These are the threats as I see them:

ELECTION THEFT, carried out by the usual gutter tactics--vote suppression, registration purges, deceptive absentee ballot mailings, vote caging, excessive voter challenges, and defective voting machines. Greg Palast has spooked me severely in this regard. Ohio is now in Democratic hands, and this will help tremendously, of course, but there are still Republican efforts at vote suppression in Michigan (now under court challenge) and Wisconsin (through the state's Republican attorney general.) The Republicans still control the electoral process in Florida as well, although Charlie Crist seems like less of crook than Jeb Bush (talk about damning with faint praise!). The Republicans in Missouri are particularly ruthless in dealing with St. Louis. Are we ready? We seem more so than in 2004, but I am convinced that hacking and electronic switching of votes are still very real possibilities. Stephen Spoonamore may or may not have credibility, but his warnings deserve attention if only because the perpetrators of previous vote scams are still at large. BradBlog also follows these issues obsessively. Since the people running McCain's campaign are all Rove Disciples, I have no doubt whatsoever that we face unprecedented challenges in this area. Obama's team is doing far better than Kerry's did in confronting these issues, but we are not out of the woods by any means. And voter intimidation issues in African-American and Hispanic precincts in the South and Southwest must be dealt with forcefully.

INCREASINGLY BRAZEN RACIAL APPEALS. We've already seen McCain's "Scary Black Men Ripping Off the Old White Lady" commercial trying to tie Obama to corruption at Freddie Mac. We also saw the "Sexually Perverted Black Man Who Wants to Teach Your Five Year Old About Sex" commercial, to me the most vile political ad I have ever seen in my 56 years. There is NO reason to believe that this kind of vicious racial campaigning will not become more intense in SW Ohio, central Pennsylvania, Missouri, West Virginia, and in rural Virginia and North Carolina. Remember, in 2004 the RNC circulated a flyer in Appalachia claiming that the Democrats wanted to ban the Bible. There is no ugly appeal the GOP will not use.

THE KITCHEN SINK APPROACH, where the Republicans and Right Wing Hate Radio hurl every lying, obscene charge imaginable at Obama. Expect Wright, Ayers, Farrakhan (!!) Rezko, and every other discredited attack to be recycled on an endless loop. Expect the lie about taxes to be driven home again and again (and I LOVE how Obama attacked that lie in the first debate). You think you've heard these bastards lie about us so far? All of the slime that circulates in emails will be brought out into the open, more nakedly and aggressively than ever. The GOP message? Obama is a dangerous covert Muslim who will sell America out to its enemies. As the GOP grows more desperate, so will its attack propaganda.

VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE. There may be physical attacks on our canvassers, increased acts of vandalism, and attempts to physically intimidate voter registration drives. Safety in numbers will be our friend in guarding against these attacks. And the ultimate violent threat takes us into Tinfoil Hat/Nightmare territory--an attempt to do violence to Obama himself.

A TERRORIST ATTACK in late October, conveniently timed to have the maximum impact on the electorate. Would a desperate Bush-Cheney government permit such an attack? I know, tinfoil territory, but still possible.

THE CAPTURE OR KILLING OF BIN LADEN, also in late October, to allow the Republicans to trumpet their national security "superiority".

Desperate people pull out all the stops. The Bush-Cheney Administration is the most criminal, most corrupt, most vile in American history. A McCain victory is their only hope of avoiding disaster. McCain will bury their crimes; Obama will expose them.

Brace yourself. Our enemies are cornered. That's when they're most dangerous.