As President Bush announced yet another bail-out, this time for American automakers, it's hard to remember that there are other important problems that will need some serious attention when the administration takes over in January.

Up until the last couple of days, I was sure that the economy and its sad, sad shape occupied the top spot on Barack Obama's worry list as President-elect. That pesky Illinois Governor seems to have knocked Obama off-message and off-stride, but I'm hoping he'll get his attention back to where it needs to be for the millions who voted for him -- and for the ones who didn't vote for him, as well.

Barack Obama's security team is in place and once January 20 rolls around, it should be full steam ahead on his promises about getting us out of Iraq, right?

Most white Americans will not vote for Barack Obama. No Democratic candidate for president has received a majority of white votes since Lyndon Johnson won in a landslide 44 years ago. But more white voters than voted for John Kerry, Al Gore and even Bill Clinton will vote for Obama on Tuesday if polls are correct. And they will join a majority of black, Asian American, Latino and Native American voters in a coalition that will make history on Tuesday.

No, I'm not talking about the big 5-0 this week.

Close your eyes. Relax. Take a deep breath in. Hold it. Now, let it out. Om. There, I just wanted to try to create a small moment of zen before I started talking about our economic mess. The one that has apparently caused my blood pressure to spike this week.

This afternoon Jack Turner and Jill Tubman over at Jack & Jill Politics have launched the Voter Suppression Wiki, a non-partisan

Janna Six from the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado shared with us some of the efforts to make the DNC (and The Big Tent) the greenest convention ever. From compostable flatware and smoothie cups to businessmen on bikes and an army of volunteers, the DNC benefited from an array of clever efforts to not just green the conference but to plant seeds for the future. Now to see if the RNC follows... Stay tuned!

Last week, Liz Mair of the RNC guest-posted here at BlogHer, and asked what issues would be on readers’ minds as you head to the polls in November.

Are High Gas Prices Affecting Your Health and Wellness? With gas prices going up and up, many people are facing difficult choices when it comes to their health. From not being able to afford their medications, to buying less expensive (usually unhealthy) foods at the supermarket...They are being forced to make financial decisions that may be bad for their health. Last year I did a post about how a major medical crisis (such as cancer) could force a person to choose between lifesaving medications, and paying their mortgage.

Dieting and frugality are a lot alike. After all, when we diet, we eat less and when we live frugally, we live with less. With both, we abstain, we hold back, we do without, we make do. So they are alike, two peas, yes, in that pod called life. Right? Wrong?

With the 24/7 media coverage of the presidential campaign, Michelle Obama on The View and stories about what John McCain calls his wife, there's a news gorilla in the room we've been ignoring -- the Iraq War. Sure, we hear on the campaign trail that Barack Obama wants to bring the troops home and McCain, not so much. But the coverage of what's really going on in Iraq isn't making it onto the nightly news shows.