Gallup Daily: McCain Moves Ahead, 48% to 45%  —  McCain enjoying increase in support following convention  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48% to 45%, when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the presidential election were held today.

Palin Media Avoidance Watch: Day 9 — McCain Camp Says She Won't Do Interviews Until It Knows She'll Be Treated with “Deference”  —  Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself …

Obama considered joining military, regrets abortion answer  —  Barack Obama says his answer about abortion at the Saddleback Church forum was “probably” too flip.  —  During separate televised interviews last month, Pastor Rick Warren asked the two presidential candidates when a baby gets human rights.

FALSE EQUIVALENCY.... I tend to like the fact-checking work the Washington Post's Michael Dobbs has done over the course of the campaign, but this morning, he published an item about “some of the more questionable claims” that didn't quite work.  For example, there's this quote from Joe Biden:

‘Uppity,’ the explanation  —  According to his spokesman, U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Southerner born and bred, had no idea on earth that the word “uppity” had racial connotations when he used it to describe Barack and Michelle Obama.  —  No idea at all.  Could have knocked him over with a feather when someone told him.

Palin floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee  —  The Democrats are in trouble.  Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.  —  Period.  —  Palin's speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense.

McCain's history of hot temper raises concerns  —  WASHINGTON — John McCain made a quick stop at the Capitol one day last spring to sit in on Senate negotiations on the big immigration bill, and John Cornyn was not pleased.  —  Cornyn, a mild-mannered Texas Republican …

Clash of the Titans  —  You know what I'm thinking, because you're thinking it, too.  —  If Barack Obama had chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate, we would now be looking forward to the greatest night in the history of American politics: the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate between Ma Barker and Sarah Barracuda.

U.S. Unveils Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants  —  WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's giant quasi-public mortgage finance companies, and announced a four-part rescue plan that includes an open-ended guarantee from the Treasury Department …

Sarah Palin's appeal to working-class women may be limited  —  For many of these critical swing voters, economic interests trump any admiration of the Alaska governor's maternal grit, and some are repelled by her sarcastic jabs at Obama.  —  UNIONTOWN, PA. — Trish Heckman …

Fox News Sunday: Rick Davis Tells Voters To Forget His Lobbyist Ties, Calls Them “Ghosts Of The Past”  —  Republicans ought to thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Fox News Sunday.  Where else could you get away with this laughingly lame deflection?  When Obama Campaign Manager David …

When Barack's berserkers lost the plot  —  My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week.  Their charismatic candidate was ahead in virtually every poll.  George W Bush was so unpopular that conservatives were scrambling around for reasons not to invite …