DAY’S END ROUNDUP

Polls on the eve of the 2008 election have most bloggers believing that Barack Obama will become the next president. A few conservative bloggers, however, are still holding out hope that John McCain can eke out an Electoral College victory. Bloggers on the right also disagree with a left-of-center columnist who argues that Americans’ disapproval of McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, signals the end of the culture war. And just as the country prepares to vote, Obama gets news that his grandmother has passed away, bloggers note.

Obama has a 96 percent chance of winning according to the projections by FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver. The Democrat’s chances increased Monday, thanks to strong polling numbers for Obama in Pennsylvania, Silver writes. Conservative blogger Allahpundit of Hot Air predicts that Obama will win 51 percent of the vote and the swing state of Florida, where Obama has ruled the airwaves, the ground game and the Hispanic vote. But Allahpundit’s colleague, Ed Morrissey, thinks that undecided voters will go for McCain and give him the victories he needs to win in Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

While The Washington Post’s Peter Beinart argued that Americans have rejected Palin because she represents the culture war, she made a name for herself because she fought corruption in Alaska and has only become a flashpoint as a vice presidential candidate because she adopted the traditional attack-dog role, writes The Corner’s Ramesh Ponnuru. Palin and Republicans are losing because they focused on foreign policy for the past eight years and built little support for a small-government domestic agenda, writes Robert Stacy McCain.

The death of Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, at the age of 86 shows that Obama was right to take time out of campaigning last month to visit her, writes Hot Air’s Morrissey and The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan. It’s too bad neither Obama’s parents nor his grandmother could see the election results, but perhaps they already know what will happen, Sullivan writes. Dunham, who helped raise Obama in Hawaii and teach him about hard work, was one of the heroes he talked about in his convention speech, writes Julien Sharp at Pam’s House Blend.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Today’s Polls, 3 A.M. Edition – N. Silver, FiveThirtyEight
My Predictions: A McCain Win – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Predictions: An Obama Win – Allahpundit, Hot Air
Crazy and Alone – kos, Daily Kos
One Day From Changing America – K.J. Lopez, The Corner
Palin’s Brand – Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner
Palin’s Rising Star – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
The Waning of the Culture War – Matthew Yglesias
Beinart: ‘Palin Is The End of the Line’ – The Other McCain
Madelyn Payne Dunham RIP – Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish
Obama’s White Grandmother Dies – Gateway Pundit
Obama’s Grandmother Died – J. Sharp, Pam’s House Blend
Obama’s Grandmother Passes Away – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Obama and McCain Wrap Up Campaigns – Washington Post
Final Sprint Is Mostly on GOP Turf – New York Times
Obama’s Grandmother Dies of Cancer – The Hill