‘Substantive’ Press Is Taken for a Spin  —  OXFORD, Miss. — David Axelrod was surrounded by a pack of camera-toting, mike-wielding, pushing-and-shoving media types, one of whom asked whether his man Barack Obama had been “too nice” in the just-completed debate with John McCain.

Bailout questions answered  —  I'm being asked two big questions about this thing: (1) Was it really necessary?  (2) Shouldn't Dems have tossed the whole Paulson approach out the window and done something completely different?  —  On (1), the answer is yes.

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains 8-Point Lead  —  Registered voters prefer Obama to McCain, 50% to 42%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update, based on Sept. 26-28 polling, shows Barack Obama with a 50% to 42% lead over John McCain, unchanged from the prior report.

O'S DANGEROUS PALS  —  BARACK'S ‘ORGANIZER’ BUDS PUSHED FOR BAD MORTGAGES  —  WHAT exactly does a “community organizer” do?  Barack Obama's rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question.  Here's a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit.

The 3 A.M. Call  —  It's 3 a.m., a few months into 2009, and the phone in the White House rings.  Several big hedge funds are about to fail, says the voice on the line, and there's likely to be chaos when the market opens.  Whom do you trust to take that call?  —  I'm not being melodramatic.

Why I Oppose the Wall Street Bailout  —  This week, Congress will vote on the largest federal bailout in history—$700 billion in spending authority to purchase the troubled assets of Wall Street's major investment houses.  As a free market economist I unequivocally oppose this legislation …

Obama sought rape victim for ad  —  Barack Obama's campaign earlier this month sought to find a rape victim to appear in a campaign commercial, according to an e-mail obtained by Politico.  —  Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund …

Bailout follows the 10 normal principles for how our government functions  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  The word being used most frequently to describe the bailout package that is about to pass is “extraordinary.”  That adjective may apply to the amounts of money being transferred …

US elections: Barack Obama's team believes he can win by a landslide  —  Barack Obama's senior aides believe he is on course for a landslide election victory over John McCain and will comfortably exceed most current predictions in the race for the White House.

Chicago dive bar scores hit with nude Sarah Palin portrait  —  People are flocking to snap pictures of the latest tribute to Sarah Palin, a nude portrait depicting her in red stilettos and her trademark eyeglasses.  —  Brian Boyer  —  Artist Bruce Elliott says the hardest part was “getting the color right.”

MCCAIN CAMP TO IFILL: GO EASY ON PALIN  —  The McCain camp is saying that veep debate moderator Gwen Ifill will have to answer for herself if she asks too many foreign policy questions Thursday night: