I actually got along with Joe extremely well - over a $700 breakfast (SBS will pick up the tab) he and I discovered we shared similar opinions about how we shouldn't have to pay for anything ourselves. His point to Senator Obama was that if he made over $250,000 then he would have to pay a levy for health insurance above that $250,000.

McCain jumped on this during the debate, and only mentioned Joe the Plumber, a registered Republican, 42 times during the debate, to drive home his point that people like Joe, who are only getting by on mid-six figure salaries, should not have to pay for any of the costs of keeping his family, his employees and his society in good health.

Obama was very defensive about the whole thing during the debate. Both sides in this election have been keen to make sure that voters know that neither side believes that anyone should be made to pay for the costs of any of the promises both sides have made. Why can't we have politicians like this back in Australia? Why do our guys always talk about fiscal responsibility and surpluses?

To be honest, this race is getting a little dark (by which I don't mean to imply that Barack Obama's race is black, but if you want to take that away from that sentence then go ahead). The whole campaign is getting a little depressing. During yesterday's debate, Obama pointed out that exactly 100% of McCain's ads have been negative attacks on Obama. The overarching theme of those ads is the question: "Who is the Real Obama?", which is a dog-whistle to the Palin-esque Republican base, about how he's actually a Muslim terrorist sleeper (which, of course, he is). This contrasts nicely with the Republican's campaign slogan "Country First", which of course, implies that Obama puts some other country first.

That's the fun part. The depressing part is that none of these dog whistles are working. Following the debate Obama has consolidated a double digit lead in the polls. This means that the race won't be the close one that every pundit and person-making-a-documentary-about-the-election hoped it would be. A close race (white or black) means higher ratings. Damn.

Tomorrow we leave to travel from Illinois to New York, through America's mid-west. I hope I meet a lot more people like Joe the Plumber. There is a refreshing authenticity to his hopelessly-self-interested, fraudulent, non-tax paying ways. McCain was right to make him out as an archetype of Republican values. Just not in the way that McCain meant.