According to a news story on MSNBC.com, “Tiny insect brains can solve big problems.“

It’s opening just about nowhere, and a more paranoid person would have a theory about why.

Today alone, I’ve received five — five — fundraising calls from Democratic-aligned groups saying we can’t afford a repeat of Tuesday’s election, and therefore I should yadda yadda yadda, which would involve my credit card.

I took the time with one to argue his point that Tuesday’s election was a “catastrophe” and “very bad for Democrats” and the “kind of result we can’t afford again.” “Really?” I said. “It seems to me that Democrats picked up a long-held Republican seat in New York, and won the Congressional election in California. You’re just talking about two gubernatorial races that have nothing to do with the Democratic party nationwide.” He then said that there had been many many other losses for Democrats — but when I asked for examples, he couldn’t provide any, even though he’s been “calling Democrats all across the country for days.”

“You know  why everybody says this was so bad for Democrats?” I asked. “Because you’re calling everybody and telling them that! Stop calling them!”

With that, he let me go.

To judge by the way they get covered, every election is some sort of national referendum on something or other — except it actually isn’t.

If Jon Corzine loses re-election in New Jersey here’s what it’s about:  People are tired of Jon Corzine. And given what I’ve heard about him from my friends and family in New Jersey, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re so tired of him that they vote in a Bush-appointed attorney who doesn’t seem to understand the law.  What will this have to do with Barack Obama? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What will Rush Limbaugh say? “It’s a vast repudiation of Barack Obama and everything he stands for.” (How do you know when Rush Limbaugh is wrong? Any time he’s awake and undrugged.)

At times like this, it’s helpful to remind oneself of the overall picture. So here it is:  According to a new poll, one-and-a-half times as many people say that  Obama/Biden are  doing better than Bush/Cheney. This is only the latest poll that shows that Obama — and his programs — are vastly popular. There are lots of folks who wish it were otherwise, and many people who profiteer off saying it is otherwise, but it just ain’t so. Now, popular does not always translate into “right.” We should remember that one major difference between Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush is that Hitler actually got elected. But in our recent case, everyone can see the economic ruin around us and the sense of a nation slipping away and trace a fair amount of it right back to the shenanigans of the previous presidential administration.

What happens to Jon Corzine, and people in Virginia and some obscure house seat in the northern hinterlands of New York that we’ve never heard of before, have nothing to do with Obama. Don’t believe otherwise.

Tomorrow my friends and family in New Jersey who vote face a tough choice in the governor’s race:  supporting one of the architects of Goldman Sachs, or a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney with the temerity to rip off Monty Python.

The email I just got:

Dear Lee:

It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California. With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to — and should be — done.

This is not an easy decision. But it is one made with the best intentions for my wife, my daughter, the residents of the city and county of San Francisco, and California Democrats.

When I embarked on this campaign in April, my goal was to engage thousands and thousands of Californians dedicated to reforming our broken system and bringing change to Sacramento.

I would like to thank those supporters, volunteers, and donors who have worked so hard on my behalf. I have been humbled by their support and am indebted to their efforts. They represent the spirit of change and determination essential to putting California back on the right track.

I will continue to fight for change and the causes and issues for which I care deeply — universal health care, a cleaner environment and a green economy for our families, better education for our children, and, of course, equal rights under the law for all citizens.
Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

And here’s the response I sent:

Unbelievable.

Are you kidding me?

Blaming your family NOW because NOW you’ve decided it’s going to require more TIME?

Fff.

More likely you read the polls.

You could have won this.

I’ll never support you again.

And then I emailed it to a bunch of friends. Here was one’s immediate response:  “I think there is a new scandal – all those months on the road in California – all those adoring young female fans….”

Some people in Maine are campaigning against equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Let’s hear what an 86-year-old World War II vet and lifelong Republican who fought on Omaha Beach has to say about equal rights.

Yes, today is Global Handwashing Day. Just in case you need any help knowing how to wash your hands, I have posted this helpful video, above. Rest assured, tomorrow we’re all free to return to our filthy mitts.

(On a side note, given that today I sent more money to both my state and federal governments, I can’t help wondering what my net contribution was to the handwashing video and its accompanying dance. I’m all for clean hands, but here’s what I believe: the world’s wealthier people, with access to water and soap, tend to use them. The world’s poorer people, without such access, can’t. So it’s not handwashing instruction we need (whether aimed at kids or grownups). It’s proper distribution of essential resources. But hey, I’m against funding PBS, too. If the government is going to lay its hands on my money, I’d like it not to be subsidizing Dr. Wayne Dyer and Suze Orman and innumerable other wealthy self-improvement gurus.)

We now return you to feeling good about clean hands.

I found out this morning that someone I know died. Why? Because she was uninsured.

This past Spring, she wasn’t feeling well, but didn’t seek treatment. She wasn’t able to afford health insurance, so she implemented the only plan available:  hope. As in, “hope it goes away.” It didn’t. Finally, she went to a county clinic, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Well, she may — or may  not — have had that. But she also had lung cancer, something that no doubt would have been revealed by a more thorough checkup by a doctor or hospital covered through insurance.  By the time this was discovered, it was too late, and so, a few months later, she’s dead.

Although all cancers are different, let me draw one point of comparison. When my father was diagnosed with cancer, he had health insurance, which covered initial tests and doctors and treatment and medication and so forth. They gave him only six months to live, but he made it almost three years. In the case of the woman I’m talking about, she was 17 years younger than my father. Maybe her cancer was more treatable — maybe her cancer was curable.

As it is, she is one of the 44,789 people who die every year because they have no health insurance; these are the people my new hero Congressman Alan Grayson apologized to a couple of weeks ago.

Recently I found myself seated at an event next to a surgeon I know. He’s for health-care reform, he told me (and who could be against it, when everyone agrees it isn’t working?). But he also talked about how the wrong sort of reform would wind up limiting care. No doubt. But one thing is clear: We’re already limiting care, and we’ve got the numbers to prove it. Today we can count one more fatality.

You may recall that two months ago I attended a town hall on health care where I took photos of protestors’ signs and asked them about them. (And got little in the way of rational response.)

Today my friend Bob Silver emailed me the photos below, along with this sentiment:  “Thomas Jefferson (and others) said something about an educated electorate being essential to the functioning of a Democracy.  Herewith, a sampling.”

I’m confident that the irony of these messages won’t escape you. But for those bearing them, it will.