The Ground Shakes As The Landslide Begins...

..while my Yahoo! home page floods my screens with stories about how the Democrats can still win, the meaning of tightening Senate races, and tries to ignite tribal warfare (today it's about the rage of black Republicans, a group the media claimed as mythical up to, oh, fifteen minutes ago), the early vote tells a different story.

That shaking underneath your feet? That's the angry mountain of the American people, and rather than shaking loose rocks and pebbles, we're turning out liberal politicians and other piles of dirt. The landslide cometh:

Just over a week before Election Day, signs of widespread Republican enthusiasm are apparent in the early-voter data, including in some places with highly competitive statewide races.

POLITICO surveyed early voting through Saturday in 20 states, and in 14 of the 15 that have voter registration by party, the GOP's early turnout percentage is running ahead of the party's share of statewide voter registration — whether measured against 2006 or 2008, when President Barack Obama's campaign led to a surge in Democratic voter registration. As a result, Republicans say they're turning the tables on the Democratic dominance of early voting that paved the way for Obama's victory in 2008 — and that independents' lean toward the GOP this year will do the rest.

In Florida, in addition to having a lead in absentee ballots, "incredibly, we are also leading early voting so far, the first time that has ever happened," the state GOP's Daniel Conston said. "We don't expect to win early voting, but any lead at all is shocking at this point and a testament to the incredible enthusiasm amongst Republicans...

Politco goes on to tell readers it's not all bad, the Democrats lead the early voting in Iowa and Ohio, but doesn't mention that their candidates are also down by double-digits in most reliable polling. Please. If Democrats win any of the key contests on those two states, I'll eat my blog.

Politico knows its readership, and is trying to give them reason to hope, the way a teen magazine must report on the engagement of a heartthrob, but whispers every rumor of a "trouble in paradise" type to keep their reader's dreams alive.

There is only so long you can pound the still heart of a dead corpse before you embarrass yourself by refusing to admit to reality. There will be little silver lining for the Democrats this year, and their dream - of a "progressive" America under a generation of liberal Democratic leadership - will be dead on November 2nd, only two years in.

It's only a matter of how much debris will fall that day....