Here we are, a mere week and a half away from election day-- and given the closeness of the Presidential race (Frick and Frack are neck and neck, obviously thanks to Uncle Steve's decision not to run, seeing as he'd obviously be in first place by a mile), this is the point at which desperation sets in, otherwise staid and civilized candidates get down and dirty, and the mud starts a-flyin'. But until the top guns start embarrassing themselves publicly by stooping to flustered personal attacks, we'll just have to amuse ourselves with the theatrical antics of candidates in a lesser contest: the Senate race. Here's the relevance you're all looking for: how do you suppose Apple feels about Green Party candidate Medea Benjamin having cribbed the "Think different" slogan for her own campaign?

It's true! Faithful viewer Matthew Guerrieri turned us on to a San Francisco Chronicle article about the whole sordid affair. Nader's Green Party may well be the choice of Mac users striving to "think different," but we're not entirely certain that radio ads about the opposition's use of hair care products was the sort of thing that Steve and Chiat-Day had in mind. Ms. Benjamin's latest ad jokingly poses as a news broadcast, in which an announcer reports that "the hole in the ozone layer has doubled in size due to all the hair spray used by Senator Dianne Feinstein over many, many years." And while we don't have any real problem with that sort of personal attack during an election season (hey, the mudslinging's the only really fun part), we have to wonder how Steve's handling Ms. Benjamin's new campaign slogan: "Think different. No, really think different. Vote Green. Vote Medea Benjamin for Senate."

Da noive a' some people! But at least Ms. Benjamin isn't claiming to have come up with the slogan herself; on the contrary, "Benjamin aides openly admit they lifted that slogan from the Apple campaign." Evidently they feel justified since it's all for the greater good. In any event, regardless of your own political leanings, Steve's recent endorsement of Algor over Nader now seems all that much more appropriate, doesn't it?