Today's Polls, 9/28  —  Here's the long and short of it for John McCain: Barack Obama has as large a lead in the election as he's held all year.  But there is much less time left on the clock than there was during other Obama periods of strength, such as in February, mid-June or immediately following the Democratic convention.

McCain retracts Palin's Pakistan comments  —  WASHINGTON (CNN)— Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin's stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama's support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists

Comparison of original Paulson bailout to compromise proposal  —  House Republican Whip Roy Blunt's office provides this side-by-side comparison of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's original Wall Street bailout proposal with the final compromise agreed to over the weekend by congressional and Treasury negotiators:

TARP draft  —  So there's a draft version of the bailout out there.  Pretty much as expected.  Section 113, MINIMIZATION OF LONG-TERM COSTS AND MAXIMIZATION OF BENEFITS FOR TAXPAYERS, is where the rubber meets the road — it's where the plan says something about how the deals will be done.

Frank's fingerprints are all over the financial fiasco  —  'THE PRIVATE SECTOR got us into this mess.  The government has to get us out of it.  That's Barney Frank's story, and he's sticking to it.  As the Massachusetts Democrat has explained it in recent days, the current financial crisis …

Dick Morris says Obama won the debate and that angers Hannity  —  It was pretty comical watching Sean Hannity attack his own team player Dick Morris becuase Dick wouldn't follow Hannity's talking points after the debate.  Even Morris gets honest once in a while.  —  Download |  Play wmv

Soldier's mother “ecstatic” about Obama's bracelet  —  MILWAUKEE - The mother of a Wisconsin soldier who died in Iraq says she was “ecstatic” during Friday's debate when Senator Barack Obama mentioned the bracelet she gave him in honor of her son.  —  Tracy Jopek of Merrill told …

Obama Goon Squad Shuts Down Macsmind Blog  —  Macsmind blog is down.  —  Obama goon squads: … Here is the temporary Macsmind blog.  —  UPDATE: Here is one of the videos that Barack Obama does not want you to see:  —  Obama wants to disarm (evil) America.  —  Remember... “He's the one we've been waiting for.”

Why I Oppose the Bailout  —  Our nation has been confronted by a serious crisis in our financial markets.  The President and this Congress were right to act with all deliberate speed in addressing this crisis.  —  We now have a deal that promises to bring near term stability to our financial turmoil, but at what price?

AP Investigation: Palin got zoning aid, gifts  —  WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Though Sarah Palin depicts herself as a pit bull fighting good-old-boy politics, in her years as mayor she and her friends received special benefits more typical of small-town politics as usual, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship  —  A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.  —  Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat.

The Power of Political Cartoons  —  Political cartoonists distill their opinions on power and culture into art and commentary with the sharp points of their pens.  They can make readers gleeful — or angry.  Readers deserve to know more about this breed for whom being fair is not a virtue.

Exclusive: Fox ‘News’ Spikes Story on Conservatives ‘Questioning Palin Heft’  —  We were surprised as anyone to see this listed today at Google News...  We were somewhat less surprised when we clicked on it to find the page it linked to was now an error page at the Fox “News” website, reading...

Palin Will Spend More Time With Couric, Cont'd  —  Team McCain tells me the strategy of having Palin talk to traditional broadcast networks ABC and CBS was designed to allow Palin to reach the maximum number of viewers.  “Coming off her tremendous performance at the convention …

Fmr. President Bill Clinton, Steve Schmidt, David Axelrod, Rep. Mark Udall (D), Fmr. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R)  —  MR. TOM BROKAW: Our issues this Sunday: the race for the White House.  Two more debates and 37 days to go as both sides make their case and a deal on the financial bailout does seem near.