Election Day Minus Eleven: Where have we heard this before?

The Democrats are obviously running out of ammunition, and must be getting desperate.

People have called Mitt Romney a great many things, but "stupid" isn't one of them. But now, having apparently exhausted the potential of the George H.W. Bush/rich-guy-who-isn't-a-Kennedy gambit, the Obama people are finally playing the Ike/Gerald Ford/Ronald Reagan/George W. Bush card- no matter how self-evidently absurd the premise:

Why is it that whenever they can't find anything substantive to say about their opponents, they resort to the same, tired old ad hominems? They could at least come up with another one, like saying the Republican target is ugly,or has bad breath, or that his mommy dresses him funny, or something. Mean-spiritedness isn't restricted to Democrats, of course. But it would appear that when it comes to imagination, they're as limited as trash-talkers as they are as policy makers.

It's been said before, and I'll say it now: even if President Obama manages to win on November 6, the ugly, nasty campaign he's run guarantees that he won't be able to govern. If he thought he had a problem with gridlock during his first term, it's hard to see how he couldn't have known that going as persistently and perversely negative as he has could do anything but intensify the partisan rancor during his second.

Meanwhile (and ironically, given the above picture), poor Joe Biden just can't seem to help himself.

Same speech: VPOTUS also has some interesting thoughts on energy policy.

Tracking polls:

Public Policy Polling
Barack Obama 49%
Mitt Romney 48%

ABC News/Washington Post:
Mitt Romney 49%
Barack Obama 48%

Gallup
Mitt Romney 51%
Barack Obama 46%

Rasmussen
Mitt Romney 50%
Barack Obama 47%

The Real Clear Politics average:

Romney 47.9%
Obama: 47.0%

Due to gains in some states that have moved from "leans Romney" to "toss-up," President Obama has re-taken the lead in the sober and conservative Real Clear Politics electoral vote projection,  201 to 191. 270 are needed for election.

RCP averages for key states:

Ohio, 18 electoral votes:
Obama 48.0%
Romney 45.9%

Florida, 29 electoral votes:
Romney 48.9%
Obama 47.1%

Virginia, 13 electoral votes:
Romney 48.3%
Obama 46.8%

New Hampshire, 4 electoral votes:
Obama 48.3%
Romney 47.2%

Wisconsin, 10 electoral votes:
Obama 49.3%
Romney 47.0%

North Carolina, 15 electoral votes:
Romney 50.3%
Obama 46.5%

Iowa, 6 electoral votes:
Obama 49.0%
Romney 46.7%

Colorado: 9 electoral votes:
Romney 48.2%
Obama 47.8%

Nevada, 6 electoral votes:
Obama 49.7%
Romney 47.2%

I'm told that the Romney campaign, at least, expects an outcome even closer than 2000. And given the degree to which technology has changed the election day ground game, there is certain to be an epic tale to be told when the smoke clears- hopefully some time before noon EST on January 20.

HT: Drudge
Real Clear Politics
Politico