NY23: Road Trip Update!

Why should you subscribe to The American Spectator? Well, for starters, if you click that link, your subscription will be processed through my Amazon Associates account, and I'll get a small commission. (Isn't capitalism a beautiful thing?)

You'll also get a year's subscription for only $49 -- nearly a 30% discount off the cover price. Plus, you'll get great writers like Ben Stein, James Bowman, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and, of course, me.

However, there's another reason you should subscribe to The American Spectator, namely, that publisher Al Regnery didn't strangle me this afternoon when I turned in The Mother Of All Expense Reports. He didn't pay the full tab, but he didn't strangle me, and that's the most important thing, so you should definitely subscribe now. I figure if I can sell a few subscriptions off the blog here, maybe next month . . .

Well, we'll cross that shaky bridge when we get there. Tonight is no time to worry about next month's high-anxiety confrontation over the expenses, since my plan is to leave tomorrow morning -- 8 a.m. Thursday -- for another trip up to New York's 23rd District.

My first stop will be WSYR-TV in Syracuse, where Doug Hoffman will be recording a debate with Democrat Bill Owens and RINO Dede Scozzafava. That's 341 miles. Figure 20 cents a mile = $68.20. Google Maps estimates the drive time at 5 hours, 20 minutes, but I'll be driving a rental car, so if I leave about 8 a.m. . . . well, I plan to be there before 1:20 p.m., even stopping for gas and a $2 coffee.

While in Syracuse, I'll probably grab a cheeseburger meal deal ($5) before taking off for Lake Placid (to meet up with the 73wire campaign bloggers). Estimated drive time is 4 hours, 25 minutes, but if I leave Syracuse by 4 p.m., I'm betting I get there long before 8:30, even stopping for another cheeseburger ($5) on the way. It's 196 miles x .20/mile = $39.20.

The 73wire campaign bloggers are said to be a hard-partying crew, so I'll probably have to buy them a beer ($5) or two ($10) and then pay for a cab ($15) to take them back to the place where they're crashing in Lake Placid. The cool part? They've offered to let me crash free at their place through Saturday. So once I get to Lake Placid, my only real expenses for a few days will be local travel, my usual daily two packs of smokes (2 x $5 = $10) and six cups of coffee (6 x $2 = $12).

So there's no need to worry about next month's expense report, but subscribe to The American Spectator anyway. We also won't worry about the overdue electric bill, the heating oil bill, etc. Just help out with the Shoe Leather Fund and we'll worry about all that other stuff later.

I've previously thanked Bill Quick, Nathan in Missouri, Jeff in Walla Walla, Wash., Bryce in Oregon, Richard in Lancaster, Michael in Santa Clarita, Mr. and Mrs. Belvedere, and Brett in New South Wales, Australia, for hitting the tip jar earlier today.

Now, we'll thank this evening's tip-jar hitters: Christopher in D.C., Karen in Jamesville, Earnest in Texas, Mike in El Segundo (more smokes!), James in Cincinnati, Fred in New Jersey, Barry in Florissant and Ms. K in Annapolis. And, finally, here's a special thank you for Alison in Ferndale:

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