VOTE! In case McCain forgets to...

Here's one reason to vote:

In 1988 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, an incredibly close contest for one seat on the Governor's Council came down to a difference of 5 votes.

Weeks after the election, the Suffolk Superior Court ruled that Herbert L. Connolly, the incumbent who had sat on the council for eight terms, had narrowly defeated his opponent Robert B. Kennedy 14,702 to 14,697. 5 votes, or less than 2 hundredths of a percent. Here's the kicker: Connolly got incredibly lucky. After a long day of door-knocking and campaigning, Connoly got to the polls too late to vote for himself. He never voted.

Mr. Connolly later said, ''Every year, I vote first thing in the morning. This time I reversed my plans. That's when I got confused. I think in my mind I thought I had voted.''

That's when I got confused! Granted, Connolly did win -- but how do you forget to vote in your own race? If just six more people had turned off their TVs, put on some golashes, made their way to the polls, and pulled the lever for Kennedy, Connolly's own confusion would have cost him his ninth term.

Now, judging by the graph above, who is more likely to forget to vote, McCain or Obama? I'm no scientist, but at 72, McCain has a 65% chance of forgetting to vote for himself (or something like that). As for Mr. Barack, he's a strapping whipper snapper at 47, with less than half that chance of forgetting to vote for himself (only a 29% chance or something like that).

So, if you didn't already have reason enough to vote, here's some fuel to your smoldering "vote-fire:" MAKE JOHN MCCAIN PAY FOR FORGETTING TO VOTE.