This is why I think Democrats from the south do better.  When they play the Bubba card, it works.  They know how to play to the base and Bubbas at the same time without seeming fake.  Gore and Kerry were never able to pull this off.  

Do we know what the numbers are for this year?

So is 51%, but it still wins you an election. ;o)

Man, you've never been north of San Francisco, have you?  ;o)  Hehe... as a Humboldt County native, I have to take exception to that....

Anyways, I wish my wife blogged so she could give the real skinny, but she was able to convince me that there was a way to enforce as strict a discipline as you like without violence, so my "last resort" became pretty unnecessary.  Unfortunately, as a computer programmer with no kids, I'm hardly qualified to give out advice on parenting, but I do know that my wife really liked this book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0891093117/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-5148643-2734346?v=gl ance&s=books&st=*

BTW - I didn't believe her, either until I saw her with her kindergarten class.  She has those kids toe the line.  Most of the time when they start misbehaving, she just has to raise her eyebrow and they snap to.  It's pretty amazing, actually.  In the end, the argument, for me boiled down to, "Do I really want to spank my children if there are equally good (or better) ways of maintaining discipline?"

I would note the teachers that I know (my wife, my mother and my sister in law) would probably agree with the lack of discipline at home, they would vehemently disagree with your assessment that a lack of spanking is the problem.  My guess is that they would say that a lack of parenting skills is much more of a problem.  Have you ever watched any of those "Nanny" shows?  Every single one that I've seen basically shows the kids playing their parents like fools and then has the Nanny come in and give them some basic tips on how not to be such tools.   To my mind, yeah, spanking might give work temporarily, but it's a short term solution that illustrates a parent's failures of discipline rather than a method of discipline.