Well the big event is here... the Presidential Dispatch.  

I'm going to live blog it... and after that I'll give some more great swag & trend updates, like I did in yesterday's blog (you can find it here).   

Follow me after the flip... and if you're live blogging it too & on your laptop, or watching from home, just drop a note in the commentz. 

I'm here on the South Side of Chicago (only a mile from where I grew up! only a few blocks from the White Sox stadium!), to participate in what is essentially the largest gathering of progressive bloggers and new media activists in US history.  

 There is excitement in the air... well, a nerdy sort of  bow-tie / 'impeach bush' t-shirt / coffee & cigarettes kind of excitement- but there's definitely something in the air here in the windy city, and it's not just the smell wafting over from nearby China Town.  

I'm heading out now to go get some of that Low-Mein right now, but I'll be posting interesting updates here throughout the day.  

Anderson Cooper just reported a short while ago that survey research has shown 20% of Chicago elementary school students to have been directly involved in dog fights at some point or other.  Now, having been raised by wolves with no TV, my cable news sensationalism radar might not be calibrated correctly.  But does this sound like a somewhat dubious statistic to anyone else?  Anyone from the Windy City care to comment?

Either 1 out of 5 Chicago kids is watching dogs tear eachother to shreds or we're seeing some of the usual media disregard for the limitations of survey research.