Fed's $85 Billion Loan Rescues Insurer  —  By EDMUND L. ANDREWS, MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH  —  WASHINGTON — Fearing a financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve reversed course on Tuesday and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government control …

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

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 …

Fiorina's comment called ‘Biden-like’  —  (CNN) — Top McCain-Palin official Carly Fiorina is facing criticism from some within the campaign for a day of what they call “very Biden-like” comments, after the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told two separate interviewers that neither member …

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.

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 …

McCain and Palin are laughing at the press — and it's the press' fault  —  Chris Matthews was steamed.  —  As John McCain's manufactured “lipstick on a pig” story was taking flight last week, Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, kicked off the hour by teeing up the story.

Obama Team Files Suit Over Alleged Voter Suppression Plan  —  On afternoon conference call, Obama and Michigan Democratic officials say they're seeking an injunction to block alleged “caging” by the state GOP — using home foreclosure lists to seek to block residents from voting.

Country First (or, How The Media Loves A Lipsticked Rumsfeld)  —  Banks are falling and businesses busting, middle-class Americans are losing their homes in droves, while greedy poison comes a tricklin' down!!!  —  But, “the fundamentals are good!”  John McCain said they're good.

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 …

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.

THE STATE OF SARAH PALIN  —  The peculiar political landscape of the Vice-Presidential hopeful.  —  It rained a lot in Alaska this summer—even more than usual—and it was a cold summer, too.  The sun doesn't set on much of the state between mid-June and mid-July, but the weather …

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!