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Portraits of Cabinet officials: $50,000.

New wardrobe for VP candidate: $150,000.

Private makeup artists hired from TV dance show: $20,000 per month.

Extreme makeover, RNC edition, using public money: priceless.

A remarkable passage from Maureen Dowd’s column today about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama:

He [Powell] got a mass e-mail from a man wanting to spread the word that Obama was reading a book about the end of America written by a fellow Muslim.

“Holy cow!” Powell thought. Upon checking Amazon.com, he saw that it was a reference to Fareed Zakaria, a Muslim who writes a Newsweek column and hosts a CNN foreign affairs show. His latest book is “The Post-American World.”

And you wonder why the truth seems to be such an elusive element in today’s society. How long before we start including lessons on “how to Google” for kids in grades K to 5?

I do not know how much change one man — or blogger — can bring to this world. But I do know that when there is wrong in the world, the least I can do is to try to fix it. Here’s my mitzvah of the day:

The Situation: Tonight, at approximately 10:30 p.m., I’m driving home while talking on the phone. My cell loses reception. The call ends mid-sentence. So I call my friend back. He calls me. Simultaneously. We both get each other’s voicemail. It takes five minutes of dialing to get him back on the line.

The Dilemma: Who makes the initial callback after a dropped call?

The solution: He who dialed first must re-dial.

Stick to this simple rule, people, and we can avoid the dreaded post-dropped call phone tag.

One small step for cell phone users at a time, I suppose.

You would think that in the 123 year history of the University of New Mexico, the Albuquerque police would have dealt with this situation at least once. But apparently, police had never responded to a Voting Under the Influence case before Friday.

Of note: the woman was taken to the hospital, and her vote was counted.

One small step for college students, I suppose.

It has been one year, five months, three weeks and four days since John McCain launched his campaign for President. In that time, we’ve learned much about the man, his policies and his potential decisions as chief executive.

But there is one thing that I do not think any voter can truly understand until you see him as I did today. I watched as Senator McCain reached the end of a receiving line, turned and then passed just feet in front of me. In those moments, I learned one new thing about this great American:

He really needs a nap.

These are the press badges that John McCain — a USA All-Star who never quite reached the level of Miss Congeniality — has been handing out to media on the trail with him.

To be fair, the good folks at Fire Joe Morgan would like to remind you that the All-Star balloting shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

Not actually uttered by John McCain but by the Columbia Daily Tribune’s Jason Rosenbaum, working for the Trib’s afternoon print edition as the Senator ate at Buckingham’s:

At the Tribune’s print deadline, McCain had just been seated at a table at the side of the restaurant.

And you wonder why the 24/7 nature of the Internet has killed the evening paper.

John McCain’s Columbia itinerary (all times local):

12:25 p.m.: Arrive Columbia Regional Airport.

12:45 p.m.: Arrive Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-B-Q.

1:47 p.m.: Leave restaurant, shake hands with locals, look on pensively as I snap this photo.

1:50 p.m.: Leave for Columbia Regional Airport, head to Kansas City, repeat until Nov. 4.

John McCain will arrive here in Columbia, Mo., in less than three hours to hold a campaign rally this afternoon. Here’s the weird part, though: he hasn’t announced where he’ll hold the rally.

Let’s bring the timeline up to the present day:

Thursday: McCain spokesperson says that McCain plans to visit Columbia after local police confirm that they’ve been contacted by the Secret Service.

Friday: Missouri Republican Party spokesperson tells The Maneater, a student run paper at the University of Missouri, that “nothing’s planned” for Monday.

Sunday night: The Columbia Tribune says that the visit is unconfirmed. The Columbia Missourian also confirms with the McCain campaign that nothing is confirmed.

Late Sunday night: Time’s The Page publishes McCain’s schedule, including a 2:25 p.m. stop in Columbia. It is unclear whether or not that is Eastern or Central time.

Early Monday: TPM confirms McCain’s scheduled rally time as 2:25 Eastern time.

Monday, 9:30 a.m. Central: The Tribune finally gets confirmation that he’s coming but that “details for the visit have not been hammered out.”

It’s now 9:45 a.m. Central in Columbia. McCain is suppose to arrive at the Columbia airport in 3 hours. Where will he hold the rally? Will anyone know to show up? We’ll know in a few hours.

Maybe.

UPDATE: The Missourian is now reporting the following: “The Republican presidential nominee from Arizona will be landing and making an appearance at the Columbia Regional Airport.” Can that really be all he’s doing in Columbia?

One of my favorite things about Columbia, Mo.: the hot air balloons. In late summer and early fall, they’re out above the city, gliding over the hills to the south of town.

Sometimes, I’ll be driving back home and I’ll pass under a balloon that’s landing on the hill just beyond my house. Those balloons always feel like they’re hanging just a bit too close to the ground when I drive by.

Some of the local balloons are ripped straight from the Re/Max ads. Others, like this monkey balloon that floated by on Friday, are less traditional.

I’m not sure if this is supposed to a famous monkey, but if a giant yellow hat had floated by a few minutes later, I wouldn’t have been surprised.