Fed to Loan A.I.G. $85 Billion in Rescue  —  By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and ERIC DASH  —  Acting to avert a possible financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve reversed course on Tuesday and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government an ownership stake in troubled insurance giant American International Group.

Holtz-Eakin: McCain helped create BlackBerry  —  Asked what work John McCain did as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.  —  “He did this,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin …

And now this  —  From an e-mail sent overnight by Anchorage attorney Kevin Clarkson:

GOP delegate's hotel tryst goes bad when he wakes up with $120,000 missing  —  He met her in the bar of the swank hotel and invited her to his room.  Once there, the woman fixed the drinks and told him to get undressed.  —  And that, the delegate to the Republican National Convention told police, was the last thing he remembered.

MCCAIN, SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION, AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS.  —  I sort of buried this in a previous post, but it's worth drawing out.  Today, John McCain said, “Wall Street has betrayed us.  They've broken the social contract between capitalism and the average citizen and the worker.

GOP group behind negative Obama poll  —  A Republican group is taking responsibility for a poll that has roiled the Jewish community by asking sharply negative questions about Senator Barack Obama.  —  The Republican Jewish Coalition, which is launching a campaign against Obama on behalf …

Count the Lies  —  John McCain may be trying to sell himself as a “maverick” and a “straight talker” who will tell the truth no matter the consequences, but independent, non-partisan watchdog groups aren't buying it.  But, since he wrapped up his party's nomination, John McCain has offered more of the same false attacks and smears.

Fiorina: Palin Doesn't Have Experience To Run A Major Company  —  Carly Fiorina, a key surrogate for John McCain on economic issues, said on Tuesday that Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to run a major company like the one that Fiorina formerly headed.

Cash-poor Obama says no to Reid  —  Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a personal appeal to Barack Obama: Help me grow the Democrats' Senate majority by sharing some of the $77 million you've got in the bank.  —  Obama's campaign said no.

Top Pentagon Official in Surprise Visit to Pakistan  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, America's top military official, made a hastily arranged visit to Pakistan on Tuesday for talks about a recent incursion by American commandos based in neighboring Afghanistan.

Competing Tax Plans: Two Perspectives  —  Here's an interesting example of how different graphical presentations of the same data can hit the eye differently.  First, an explanation of the likely distributional impacts of the McCain and Obama tax plans, from The Washington Post:

Reaching Critical Mass  —  The sudden change in the polls the last 10 days, even though it may be temporary, has prompted a furor in the media that has no parallel in modern election history.  Vicious words like “treason”, “abasement”, “liar”, and “lying” are in the air now in an unheralded attack on McCain …

McCain press pack stages mini-insurrection  —  Amie Parnes reports:  —  Reporters traveling with John McCain are slightly miffed that the senator hasn't had any face time with them in, well, a month and three days (But who's counting?)  —  So, when Straight Talk Air departed Tampa today, a dozen reporters chanted, “Bring Mac back!

Obama vs. Palin  —  If you want to know why Gov. Sarah Palin drives liberal Democrats crazy — and is helping Sen. Barack Obama raise money at a record pace — here's an excerpt from an viral email making its way around the country:  — If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're “exotic, different.”

Palin's Favorability Numbers Eroding  —  As voters have taken a second look at Sarah Palin in venues like the Charlie Gibson interview and even Tina Fey's SNL sketch, they may not be as enamored of what they're seeing.  —  The Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos now has Palin's favorability-unfavorability scores at 45-44 — just a +1.

AIG Is Toast  —  How dangerous is AIG?  Michael Lewitt tells us, in today's NYT: … Paul Jackson is on the same page; he also notes that AIG, which is a huge player in the P&C business, will have a substantial amount of exposure to the damage caused by hurricane Ike — damage estimated at between $6 billion and $18 billion.