Before summarizing today’s election events I wanted to tell you the gist of a conversation I had with my grandmother today. (Even if I couldn’t fully complete Sarah Silverman’s Great Schlep concept, talking to her on the telephone was just as effective.)

My 78-year-old grandmother lives in Palm Beach County, Florida. She was a Hillary Clinton supporter, and it took her a while to warm up to Barack Obama. Though she had doubts of Obama, she definitely does not favor John McCain. I found this interesting because he is not only one of her peers, but she respected him until this race. She’s not the only elder Floridian who has noticed this change in character. When I asked her if she was telling all her friends to vote for Obama, she said there was already a strong support of him in the area.

This was comforting to me since Florida is such an important area, due to its 27 electoral votes and notorious ballot issues. However, there was a troubling aspect of our conversation. She told me that she had watched a John McCain ad on television, which gave a laundry list of tasks and goals McCain was accomplishing and went on to say something like, “And what is Barack Obama doing?” Insert effective pause, “He’s on vacation in Hawaii.” This infuriated both her and me. Is McCain serious?

Right after our conversation I decided to investigate using the handy, dandy Internet. I searched YouTube and couldn’t find it…then I searched Google and couldn’t find it there either. Perhaps the ad is only running in Florida, in an effort to substantially increase Floridians’ doubt in Obama and thus trust McCain.

However, the important thing is not how or where the ad is available-it’s the content. Obama’s 85-year-old grandmother is practically on her deathbed, and that’s why he went down to Hawaii-his white grandmother who raised him in Hawaii. He’s not going on vacation, if anything it’s the complete opposite. I find this so disappointing about the McCain campaign. Shouldn’t that area be left untouched? Even if I was a McCain supporter or an Independent, I would still be upset in this lack of class or judgment.

But this is the context of this election: 8 more days, candidates neck to neck in many states, although Obama has a slight lead.

Today, McCain appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” citing his differences from President Bush and praising his running mate, Sarah Palin. He also campaigned in Iowa. Obama held a rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, drawing a crowd of approximately 100,000 people. According to CNN, Obama leads the national polls 50-42 percent.