MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat  —  MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel's coverage of the election.  —  That experiment appears to be over.

Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama  —  WASHINGTON — The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year.

Few Stand to Gain on This Bailout, and Many Lose  —  Over the years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac showered riches on many winners: their executives, Wall Street bankers and Washington lobbyists.  Now the foundering mortgage giants are leaving some losers in their wake, notably their shareholders …

POST ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN  —  THE Post today enthusiastically urges the election of Sen. John S. McCain as the 44th president of the United States.  —  McCain's lifelong record of service to America, his battle-tested courage, unshakeable devotion to principle and clear grasp of the dangers …

Palin in Debate  —  I just finished watching a video on C-Span's website of the August, 2006 Republican debate in the Alaska governor's race.  It pitted Frank Murkowski, the then-governor of the state and veteran of 22 years in the U.S. Senate, against Republican politician John Binkley and Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin.

Original Mavericks  —  Marc Ambinder writes about John McCain's latest ad: … But couldn't it have something to do with the way the campaign press reports news?  Back in 2000, the exit polls showed that among the 24 percent of the electorate who said it was very important to them to select an …

Review: Russell Brand hosts the VMAs with candor  —  Russell Brand seemed a little out of place as the host at the MTV Video Music Awards.  —  Not because he's British or relatively unknown in America, as most of the chatter was about before Sunday night's show from Los Angeles.

Ms. Palin's Pipeline  —  PEOPLE ARE still buzzing about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech.  But while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska …

Rice Offers Less-Than-Hearty Palin Endorsement  —  ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: In a weekend interview, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice passed up an opportunity to defend Sarah Palin from allegations that she does not have the foreign policy experience to be vice president.

No “Cat Fights”  —  I have been asked repeatedly over the last several days to respond to the idea that Hillary Clinton will soon be dispatched by the Obama campaign to “take Palin on.”  —  The questions are fair, but what undergirds them is an obsession in our popular culture with the …

SLOW SLIDE INTO OBLIVION  —  I spent most of the day today traveling and then giving a talk up at Union College a few hours north of New York City.  So I was offline most of the day.  And though I heard about Charlie Gibson bagging the first interview with Sarah Palin, I was eager to get home and read the details.

Party identification difference down to one point?  —  Allahpundit flagged an interesting point in an updated version of the USA Today story on their latest polling in the presidential race.  According to the internals of the Gallup survey, McCain's ascension to the leadership of the GOP may have healed the brand.

A Heartbeat Away  —  “We're not running against Governor Palin.”  —  David Axelrod, the Obama campaign's chief strategist, on “Fox News Sunday,” Sept. 7, 2008.  —  Actually, the Obama campaign is running (in part) against Sarah Palin.  Her name will appear with John McCain's on the ballot.

McCain's Convenient Untruth  —  When it comes to fighting wars, John McCain stands up and calls for sacrifice.  “We never hide from history; we make history,” he declared in his convention speech.  But when it comes to taxes, McCain is unwilling to demand even a teensy bit of sacrifice.