‘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.

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 Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore  —  Let me cut to the chase.  The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this.  Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken.

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.

Post debate, Obama's lead grows  —  Two days after a presidential debate many commentators scored as a tie, it's beginning to look like the public saw things differently, as several polls show a small but significant post-debate boost for Barack Obama.  —  A USA Today/Gallup poll released …

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS  —  Meeting with World Leaders at the United Nations  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE: Welcome to GPS, the GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE, to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

You won't believe where that $700-billion bailout figure came from  —  Here's something that John McCain and Barack Obama and Sarah Palin and even longtime Washingtonian Joe Biden probably don't know.  Not to mention Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and Ron Paul, who usually knows everything.

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.

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:

Citigroup Buys Banking Operations of Wachovia  —  Citigroup will acquire the banking operations of the Wachovia Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Monday morning, the latest bank to fall victim to the distressed mortgage market.  —  Citigroup will pay $1 a share …

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.”

Boehner calls bill a “crap sandwich” — but he'll vote for it  —  In a closed-door session with House Republicans, Minority Leader John A. Boehner just called the financial rescue deal a “crap sandwich” - then said he'll vote for it when it comes to the floor Monday.

The bailout and conservative principles: Too many to fail … For which Michelle Malkin thanks him.  —  What so-called conservatives like Malkin forget is that right-wingers have an ideology, but true conservatives have principles.  As Russell Kirk once observed: