McCain Plays the Race Card  —  When politicians interject race into a campaign, they seldom do it directly.  Consider McCain's new ad, which the campaign says it will be airing nationally: This is hardly subtle: Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman.

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings  —  WASHINGTON — It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues.  But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first.

Undermining McCain Campaign Attack, Republicans Back Obama's Version of Meeting With Iraqi Leaders  —  Earlier this week, the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., seized upon a column in the New York Post that described Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as having urged Iraqi leaders in a private meeting …

Gallup Daily: Obama Now Leads McCain by 5 Points  —  At 49%, support for Obama is near his record high for the year  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Tuesday through Thursday finds Barack Obama with a five percentage point lead over John McCain in the presidential preferences of registered voters, 49% to 44%.

ASTONISHING: Rep. Rangel Calls Palin ‘Disabled’  —  Embattled Politician: It's Laughable That GOP VP Nominee Bases Foreign Policy On Being Able To See Russia  —  Republicans Infuriated; Rep. King Blasts Rangel  —  NEW YORK (CBS) ― Already under fire for his tax troubles …

One thought pushes fence-sitters to the left: Palin  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election.  Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Palin Warns Against ‘Second Holocaust’ by Ahmadinejad  —  ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala Reports: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin warned against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pursuit of nuclear weapons for a “second holocaust,” while blaming “Democrat partisans” for forcing rally organizers …

Palin's favorability trajectory  —  Al Rodgers whipped this up:  —  Worth more than 1,000 words, huh?

Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

Fox demands McCain camp remove Garrett from ad  —  Fox News sent a cease and desist letter to the McCain campaign today over a new ad that includes the voice of correspondent Major Garrett, according to a letter obtained by Politico.  —  From the letter sent to Trevor Potter, general counsel for the McCain campaign.

Bush's Legacy: Small Ball After All?  —  BOTH SUPPORTERS AND CRITICS TEND TO VIEW BUSH AS A GAME-CHANGING PRESIDENT.  BUT HE MAY BE REMEMBERED AS A COMPARATIVELY MINOR FIGURE. … That succinct judgment, received not long ago via e-mail from a political scientist, sums up a good deal …

McCain defends retirement accounts amid stock dive  —  GREEN BAY, Wisc.  (AP) — Wall Street turmoil left John McCain scrambling to explain why the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remained strong.  It also left him defending his support for privately investing Social Security money …

Todd Palin: ‘first dude’ or ‘shadow governor?’  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — He's the man Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin affectionately calls her “first dude.”  —  Todd Palin was introduced to the nation at the Republican National Convention as a blue-collar oil worker, a laid-back father of five and a world-record-holding snowmobile racer.

How scary is this spider?  That may depend on your politics  —  We all like to think that our political views are shaped by our personal experiences and by deep reflection on the great issues of the day.  Yet research suggests that they may also be influenced by our biology.

Oh, That Joe!  (No. 13 in a Series) — Kicking Ohio State's A**  —  Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., spent the past two days trying to win over Ohio voters, but he may have undermined that work in one quick dis of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team Friday morning.

McCain repeats Palin's lie: Alaska 'provides 20 percent of America's energy requirements.'  —  In her interview with ABC News last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin asserted that Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.”  After FactCheck.org pointed out that Alaska …

History Will Judge  —  For the past 150 years, most American war presidents — most notably Lincoln, Wilson and Roosevelt — have entered (or reentered) office knowing war was looming.  Not so George W. Bush.  Not so the war on terror.  The 9/11 attacks literally came out of the blue.

HIS STANDARD MO  —  Did John McCain just make his first edge toward that (hollow) apology that Joe Klein says he'll never accept?  —  (To be clear: Joe was referring to McCain's established pattern of engaging in sleazy or dishonest behavior knowing he can latter come back to the Washington bigs, moral hat in hand, for absolution.)