two nice girls.

OK, shame on me for such a misleading heading. Yes, they are two, but they're not "nice," and they're definitely not girls. Two brilliant, passionate, heroic women, one alive and kicking, one dead and sorely missed (both redheads, incidentally), is more like it. Here's a taste of writer Anne Lamott grieving the absence of larger-than-life liberal journalistic legend Molly Ivins (pictured) in this historical, hysterical campaign:

[Molly] would have had such a ball with Sarah Palin -- the trooper scandal, her love of moose (between buns), the flamboyantly botched television interviews, the bravery of people who hunt wolves for sport, from the air. Even though Molly was a Texan -- who would have been on guard for the sneering tone of liberal criticism toward anyone with a gun or a double-wide -- she still would have obliterated Palin as a faux populist wingnut with a tanning bed instead of a heart. She would have made great hay with the capacity of certain politicians to reinvent themselves in entirely new realities, as newfound populist Brotherman McCain has done, and his desperate, icky laugh of contempt might have raised some worries for her.

She would have known all along that this election was going to be as tight as a tick. She would have had the sense to be afraid, but to not let her fear hurt her. She would have done one constructive thing after another: Sent money to swing states, offered her car to volunteers from out of town, let young campaign workers sleep on her couch.

I swear, she might be the only person who can help get me through these last 33 nerve-wracking days. She would not have taken Sarah Palin lying down. She would laugh her ass off, and do something every day to defeat McCain. She would eat with beloved friends, put people together who simply had to know one another, who might together be able to throw a wrench in McCain's Rube Goldberg machine. She makes me want to move around on the floor with her one more time, standing on her shoes like I used to with my father when I was a little girl, and he was teaching me how to waltz.

To read the rest of the remarkable "What's missing from this election? Molly Ivins," click here.

And remember, today is World Smile Day － give one up for Molly, Anne or your favorite funny redhead.    :)