A Partisan Paper of Record  —  Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization.  Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid …

Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll  —  Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Democratic nominee Barack Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over Republican John McCain …

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:  —  As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis.  We are well aware of the difficulty …

Campbell Brown Rips McCain Camp's “Sexist” Treatment Of Palin  —  A prominent female news anchor chastised the McCain campaign Tuesday evening for engaging in sexism and insulting behavior in its attempt to shield Gov. Sarah Palin from members of the press.  —  In a fiery commentary …

Pew Research: Missing Cell-Phone Onlys Matter  —  Few in the field of survey research have examined the problem of cell phones and surveys as closely over the last four years as Scott Keeter and his colleagues at the Pew Research Center.  They conducted one of the first large-scale political surveys …

Intrade Betting is Suspicious  —  There's something funny going on over at Intrade with respect to the pricing of the Obama and McCain contracts.  —  Right now, Obama is trading at 52.3 points.  That is, Intrade implies that he has a 52.3 percent chance to become the next President.

Palin on Thin Ice  —  With today's kerfuffle over the media being kept away from Sarah Palin's meetings with foreign leaders — like there was a risk she'd answer their shouted questions?  — I've been mulling over Colby's post about the Hannity-Palin “100 percent pure infomercial” interview.

North Korea bars international inspectors from nuclear facility  —  PARIS: North Korea has barred international inspectors from a nuclear reprocessing plant that produces weapons-grade material and intends to restart activity there in a week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains 3-Point Edge  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama is maintaining a three-point, 47% to 44%, edge over John McCain among registered voters in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Sept. 21-23, unchanged from Tuesday's report.

NBC/WSJ POLL: DOUBTS ABOUT PALIN  —  From NBC's Mark Murray  —  The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll will be released at 6:30 pm ET, but here's an early look at one set of numbers:  —  Forty-nine percent say that Palin is unqualified to be president if the need arises, compared with 40 percent who say she's qualified.

Pinpoint Attacks Focus on Obama  —  STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Hundreds of times in the past three weeks, cable television viewers here have been the exclusive audience for two of the roughest advertisements of the political season.  —  One links Senator Barack Obama to the former mayor of Detroit …

Palin gets question, looks to McCain, demurs  —  This is what happens when campaigns let reporters into photo ops.  They get all uppity and ask questions.  —  From the pool report account of what happened after McCain and Palin's meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko:

It's Judgment Day for McCain  —  Last week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for a commission to “find out what went wrong” on Wall Street.  It was an excellent suggestion: Public inquiries into Wall Street practices served the country well in the 1930s.

POLITICS: Neo-cons, Ex-Israeli Diplomats Push Islamophobic Video  —  A group of hard-line U.S. neo-conservatives and former Israeli diplomats, among others, are behind the mass distribution, ahead of the November U.S. presidential election, of a controversial DVD that critics have denounced as Islamophobic.

Anxious Depositors Withdraw Cash From Asian Bank  —  HONG KONG — Throngs of depositors lined up outside the headquarters and branches of the Bank of East Asia here on Wednesday to withdraw their money, underlining widespread anxiety in Asia that Wall Street's recent difficulties might spread across the Pacific.

Trooper probe now ‘confidential,’ Palin aides say  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — Republican campaign officials indicated they are done answering questions about an investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner Tuesday, citing a request by a state investigator.

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk  —  VERMONT — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk …

On Iraq's Northern Front, Echoes of Georgia?  —  The following post is from occasional contributor Douglas Macgregor, an independent military strategist, retired Army colonel, and author of Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Century.

Bill Clinton cites Jewish holidays to explain delay in campaigning  —  File this one under Ya Can't Make It Up.  —  Call me crazy, but there may some Christian areas of the country that he could stump in for Obama before, after or doing the high holidays.  —  From WJC's interview with Larry King tonight:

Senator Biden: National Security Speech  —  Senator Biden just finished a major foreign policy speech at the Rotunda of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.  He addressed the issues of Iraq and Afganistan and how Barack will focus on rebuilding our alliances, partnerships and international institutions.

Oh, That Joe!  (No. 17 in a Series) — First Thing We Do, Let's Retain All the Lawyers  —  “I think we're going to be up very late counting votes,” Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., told a kettle of lawyers Tuesday night at a fundraiser for the Democratic Victory Fund hosted by the American Association …

Biden, Obama helped keep ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ alive  —  CNN Special Investigations Unit  —  DEWEY BEACH, Delaware (CNN) — Although Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden routinely mocks his Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for her onetime support of the infamous …