There’s an interesting analysis out from the Wall Street Journal showing the potential effects of the results from the latest Battleground States poll by Zogby.  Electoral-vote.com is also tracking poll results from a variety of sources.

Let me hereby state that I am (a) no political scientist, (b) no social scientist, and (c) not terribly good with that whole statistical analysis thing.  I know there’s a bunch of criticism that’s been leveled at Zogby for his atypical methods and his personal Democraticness.  And I know there’s an argument to be made that electoral-vote.com, by compiling the results of multiple pollsters, is equating apples and oranges.

But my goodness, how comforting I find those numbers.

And then right behind that, how completely freaked out I am that I’m comforted by anything appearing in or affiliated with the WSJ.

And then, not too far behind, comfort again, because one assumes the WSJ has no reason to falsely boost the Kerry campaigh.

So I’m going with comfort, which I just thought I’d share.

— Chairing the Media Studies program, for the first time, which involves a significant increase in student advising and general administrative paperwork.

— Beginning the ten-year self-study that Media Studies must this year conduct.  I hesitate to assess what this will involve before it’s all over.

— Chairing the Faculty Executive Committee, which entails the putting out of many small fires, the responding to countless emails, the planning of agendas, and the addressing of the faculty at large at monthly meetings.

— Participating in the tenure review of a beloved colleague.

— Writing grant and fellowship applications, such that I might be able to take a leave next year.

— Drawing up a proposal for a new book project and a proposal for Electra, pursuant to the above grant and fellowship applications.

— Working steadily on the anthology project I’m involved in.

— Oh, yeah—and then there’s that little teaching thing I do sometimes.

It’s going to be a busy fall, to say the least.  But, I hope, a productive one.  It’s turned out to be so thus far, if only because I’m working Every Waking Minute.  The good news is that I’ve managed to arrange my schedule such that I can go to the gym every morning, which is what I’m relying on to keep me sane.