So I guess what we need to know before we go vote on Tuesday is what Sen. Obama knew and when did he know it.

I am referring to the weekend revelation that his aunt, living in a Boston public housing project for a long, long time now, is in this country illegally. Although The Chosen One wrote about her, calling her Auntie Zeituni in his memoir, and thought enough of her to invite her to the US Capitol when he was sworn in as a US Senator, now he says he didn't know spit about her immigration status.

Particularly, he says he didn't know that when she visited DC to see him sworn in, he most certainly didn't know that she had been defying an order from an immigration judge for at least two years to leave the country. OOOOOkay.

I guess in his family when relatives come here from their home countries, you just assume that somewhere along the way they got a green card, took courses in the Constitution, got a job and eventually stood before an immigration official who formally swore them in as a US citizen. All the studying and requirements that help you move from arriving on the boat to full-fledged citizenship are just formalities in his family and nobody even bothers to go to swearing in ceremonies any longer. Right?

Basically, that is what you have to believe to accept the explanation that a favored and influential aunt came to America and hid out here, accepting public assistance while her famous nephew became rich and even more famous. He kind of knew she was there, kind of, and threw a nod her way occasionally when he needed to add a chapter to his life's story, but he never really delved into hers. I guess.

Sure puts an exclamation point on Sen. Obama's recent speeches about selfishness, doesn't it? If we don't want to pony up scads of our money to pay for his tax increases, we are selfish, but if he wants to live in luxurious splendor while his brother, aunt and who knows how many other family members live in squalor, well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Let'em eat cake, eh?

I saw the news about Obama's aunt several times last week, and noted that the MainStream Media wasn't doing much coverage about it. Stories would pop up and then fade away just as quickly, presumably so the network news outlets and the print propaganda machines could say they covered it, when they barely met the definition of covered, pun intended.

So what does this mean for the election? Maybe something, maybe nothing.

I really don't believe the alleged pollsters who say there are still significant percentages of undecided voters waiting for divine inspiration to help them decide where they'll cast their vote. I believe most people made up their minds long ago and are just waiting for this to be over.

Television news outlets that focus on politics are so redundant lately that I can almost recite their lines verbatim, but I doubt they are changing any minds. For instance, it doesn't matter to me one whit that Obama is spending money in states that are considered safely in McCain's camp. Exactly what could you say in an ad that would suddenly change people's minds? And what is he supposed to do with all that leftover money he has that his campaign can't figure out how to spend?

Spread it around? Hah, not likely!

More like nothing or buy ads in states that aren't going to vote for him so news announcers will have something to announce.

I believe that people who already have made up their minds to either vote for or against the senator won't see much to change that in all of this latest eruption about him and his family. I believe that a much more likely barometer of how Obama is doing in the last week of his campaign came from the viewership of the infomercial that he forced on the World Series audience.

Depending on which tabulations you believe he either reached one third to just under one-half of the viewership for the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. If he is really matching McCain in the polls, and turnout is likely to be higher than it was four years ago, then Obama should expect to draw around 60 million votes.

But that means he didn't attract even half of his own supporters to his sleepomercial. I guess it wasn't all that exciting an idea after all. We don't even know how many TV sets were tuned in for the World Series while their owners were in the kitchen making snacks during the infomercial.

It sure does make for an interesting tidbit just before we head to the polls though doesn't it?

So we have a brother living in a hut in Kenya on a buck a month - that's American dollar not impalas - and a celebrated aunt living in a public housing project in Boston, which she somehow managed to wrangle out of the city government without ever showing a passport, visa or some other form of identification proving she is a permanent legal resident? And the Democrat nominee for president knows nuttink about them?

I see. And from this we are to conclude that if the good Senator from Illinois becomes President of the United States he will stay on top of issues that matter to rank and file Americans he has never met?

More of those things that make you go HMMMMMM.