EXCERPTS: Charlie Gibson Interviews Sarah Palin  —  Republican VP Candidate Speaks with ABC News' Charlie Gibson in Exclusive Interview … GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question.

McCain on Palin  —  A tough interview with a Maine reporter yesterday, in which McCain speaks on Palin's national security experience.  Uncharacteristically, he's much more at home on the domestic policy side.  —  At one point, he says that Palin “was right” on Russia and on Iran.

Critics: Under Palin, Wasilla charged rape victims for exam  —  Two state leaders lashed out at the public record of Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday as witnesses in a new “Alaska Mythbusters” forum coordinated by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Palin's experience OK: Illinois's Dem guv  —  Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha.)  —  by Rick Pearson  —  Illinois' Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich admits he can't field dress a moose and his hunting targets tend to be more along the lines of state legislators in his own party who don't trust him.

What's the Matter with Michigan?  —  Why Obama is faltering in a state that should go blue.  —  Democrats have grown accustomed to winning Michigan by relatively comfortable margins.  Bill Clinton flipped the state in 1992, bringing home the Reagan Democrats and giving the party its first win in the state since 1968.

Sarah Palin's Myth of America  —  Sarah Palin has arrived in our midst with the force of a rocket-propelled grenade.  She has boosted John McCain's candidacy and overwhelmed the presidential process in a way that no vice-presidential pick has since Thomas Eagleton did the precise opposite …

MCCAIN: DO AMERICANS REALLY WANT TO WORK?  —  In 2006.  John McCain addressed the national conference of the AFL-CIO's Building & Construction Trades Department, where he took a question about paying American workers a decent wage and answered thus:  —  Apparently, he believes …

Petraeus: I Don't Know That I Will Ever Use The Word “Victory” For Iraq  —  One of the McCain campaign's chief assaults on Barack Obama is that McCain is insisting that the troops return only after “victory” in Iraq, while Obama refuses to use that word — a position the McCain forces describe as tantamount to wanting to lose.

The Post-Convention Roadmap to the Real Knock-Out Punch  —  The public has access to twenty-six state polls in 16 states since the GOP convention ended.  Here's a summary.  —  There are multiple polls available in six key states so far, and here are the averages using only post-convention surveys:

LIKE I SAID, FOUR MORE YEARS OF BUSH WOULD BE VASTLY PREFERABLE  —  Wow, going to war with Russia might be necessary if Russia invades another one of the former states of the Soviet Union.  So says Sarah Palin.  War with Russia over Armenia?  If Russia and Georgia go at it again?

McCain's Health Care Tax Increase  —  A new rule here: Rather than do the McCain campaign's bidding by wasting space on Senator Honor's daily lies and bilge—his constant attempts to divert attention from substantive issues—I'm going to assume that others will spend more than enough …

Gallup Daily: McCain 48%, Obama 44%  —  McCain has held significant lead for last four days  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters continue to express a slight preference for John McCain (48%) over Barack Obama (44%) in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking presidential trial heat.

Ukraine comes to the forefront  —  An already fragile Ukraine has been made a lot more nervous by Russia's war with Georgia—and it is not alone  —  THE first priority for Europe after Russia's short August war with Georgia was to secure a ceasefire and a genuine pullback of Russian forces (see article).