How do you write a fan letter pretending to be Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana?

The answers inside intrigued me. Most responses so far think it wouldn't be ethical to impersonate Miley/Hannah. What if she shares the autograph with friends and they point out it's fake? Surely that negative outcome would outweigh and erase any joy it provided in the first place. But would it still be wrong if she never found out it was fake? How do you know any response from Miley would be real and done by an assistant?

But the comparison to Santa Claus was interesting. I don't think anyone would say writing a letter posing as Santa would be unethical (I got one when I was little! Thanks mom!). Why is it different for another fictional character? Which brings up another question.. would it be any less of an ethical problem to pose as Hannah but not Miley? What if you take the Down Syndrome out of the equation? Hmm.. what would you do?

Kids to parents: Please don't leave us in Nebraska.

Sorry for lack of updates. I've finished the Internet and there's not much there.

Anyone watch the Obama press conference? It was a little surreal. It's like he's still in campaign mode.

Question: Mr. President-elect, do you still intend to seek income tax increases for upper-income Americans? And if so, should these Americans expect to pay higher taxes in 2009?

Obama: The -- my tax plan represented a net tax cut. It provided for substantial middle-class tax cuts; 95 percent of working Americans would receive them.

It also provided for cuts in capital gains for small businesses, additional tax credits. All of it is designed for job growth.

No, no, it's okay. You can answer the question. You already have the job. It's yours.

Transcript.

Under technology:

As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access.

Education:

Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama and Biden will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service.

No, really, has this ever happened after a presidential election?

How he did it.

1. Enthusiasm. It's voting for someone instead of voting against someone. While people voted for Kerry in 2004 because he wasn't Bush, people weren't enthusiastic about him, and that's not enough to defeat an incumbent. Now, with no incumbent, it comes down to who has the best ideas and can excite voters to not only vote but to volunteer.

2. Money. Enthusiasm also brings money. I'm not sure who would donate more, the voter who really likes his or her candidate or the voter who donates to their candidate so the other one doesn't win. All in all, I'd rather have the former. Obama didn't accept public financing. It might have been a little awkward for McCain to follow since he helped write the bill that created the system.

A system which clearly doesn't work. Obama originally signed a pact to accept public funds if the 527s were held in check. Honestly I haven't noticed a lot of action by the 527s. I can understand why McCain would be mad about Obama breaking his word. Even if they agreed on the 527 issue, I don't know if Obama would have stuck by his pact. Of course there are third party groups like the political party coffers that help pay the bills, but Obama still had the cash, by at least a 2-1 margin, for TV and the ground game.

3. Palin. McCain draws bigger crowds when she is there, but overall people I talk to and polls and pundits (conservative ones, even) seem to agree she was a huge mistake. If she was minimally intellectually curious and more than a dull edge on the political issues, this would have been a much closer race.

4. Primaries. It turns out that the long hard battle helped solidify supporters in states like Indiana (which Obama won) and North Carolina (which Obama might win). Obama's battle with Hillary seemed to be tougher than his battle with McCain. The primaries allowed Obama to overcome the patriotism, Rev. Wright, and experience issues. It's not that Obama hit a home run on all these issues, but the Obama campaign played the primaries so incredibly well that it didn't matter.

If McCain tried to play these cards, the public wasn't going to buy it. He'd passed the test, and McCain couldn't come up with anything else that would stick. People saw through Ayers. The socialism card doesn't work from someone who voted for the bailout (or on voters that can, you know, "think").

5. The ground game. Obama's organization was second to none. There was an anecdote I heard on the radio: One voter went to both a Romney and Obama event. Signed up for emails from both candidates. Promptly got an Obama email and never got a Romney one. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email, door-to-door, and online donations all helped Obama. Even his website was better.

6. Young voters. See number five.

7. His books. I think this helped secure early supporters. I don't really have any data to back this up, but I think it helped him win over opinion leaders. It made him less of an unknown. We learn about his life in Dreams from My Father. We learn about his philosophies in Audacity of Hope. "Audacity" might seem quite idealistic, but it shows he's thought through the issues with impressive depth even if he doesn't have the years in office.

8. Message consistency and branding. Obama has stuck with the same logo and slogan ("Change," with the occassional "Yes we can" and "Hope"), as far as I can tell, since the beginning. He's also stuck to the same message with McCain: that it would be four more years of the same. They found something that worked and stuck to it. His train has kept going on the same tracks while McCain has tried to take short cuts on various streets, most of which seem to have been cul-du-sacs or dead ends.

9. McCain strays toward Bush. After McCain cozied up to Jerry Falwell after previously denouncing him, John Stewart asked: "Are you going to crazy base world?" McCain responded "I'm afraid so."

Did I forget anything?

My Flickr set of websites calling it for Obama.

A Metafilter thread from 2004 throwing the idea around of Obama as president.

A list of his speeches (sorry, there are a ton of comments, might be slow to load). The 2004 DNC keynote really wasn't that long ago. Amazing. The most important speech since "Tear down this wall"? (can you think of a more important one since 1987?)

Electoral maps via kottke.

It looks as though we might have about 64% turnout. More than the 56% in 2004. 1908 had 66%. 1960 had 63%.

What is wrong with Alaska? How did Ted "The Internet is a series of tubes" Stevens win? (The Today Show just said it was too close to call, so we'll see).

Although hope took a giant leap last night, it did take a small step backwards with the passing of Prop 8 in California. I'm not sure how you vote to strip rights away from someone.

Ebert on the victory.

And, wow: Coleman up Franken by 601 votes. Recount time.

76 more days...