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For a decade or so, I've been appearing as the token liberal at the American Legion's civics experiment, Boys State. I generally get hooted, booed and hissed by the very conservative high school seniors before it's all over. (And patted quietly on the back by the minority of free thinkers who attend.)

So, this year's report after a lively session this afternoon at UCA:

Social issues are dead. I got one question -- about gay marriage -- and when I said I favored it, I got a smattering of applause, no boos and no followup questions. Amazing. Previous years have been dominated by the evils of homosexuality and murderous abortionists and the primacy of the Bible.

This year? The war was the topic, over and over. And the presidential election.

I did a straw vote. My impression was that Obama scored higher than McCain in the show of hands, but McCain had robust support among the 17- and 18-year-olds. Many students had friends and relatives in Iraq. Many believe if we don't battle them in Baghdad we'll have to battle them in the streets of Benton. Really.

We had full and frank exchanges. I was encouraged. The war and health care (another subject of repeat questions) are a great deal more meaningful than the usual social issue noise.

It happened to be the 40th anniversary of my Boys State summer at LSU, a couple of months after the assassinations of RFK and MLK. We were segregated then. White males at LSU were in air conditoned dorms. Black males were in steamy dorms across town at Southern. Saltpeter in the eggs, of course (or so the story went.). Louisiana, ever advanced, held Boys and Girls State at the same time at LSU. When you marched in military formation across the LSU campus, you had to do an "eyes right" when girls approached. But there was one evening when fraternization was allowed. The boys marched over to the girls' dorms and then walked into ranks arranged by height. Then you did a left face and met your date for the evening, a dance in the LSU Union. Weird memory, I know. Sometimes, I really don't want to be young again.

Talk Business passes along -- as hard to believe -- a CNBC report that Verizon Wireless may buy Alltel.

Even if not true, it's not likely to be the last time such talk goes around. Now that Alltel is just a fish in the sea, no longer rooted by ownership to Little Rock, it will always be a little unsettling. No comments from either party yet. A few more details in Arkansas Business. Reported price: $27 billion. (Isn't that about what private investors paid for the company?)

UPDATE: More from Ark. Biz. Could this happen? If so, big questions about a lot of jobs in LR.

WSJ on the jump

John McCain might not like town halls so much after all, not if he gets another one where somebody asks him about his marital infidelity in a more direct fashion. Until now, this subject has been off limits unless the candidate's name was Clinton.

Courtesy of the Fayetteville Trucker, we have a copy of a letter from state Sen. Sue Madison of Fayetteville to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees concerning the proposal to sell the existing Fayetteville High School to UA for $59 million.

In short: Bad idea for any number of reasons.

McCain proposes a series of weekly "town hall" discussions between the presidential candidates, lightly moderated. Open questions, free-form. It's a great idea. Enough with Tim Russert, Brian Williams and the rest of the gasbags. Let the candidates thrust and parry. It also would seem to play into Obama's strengths, though there you begin getting into the expectations game. Sometimes you win, but lose by not winning by a wide enough margin. If the old man manages to be reasonably coherent, he might get a media A for effort.

Scott Smith, who's been a lawyer at the state Education Department, will head the new Walton-funded public school agitprop agency at the University of Central Arkansas. (It joins a similar propaganda agency at Walton U. in Fayetteville.)

I know. Picking on those nice Waltons again. But really. When your salary is paid by the Waltons, is there any meaningful chance you'll research and report on issues that run counter to your benefactors' ideology on public education?

Got a note last night about the intent of members of the local cycling community to start a "meet and greet" campaign with Clinton Library visitors to inform them of the unfulfilled promise to convert the old Rock Island railroad bridge (shown beyond reflecting pool) to a pedestrian/bike span.

Read on.

The usual suspects -- and then some -- are in a purple rage that Hillary Clinton didn't concede last night. Here's a sampling. You'll have to look up MoDo yourself but haters will be rewarded. I should add it's not just the haters. Michael Tomasky has been warm to the Clintons in the past. Not today.

It is always more fun to pound Hillary than to inspect McCain, though Josh Marshall comments that McCain's "prebuttal" remarks about Obama's win were "awful." He added, "Even the Foxies couldn't help dumping on it." I expect McCain will be lost today in the tsunami of outrage at Clinton. But there are plenty of rough reviews of McCain.

PS: The Daily Howler recalls a number of other candidates for president who didn't concede despite their apparent defeat in primaries. Ronnnie, Teddy, Jerry and John, to name four. I don't believe the press reaction was the same then.

Sorry. I've been occupied.

You know that Hillary is speaking in a concessionary fashion at the moment I file this (8:35 p.m.). Nice finishing touch for her, a win in South Dakota, where every major Democrat supported Obama.

Talk about that or whatever.

8:44 p.m. - Hillary, on what she wants: "I want the 18 million people who voted for me to be respected and to be heard."

That, my friends, is the next question to be answered. Will she be on the ticket or won't she?

8:54 PM -- Oops, she's not conceding just yet. Sorry, Obamaists. No pound o' flesh until tomoro.