What's at Stake on Sunday

It just occured to me that I've been blogging about election goings-on here without really talking about what's going on and why this is actually a really important event. Thank god for the internet and columnists, because they'll do it for me and I just have to link to it. Read this Jackson Diehl column from Monday's post, or this MSNBC article, or this from Rueters, or this from the London Times to get a basic summary of what's going on and the impact that this election could have. Are things as bad as most of these people seem to think? Kind of. There's already been a lot of funny business and things are bound to get funnier. A lot of what you hear from locals, NGOs, and the media is conjecture. A lot of it isn't. The long and the short of it is that I don't think anyone knows exactly what's going to happen and (more importantly) how people will react to whatever happens. I guess I'll find out first hand on the 31st.