McCain's Integrity  —  For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick.  It's about John McCain.  The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person.

Wide-Ranging Ethics Scandal Emerges at Interior Dept.  —  WASHINGTON — As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal …

S.C. Dem chair: Palin primary qualification is she hasn't had an abortion  —  South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler sharply attacked Sarah Palin today, saying John McCain had chosen a running mate “ whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion.”

Obama on Letterman: Palin is lipstick, McCain policies are pig  —  Amie Parnes reports that Obama just taped this evening's show with David Letterman, which touched at length on the McCain campaign's accusations that he'd spoken disrespectfully about Sarah Palin.

CNN battleground polls: Race a dead heat in key states  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - New state polls indicate that the race for the White House remains a dead heat in four crucial battleground states that could determine the outcome of the election.  —  CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corporation polls …

CBS takes down McCain webad, suggests it's ‘misleading’  —  YouTube has removed a webad that casts Sarah Palin as the victim of sexism on the request of CBS, whose anchor Katie Couric was featured in the ad.  —  “One of the great lessons of that campaign is the continued and accepted role …

PALIN FAMILY SHOCKERS: WHAT SARAH'S REALLY HIDING!  —  The NATIONAL ENQUIRER'S exclusive ongoing investigation of GOP VP Nom Sarah ‘Barracuda’ Palin's goes far beyond a mere teen pregnancy crisis this week!  —  The Enquirer's team of reporters has combed the Alaskan wilderness to discover …

Palin's source  —  Thomas Frank noticed in the Journal today that Sarah Palin used an odd source for a quote in her announcement speech attributed only to a “writer.”  —  “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity,” she said, drawing from a once-powerful …

McCain embraces the staged rally  —  PHILADELPHIA, PA — For a candidate who once railed against “stale soundbites, staged rallies and over-managed messages,” John McCain seems to have turned over a new leaf.  —  Today marks the four-week anniversary since McCain held his last press conference …

Biden: Clinton a better veep pick than me  —  There's praising a colleague effusively.  —  And then, there's going so far that the praise diminishes yourself.  —  At a town hall in Nashua, N.H., this afternoon, Senator Joe Biden seemed to veer off into the latter when talking about Hillary Clinton …

McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding  —  Those attacks on Palin that we debunked didn't come from Obama.  —  FACTCHECK.ORG  —  A McCain-Palin ad has FactCheck.org calling Obama's attacks on Palin “absolutely false” and “misleading.”  That's what we said, but it wasn't about Obama.

Gallup Daily: McCain 48%, Obama 43%  —  Nine percent undecided in latest average  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update finds John McCain continuing to lead Barack Obama, 48% to 43% among registered voters.  —  The Sept. 7-9 average — spanning interviewing conducted Sunday …

SAR-AH!  SAR-AH!  SAR-AH!  —  Fairfax, Va. — If you've been to Barack Obama's big public rallies, you know it's not unusual to see lines of people stretched for block after block after block — seemingly mile after mile after mile — waiting to get in.  That hasn't usually been the case with John McCain's rallies.

LIPSTICK ON A PIG  —  Last night, while on Hannity & Colmes I cut Barack Obama some slack on his reference to “lipstick on a pig.”  Now I personally don't think he was referring to Gov. Palin, but if he was he should apologize immediately.  —  Almost twenty four hours into this new controversy …

Señor Smith  —  Low-wage Latino workers keep Sen. Gordon Smith's family business humming.  Not all of them are legal.  —  WESTON—Up on a hill overlooking this Eastern Oregon town of 701 people, Smith Frozen Foods turns raw produce from the surrounding fields into ready-to-eat products.