We here at Vanity Fair maintain a kind of affectionate rivalry with our downstairs neighbors at The New Yorker. We play softball every year, compete for some of the same stories, and share an elevator bank. (You can tell the ones who are headed to the 20th floor by their Brooklyn pallor and dog-eared paperbacks.)

And heaven knows we’ve published our share of scandalous images, on the cover and otherwise. So we’ve been watching the kerfuffle over last week’s New Yorker cover with a mixture of empathy and better-you-than-us relief.

We had our own presidential campaign cover in the works, which explored a different facet of the Politics of Fear, but we shelved it when The New Yorker’s became the “It Girl” of the blogosphere. Now, however, in a selfless act of solidarity with our downstairs neighbors here at the Condé Nast building, we’d like to share it with you. Confidentially, of course.

Hope you enjoyed that. Hope to see you tomorrow!

While the national elections are exciting, and monopolize most water cooler conversations and chain emails, I find the real excitement of politics when the issues are close to home. Yes, even elections are going local.

A few weeks ago, I (along with a few friends) made it fairly clear that I will be voting Dan Saban for Maricopa County Sheriff in November, and doing what I can in the meantime to get him there. I have my button and my bumper sticker, but I figured I could more. So I did. There is now an official student organization named ASU For Dan Saban. We have a Facebook page and a blog so far, and once school starts we will be meeting in an official capacity and tabling at each of the four (4) ASU campuses. If you would like to reduce your political carbon footprint and go local, please email me at samuel [dot] richard [at] asu [dot] edu. And if you decide to go crazy for local politics, here is some information on debates for the Corporation Commissioner.

The President is the most powerful person on Earth, sure. But what our local elected officials do, say, and pursue affects us on a daily basis. I challenge you to invest a little time this election season in local politics. Spend as much time researching your local sheriff, state representative, and proposition decisions as you do for your presidential and other national choices. Go ahead, I triple dog dare you.

In the meantime, I have some news. There is now an official club on campus called ASU For Dan Saban. We have a blog, a Facebook page, and an email (asufordansaban [at] gmail [dot] com).

Looking forward to catching up a bit!