McCain's gambit  —  McCain suspends his campaign, and asks to postpone Friday's debate, to address the financial crisis.  —  Both candidates have been marginal players; McCain, though, seems to have the potential to make himself a major one, and his move is a mark, most of all, that he doesn't like the way this campaign is going.

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:

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 …

Cell Phones and the 2008 Vote: An Update  —  Current polling in the 2008 presidential election shows a very tight race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.  In part because of the strong support Obama is attracting among younger voters, and as the number of Americans …

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 …

FOX News Poll: Obama Reclaims Lead Over McCain, 45% to 39%  —  Barack Obama has recaptured the lead — 45 percent to 39 percent — over John McCain in the presidential race, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday.  —  As majorities of each party's faithful back their party nominee …

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:

The trust problem  —  Andrew Leonard has an interesting theory about what Paulson and Bernanke may be thinking — namely, that mortgage-related securities are wildly underpriced, and that the Treasury can create a market that will lead to major upward revaluations, and we'll all live happily thereafter.

Florida congressman points to Palin to rally Jews to Obama  —  (CNN) - Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

Lawmakers likely to scale back bailout  —  Funding for Treasury's ambitious $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets appears increasingly likely to be scaled back or divided into tranches to help win the votes needed from nervous lawmakers in Congress.

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 …