McCain Wins Debate  —  Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it — if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

Palin Problem  —  If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.  —  To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

Sarah Palin's Beauty Pageant Swimsuit Competition Footage (VIDEO)  —  Sarah Palin's 1984 beauty pageant swimsuit competition video has hit the web.  An Alaskan has uploaded what he claims to be 100% real footage of Sarah Palin in a red tank suit in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest.

Putting Country Last  —  I don't know John McCain as well as David Brooks does.  In fact, I don't know him personally at all.  But I covered his 2000 and 2008 primary campaigns, and I spent considerable time interviewing him, including several long interviews I did for a profile in 2006.

MAD ABOUT LETTERMAN  —  MCCAIN VIDEO 'JACKED FROM KATIE  —  CBS News executives were red- faced yesterday trying to explain how David Letterman used unaired news footage of Sen. John McCain with Katie Couric to embarrass the Republican presidential candidate.

What Caused The Economic Crisis?  Watch This!  —  Senator DeMint wanted to share this video on the federal bailout with you.  Thanks for your support.

Evangelist arrested in child porn case  —  (CNN) — Evangelist Tony Alamo was arrested Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, on charges related to a child porn investigation, an FBI spokesman said.  —  The 74-year-old founder and leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was arrested without incident at 2:45 p.m. …

Obama Memo: We're Really, Really Bad At Debates...  And John McCain is really good.  —  If it's 2pm the day of the debate, it must be an expectations-lowering memo.  —  Read it all after the jump.

Gallup Daily: Obama 48%, McCain 45%  —  Obama's slight edge consistent with his positioning over the past week  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has regained the edge over John McCain in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Sept. 23-25, 48% to 45%.  —  Today's three-day rolling average includes interviewing …

Barack Obama vs. Free Speech  —  Here's an ad the National Rifle Association is running in Pennsylvania:  —  The Obama campaign disputes the accuracy of the advertisement, which is fine.  It has also threatened regulatory retaliation against outlets that show it, which isn't fine.

SLATE PREDICTS MCCAIN'S NEXT 10 HAIL MARY STUNTS.  —  1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.  —  2. Offers the post of “vice vice president” to Warren Buffett.  —  3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.  —  4. Learns to use computer.

MSNBC Refusing To Run Outside Group's Ad Questioning McCain's Health  —  MSNBC has notified an independent group running an ad questioning John McCain's health that it will no longer air the spot, only a half day after Fox's Bill O'Reilly attacked NBC's corporate bosses on the air over the ad, the group tells me.

A Paulson-Cantor Plan Is a Win-Win for Taxpayers  —  The single-biggest mistake in the Paulson bank-rescue-plan marketing effort has been the failure to explain clearly how taxpayers are going to recoup $700 billion used to buy toxic assets at auction in order to unfreeze the banking system.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO): McCain “stopped a deal” yesterday at the White House  —  House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) was just interviewed by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, and he told Mitchell that McCain killed the deal yesterday at the White House:

Ignore The Pundits: How To Figure Out Who Won The Debate  —  There were 23 debates during the Democratic primary and part of my job on the Hillary campaign was to monitor the post-debate reaction in the media.  I watched hundreds of self-described political experts instantly declare who won and who lost.

Mike Pence  —  There are very few members of congress with whom I've ever had the opportunity to discuss a substantive matter of public policy.  But as it happens, one of them — the one with whom I've had the second-longest exchange — is Mike Pence (R-IN) who I've seen …

National Review asks: Did WaMu fail because it employed minorities?  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  National Review's Mark Krikorian notes that (1) Washington Mutual became the largest bank to fail in American history yesterday and (2) its last press release touted the fact that it was named …