Posted 12:24 AM by Floyd

This is the first time I have blogged outside my house, and it is also the first time I have blogged while fighting off vertigo. I am in a huge six-story mall in Shanghai with all floors opening out of a central atrium. My computer is next to this atrium; a four-foot glass wall separates me from a 100-foot drop.

We got done with our tour last night and are hanging out in Shanghai. I have had internet access at each hotel in the tour, but have been too tired for any blogging. While on tour we rise around 6:15 every morning, so by the time we got checked into our hotel for the night around 9 p.m. I was dead tired. I have checked other blogs and email.

The blogosphere is my main source of information as most major news websites are censored. (The Drudge report is not, though in 2000 I could not access it.) I was on the short end of the election decisions I cared most about -- the continued existence of Gray Davis and the two marijuana ballots.

I'll end with an attempt at original election analysis. Some Democrats were concerned that Bush would pull an "October surprise" and invade Iraq in an attempt to boost Republican ballot totals. I think that holding off on Iraq was actually best for Republicans. If America had gone to war, the actions of anti-war Democrats would be a moot point, and pro-war voters would be less inclined to punish anti-war incumbents as those officeholders had not prevented the war from going forward. By delaying the war, the issue is left hanging over everyone's head.