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.

Breaking: Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion  —  Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.

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%.

Remarks By John McCain On Our Financial Markets  —  ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery in Green Bay, WI, today at 8:00 a.m. CT (9:00 a.m. ET):  —  Thank you all very much.  It's a great pleasure to be introduced by Governor Sarah Palin …

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 …

Florida, long way from Alaska  —  An interesting focus group from the St. Pete Times finds a bit of what could be called an Ed Koch effect:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.)

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

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 …

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 …

PRAYING FOR THE TROOPS, AND THE WORLD.  Are we fighting a Holy War?  —  Devastating.

Obama: ‘Panicked’ McCain's solution is ‘to blame me for it’  —  At a rally in Coral Gables, Obama responds to McCain's shots: … (video from Jed Report)

Confirmed: Despite Claim, Palin's Pay As Mayor Of Wasilla Went Up  —  I've just obtained some records from the city of Wasilla that confirm that Sarah Palin's pay as mayor went up, despite her claim that she took a pay cut.  —  One thing Palin has frequently claimed as proof of her reform credentials …

Fleischer: Bush Is Not Taking Questions From Press Because Doing So ‘Would Hurt John McCain’  —  On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that Bush has not taken questions from the press in over seven weeks because he wants to “make sure this election remains fully focused on the two candidates”:

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.