A Fine Mess  —  A friend serving in the Bush administration called Sunday to try to talk me out of my doubts about the $700 billion financial bailout the administration was asking Congress to approve.  I picked up the phone, and made the mistake of good-naturedly remarking …

Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million  —  Senator John McCain's campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated “Grassroots” Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them [Updated]  —  ***Sticky***Scroll past on main page for newer posts***Updates sprinkled throughout post and summarized at end***  —  Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine …

Dodd's Bailout Draft Could Give Companies' Shares to Government  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats want to add tough new measures to the Treasury Department's proposal to bail out financial firms, including strict limits on executive compensation and a provision that would allow the government …

For release at 9:30 p.m. EDT  —  The Federal Reserve Board on Sunday approved, pending a statutory five-day antitrust waiting period, the applications of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies.  —  To provide increased liquidity support to these firms as they transition …

Palin on Ahmadinejad: ‘He Must Be Stopped’  —  Governor Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, was scheduled to speak today at a rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance here of President Ahmadinejad of Iran.  Her appearance was canceled by rally organizers who sought a nonpolitical event.

The End-Times And Sarah Palin  —  Yes, she believes in them.  Of course she believes in them.  Her former pastor believes that Alaska will be the refuge for the faithful in the lower 48 states when the Rapture comes.  She is a Biblical literalist who denies evolution - who has to deny evolution - to remain in her church.

Steering the McCain Campaign, a Lot of Old Bush Hands  —  When Gov. Sarah Palin flew home to Alaska for the first time since being named the Republican vice presidential nominee, she brought along at least half a dozen new advisers to conduct briefings, stage-manage her first television interview …

Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses  —  COLORADO SPRINGS — Acknowledging that 20 years and millions of dollars spent loudly and bitterly attacking the liberal leanings of American campuses have failed to make much of a dent in the way undergraduates are educated, some conservatives have decided to try a new strategy.

Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff  —  Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

Bailout Prevents Great Depression 2.0  —  What would be the dollar cost of not bailing out Wall Street?  Try a number north of $30 trillion.  (The awful math is detailed below.)  That's why Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke were so scared last week.  And, yes, I think “scared” isn't too strong a word.

McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina's $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’  —  For the past week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been railing against Wall Street “fat cats” and pledging to “stop multi-million dollar payouts to CEOs who have broken the public trust.”

PETER THE GREAT ON THE WAY.  —  RFS Pyotr Velikiy and its entourage set sail for Venezuela yesterday.  The ship has broken down during exercises before, and I suspect that part of the point of the voyage is to demonstrate that major Russian naval units can operate distant from Russian bases.

Early voting starts today in some states  —  FAIRFAX, Va. — Voters by the thousands will begin casting ballots for president this week in an early voting process that's expected to set records this year.  —  Residents of Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia are among the first in the nation eligible to vote in person, as well as by mail.

Stand-Ins, Naps Help Debate Preparation  —  To get in the debating mood, Republican John McCain will host a town-hall event and take a short nap.  His rival, Democrat Barack Obama, will work out or shoot hoops.  —  And to prepare, Sen. McCain will spar this week in mock debates with Michael Steele.