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.

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 …

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.

Kucinich says not enough votes for bailout  —  A prominent liberal Democratic lawmaker said Sunday there are not enough votes to pass the bailout package as it stands now.  —  “I will tell you right now I don't know if they have votes,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Key House GOP Opponent of Bailout Bill Changes Tune: “It Sucks” But New Version Must Pass, He Argues  —  House Republicans are talking about the new bill right now behind closed doors.  —  I'm told by someone in the room that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee …

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.

Tom Brokaw's bizarre idea of what fairness required.  —  Steve Schmidt and David Axelrod were on “Meet the Press” this morning, and they spewed talking points and evaded the questions asked by Tom Brokaw.  Here's the best example of that: … Translation: The Wall Street Journal is absolutely right!

Mayor ‘just curious’ if Obama is antichrist  —  FORT MILL, S.C. — Fort Mill Mayor Danny Funderburk says he was “just curious” when he forwarded a chain e-mail suggesting Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is the biblical antichrist.  “I was just curious if there was any validity to it …

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

The Bailout Compromise  —  As Eric Posner says, a quick skim offers few surprises:  — As an exercise in the development of legislation, note what has happened to the bill, drafted to be three pages long, with absolutely no attention paid to the fact that the program would have to be implemented …

Palin treads carefully between fundamentalist beliefs and public policy  —  Her faith views are strong and sometimes controversial.  Her aides say she seeks to share but not impose her faith; her critics say she has ‘a fine-tuned sense of how far to push.’  —  ANCHORAGE — Soon after Sarah Palin …

Exclusive: Fox ‘News’ Scrubs 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...

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008  —  September 28th, 2008 by Office of the Speaker  —  Significant bipartisan work has built consensus around dramatic improvements to the original Bush-Paulson plan to stabilize American financial markets—including requiring a plan to ensure the taxpayer is repaid in full.

Doubt Arises in Account of an Attack in China  —  A foreign tourist took photographs of an attack on paramilitary officers in Kashgar, China.  One of the photographs showed uniformed men wielding machetes and attacking other uniformed men.  Chinese officials, however, have said that two Uighur men used machetes in the attack.

Taxpayers can still benefit from a bail-out  —  Congressional negotiators have now completed action on a $700bn authorisation for the bail-out of the financial sector.  This step was as necessary as the need for it was regrettable.  There are hugely important tactical issues regarding …

Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton's mosque  —  DAYTON — Baboucarr Njie was preparing for his prayer session Friday night, Sept. 26, when he heard children in the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton coughing.  Soon, Njie himself was overcome with fits of coughing and …

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