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 …

Americans Oppose Bailouts, Favor Obama to Handle Market Crisis  —  Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — Americans oppose government rescues of ailing financial companies by a decisive margin, and blame Wall Street and President George W. Bush for the credit crisis.  —  By a margin of 55 percent to 31 percent …

McCain Aide's Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac  —  WASHINGTON— One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

Bush Mouthpiece Admits: They've Been Sitting on this Plan  —  Hidden in an article reporting that Cheney's going to go hunt up some support for the $700,000,000,000 bailout is this admission that the Bush Administration has been sitting on it for some time: … Which raises three questions for me:

A Note to Bill Clinton  —  Given that we would never have had the odious George W. Bush in the White House in the first place if it wasn't for your blow jobs, Bill, it seems obvious that you owe it to the people of this country, and especially to the parents whose kids died in the Iraq War …

'Well, I Tell You What, It Helps in Ohio That We've Got Democrats in Charge of the Machines'  —  Thus spake The Messiah September 3 in Ohio.  Ah, yes, it sure does help having partisan hacks at the controls, doesn't it?  —  For all the get out the vote efforts Democrats encourage every year …

Democrats to let offshore drilling ban expire  —  WASHINGTON - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

McCain camp tries to keep reporters out of Palin meetings  —  (CNN) — McCain-Palin campaign officials shifted course Tuesday after being informed by television news organizations that they would not broadcast footage of Sarah Palin's meeting with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai Tuesday in New York …

Heart-ache: Tiny terrorist gives Bush speech thumbs down at the UN; Update: Obama rips UN, Ahmadinejad  —  A spontaneous gesture of disapproval?  Hardly.  ABC caught him waving at the White House press corps intermittently to get their attention.  He may be a cretin, but he's a media-savvy cretin.

And the Media Worries about Palin's Experience and McCain's Age?  —  I think in the space of about the last 24 hours, Joe Biden claimed that the AIG bailout was bad, but then said it wasn't bad;  —  that his apology about the dirty McCain ad was, as they say, inoperative;

269 tie: An electoral college ‘doomsday’?  —  Scholars speculate on scenario  —  President Obama, with Vice President Palin?  President Biden?  President Pelosi?  Call them the “Doomsday” scenarios — On Nov. 5, the presidential election winds up in a electoral-college tie, 269-269 …

5th Grader Suspended For Anti-Obama Shirt  —  AURORA (MyFOXColorado.com) - An 11-year-old in Aurora says his first amendment rights are being trampled after he was suspended for wearing a homemade shirt that reads “Obama is a terrorist's best friend.”  —  The fifth grader at Aurora Frontier …

Chattanooga: UT student not indicted in Palin e-mail hacking case … A federal grand jury in Chattanooga ended its session around lunch time today without indicting a University of Tennessee student who authorities believe may have hacked into vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account.

‘Grim’ Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US  —  “No Plans to Declassify” New National Intelligence Estimate for White House  —  US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as …

For Palin in New York, a Predebate Introduction to Motorcade Diplomacy  —  Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska met her first head of state on Tuesday as she crisscrossed New York City receiving foreign policy tutorials in advance of her debate next week with Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.