Great morning reading

This is from today's Washington Post, and if you read it closely you'll see something quite amazing, something we haven't seen in four years: surrender.

The president closed the long and contentious campaign with a show of confidence and bravado, even as polls continued to show a dead heat with Democratic nominee John F. Kerry. With critical states still looking as if they could tip either way, some Bush advisers expressed worry about the incumbent's prospects on Tuesday.

They didn't express worry about no WMD in Iraq. They didn't express worry about Abu Ghraib. They, in fact, haven't expressed a bit of worry while running roughshod over the US government and the world since January 2001. But they're expressing it now.

Read on, this is brilliant:

In contrast to the light schedule he kept on election eve in 2000, Bush worked 19 hours this time, promising "strong, confident, optimistic leadership" as he traveled from dawn past midnight, going from Ohio to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to two cities in Iowa to New Mexico and then home to Texas. Bush even scheduled a stop in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday during his return to the White House after he votes near his ranch in Crawford, Tex.

He's campaigning on Tuesday. He'd probably keep campaigning through the rest of the week if he thought it'd help. Trouble is, his advisors seem to think it won't:

Bush's aides predicted victory when talking on the record, pointing to polls showing that the race remained a tossup, both nationally and in key states. But despite the insistence that all was well, the erosion in the moods of Bush's inner circle over the past two weeks was unmistakable. Several of his close advisers said they were concerned because the president had achieved no last-minute momentum, and Democratic turnout was looking as if it might swamp the Bush-Cheney campaign's projections.

A GOP official who is privy to Bush-Cheney strategy and polling said that as the incumbent, Bush should be further ahead of Kerry in polls. "Some of them have been moving in the right direction, but it isn't enough," the official said. "Karl [Rove] is a big believer in the bandwagon effect, but there has been nothing over the past week for the president to use it to turn it around."

Mark McKinnon, Bush's chief ad strategist, flew with him all day and said Bush was "nostalgic" about having so much of his team from 2000 out on the road with him one last time. Asked the mood on the plane, a subdued McKinnon replied, in deadpan voice: "Jubilation."

The WaPo did all but come out and say that it's over. Now it's up to the ground game. Call your cell phone lists and make sure your friends vote. Volunteer if you have the day off. Go to the polls and watch for any shenanigans. Just a few more hours of business, and then on to the pleasure of having a President in which we can be proud.

Later today I will post what will be a frozen moment in time for us on the left: W.'s concession speech.