing for sure who God really asked. However, I can put all doubts to rest - this is what happened.

Sarah Palin burst into her outer office at the Governor's mansion in Alaska. "Any messages?" she asked her secretary, a moose-skin wearing former snow machine racer who, recognizing the long absent governor, lowered her rifle.

"Sorry," she said, "No messages."

"No engraved stone tablets from UPS?" she asked. "No talking snakes or burning bushes?"

"No, Mrs. Governor, though a Mr. Bush did get fired. There is a rather large clothing bill from the Republican National Committee."

Palin raised her rifle, shot the secretary dead, and entered her inner office, sulking.

"My Father in heaven, what is your message for me?" she asked. There was no answer. Then she noticed the blinking message light on her red phone to God. She picked it up.

"Dear Republican faithful," the message began. "We are sad to tell you that God died yesterday. He had a heart attack while watching MSNBC's coverage of the Obama transition. You and all other good Republicans are hereby invited to the funeral, to be held tomorrow in Real America for Real Americans, in Alaska."

The next day, wearing a $15,000 black Saks funeral dress with moose lining, Palin stood over the grave of God, along with Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, Bobby Jindal, and Newt Gingrich. After a sermon in tongues by a Pentecostal priest, and a ritual killing of witches--Palin sighed with relief at once again going undetected--God was buried with due honors.

Then the priest held up a large envelope. "Before he died, God consulted a lawyer," he said. "This is God's Will."

As the Republican's leaned forward anxiously, the priest opened the envelope. He looked over it for a few seconds, then held it up for all to see. In large, red letters, God's Will said: "It is My Will that Sarah Palin run for president in 2012." As the others groaned, Sarah raised her rifle over her head in triumph.

Palin woke up, a huge grin on her face. "You betcha!" she exclaimed as she ran to the phone to call a press conference.

In an interview on Oct. 22, Sarah Palin told Dr. James Dobson of "Focus on the Family" that she is confident God will do "the right thing for America" on Nov. 4. Does she still believe that, or does she believe God didn't do "the right thing for America"?

Sarah Palin also told Fox News, "I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door." She is 44 years old and, like, apparently graduated from middle school just this year. Amazingly, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll of two days ago, 49% of Americans still have a favorable view of her, while 43% view her unfavorably. Among Republicans, 86% view her favorably.

Sarah Palin in pictures. Enjoy!

I believe that the reason there is so much outpouring of hope for Obama as president comes from a mostly subconscious realization of his quadruple threat as president.

First, there is hope he will change the direction the country is headed for the better. 83% of American believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey two days ago.

Second, they hope he will change the nature of politics in this country away from the nasty, bipartisan politics of the past. Not that he won't be partisan on issues he believes in strongly, but they hope the country's leaders can learn to discuss their differences rather than resort to nasty political grandstanding.

Third, he is a role model for black American youth. Studying, working hard, intelligence - he shows these features are "cool."

Fourth, he is a role model for white America. In many so-called "red states," many or most white Americans rarely deal with blacks, and their image of them, whether consciously or subconsciously, comes from what they see on TV or read about, and that is often about black violence and crime. TV figures like Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman were great role models for this, as were real leaders like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice (despite her proximity to a certain unpopular president). Obama is the ultimate role model for white America, breaking through the subconscious barriers of prejudice.

Here's an entry from SF writer John Scalzi's blog yesterday. It's about how his Ohio county overwhelmingly went for McCain in the election, and how it's typical Republican country. (Note that Scalzi is a Democrat for Obama.) The part that caught my eye was that only 6.5% of the population had a college degree, about 1/5 the national rate. As Scalzi pointed out, this is "real America," according to certain Republicans.

Yesterday's Quiz Question: What president wished upon a young man that he never become president. Nine presidents and at least 35 years later, that person became president. Who are these two presidents?

Answer: Grover Cleveland and Franklin Roosevelt.

Today's Quiz Question: Which president created his own bible?

On the writing front: "Campaign 2100" is at 51,331 words. (Hopefully I'll add at least another thousand late tonight.) They just finished a controversial fundraiser in Mexico City, and soon we're off to Russia!!!

*****
69 Days Until the Inauguration
1455 Days Until the Next Presidential Election (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012)