A few quick thoughts today:

· Wifey’s cool with the poker. I used the “it’s a hobby” argument, which (in her oddly twisted female logic) was superior to the “I’m making money off dumb people” argument. Whatever. Anyway, I celebrated by winning $64 in another 20-seater.

· Cheney should win the debate, though former-trial-lawyer Edwards will be in all his James-Spader-ruining-the-last-season-of-The-Practice mode. Cheney will win by following some of my basic rules for debate:

- When debating someone younger and better looking, always belittle their age and good looks by calling them demeaning nicknames like “Slick” or “Sparky” while bringing up their inexperience. For example, “When I was protecting this country as Secretary of Defense, Sparky over there was just learning to drive.” Or “You might be younger and have more hair, Pretty Boy, but while you were getting your hair fluffed and planning your next lawsuit, I was studying a DOD briefing on North Korea.”

- When debating a lawyer, keep reminding the public that, well, he’s a lawyer. “Slick, you lawyers always try to twist the facts until you free criminals like OJ and Scott Peterson. Well, not on my watch!”

- If attacked on your business dealings, always display pride in your business world roots while attacking your opponent’s lack of business experience. After all, there are more people who are working in companies than lawyers (though the gap is narrowing). “You’re right, Junior, I worked at Haliburton for years. But I’m proud that I helped it grow until we increased our workforce by 438% (make up a number, no one really cares) and all of those people had families. Your frivolous lawsuits as a trial lawyer actually cost people their jobs and increased insurance costs for ALL Americans, and I won’t allow trial lawyers like you to continue to ruin this economy!”

· Some quick baseball hits:

St Louis over LA in four.
Houston over Atlanta in four.
Minnesota over NY in five.
Boston over Anaheim in three.

St Louis over Houston in five.
Boston over Minnesota in five.

WS will be seven games. Boston will win with Johnny Damon scoring the winning run. So let it be written. So let it be done.