Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik visited Madison yesterday. Rachel Patzer summarizes the visit. Kudos to Rachel for covering this visit.

Sources tell me that Kerry Rally attendees (West Washington; from the Capitol to Bassett) have been given phone numbers to call and a script to read with their personal cell phones.
In addition, the rally is evidently made up of two classes, those with “blue” tickets are next to the stage while those with “white” tickets (internet registrations) are farther away. Inside sources tell me that several “white” ticket guests have attempted to jump the barrier – and were immediately dealt with by campaign volunteers…..
In any event, I hope the music is good!
www.cnn.com has the best video stream (300kbps). Locally CBS affiliate channel 3 is also trying to stream the event, but doesn’t appear to have the servers or bandwidth that cnn does.

The City has posted a useful address search to help find your polling place, here.
Dane County residents can find their polling place here.
The State Elections Board has a useful page of links around the state here.

I voted early – Monday. There was a short line at the city clerk’s office. No ID checks (I don’t think this is required in WI, but it’s easy to see how this could be a real problem). I do applaud the City’s decision to extend the clerk’s office hours, BUT it should be consistently open into the evening, rather than just tonight…. Megan Costello WSJ Editorial (this link will likely not work shortly)

Jane J. Kim:

A study suggests that U.S. senators possess stock-picking skills that even the most seasoned money manager would envy. During the boom years of the 1990s, senators’ stock picks beat the market by 12 percentage points a year on average, according to the study. Corporate insiders, meanwhile, beat the market by about six percentage points a year, while U.S. households underperformed the market by 1.4 percentage points a year on average, according to separate studies. The final details of the study will be published in the December issue of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
The study’s authors, relying on financial-disclosure forms from 1993 to 1998, looked at about 6,000 common-stock transactions of about a third of the senators each year. The researchers then mimicked the senators’ transactions, buying the stocks the senators bought and selling the shares they sold. Over a six-year period, that “superportfolio” essentially beat the market by about one percentage point a month, or 12 percentage points a year.
…….
Looking at the timing of cumulative returns, the senators also appeared to know exactly when to buy or sell their holdings. Senators would buy stocks just before the shares suddenly would outperform the market by more than 25%. Conversely, senators would sell stocks that had been beating the market by about 25% for the past year just when the shares would fall back in line with the market’s performance.

I mentioned this issue in March. Via Bainbridge.