memeorandum: With the Economy Slumping, Values Voters Are Caring Less About Values (Steve Waldman/beliefnet)

6:45 PM ET, October 1, 2008

Top Items:

Obama Over 50 Percent In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll Finds; Debate, Palin's Fade, Economy Put Democrat On Top — FLORIDA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 51 - McCain 43 post-debate; OHIO: Obama 49 - McCain 42 pre-debate; Obama 50 - McCain 42 post-debate …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Politico, Associated Press, Liberal Values, Swampland, Spin Cycle, Salon, MyDD, Financial Times, Comments from Left Field, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, tboblogs.com/index.php/news, Pajamas Media and Greg's Opinion

Massimo Calabresi / Time:

Poll: Obama Makes Gains with Women, Hits New High — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is greeted by supporters at a rally at Mountain Range High School in Westminster, Colo., on Sept. 29 — Propelled by concerns over the financial crisis and a return of support from female voters …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TalkLeft, MyDD, NY Daily News Blogs and Taegan Goddard's …

Pew Research Center:

Obama Boosts Leadership Image and Regains Lead Over McCain — Growing Concerns About Palin's Qualifications — Barack Obama has achieved a significant lead over John McCain in the days following the first presidential debate. Pew's new survey conducted Sept. 27-29 finds that Obama …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central, unbossed.com, Taylor Marsh and Reason

CNN:

CNN Polls: Major gains for Obama in battleground states — ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) - New polls in five crucial battleground states that could decide the race for the White House suggest Barack Obama is making some major gains. — CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corporation polls …

Discussion: Daily Kos and TPM Election Central

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama 48%, McCain 44% — Slightly closer race now than two days ago — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update of registered voters finds Barack Obama at 48%, and John McCain at 44%, marking a slight narrowing of the race from the eight percentage point margin Obama held earlier this week.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Top of the Ticket, Below The Beltway, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere and Don Surber

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

Poll: Obama gaining in battleground states — ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) — Polls of five crucial battleground states in the race for the White House released Wednesday suggest that Barack Obama is making some major gains. — The CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. polls of likely voters in Florida …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Donklephant and tboblogs.com/index.php/news

Ta-Nehisi Coates:
Sarah Palin—The Damage Done

Discussion: Slog

Marc Ambinder:
On The Other Hand, New Polls Cite Palin As Reason For McCain Drop

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Newshoggers.com and Eunomia

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Today's Polls, 10/1 — Gonna try and make it to the Cubs game tonight …

Discussion: TIME.com, Newshoggers.com, Real Clear Politics and Spin Cycle

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS: Historic Disapproval: Bush Hits All-Time Low Amid Economic Meltdown

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias: The McCain Bubble? — New Pew poll shows what everyone already …

Bob Unruh / wnd.com:

VP debate moderator Ifill releasing pro-Obama book — Focuses on blacks who are ‘forging a bold new path to political power’ — The moderator of Thursday's vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out about the time the next president takes the oath of office that aims to …

Discussion: Sadly, No!, TVNewser, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, The Moderate Voice, GretaWire, FishBowlDC, Salon and www.redstate.com

Fox News:

VP Debate Moderator Pens Pro-Obama Book — WASHINGTON: Gwen Ifill, who is moderating Thursday's vice-presidential debate, is releasing a book on Barack Obama and other young black politicians who are “forging a bold new path to political power.” — FOXNews.com

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Daily Dish, Wizbang, Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway, The Caucus, The Campaign Spot, Below The Beltway, The Reaction, Political Machine, Politics Blog and Political Fix

Michael Calderone / The Politico:
Ifill's book was no secret

Discussion: Think Progress, The Swamp, FOX Embeds, Boston Globe, Taylor Marsh, Hotline On Call, Scared Monkeys, PoliPundit.com, Jack & Jill Politics and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Steven Ginsberg / Washington Post:
Ifill's Book is no Secret

Discussion: The Corner, Washington Wire, Patterico's Pontifications, Commentary and Top of the Ticket

Greta Van Susteren / GretaWire:
oh - oh !! — I confirmed for us here on GretaWire …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, AMERICAblog News, NO QUARTER and Hot Air

Michelle Malkin / National Review:
Debate, Tanked — Normal false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, TPM Election Central and The Campaign Spot

CNN:
Controversy brews up around VP moderator

Discussion: Politics Blog

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
McCain dismisses concerns about Ifill

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Frank James / The Swamp: Gwen Ifill hit for Obama book, debate

David Bauder / Associated Press:
VP debate moderator's impartiality questioned

Discussion: The Corner and Boston Herald

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XVI: Remembering Biden's Speeches in 2d Grade — She said the following: … Two things: when Palin was in Second Grade, Biden hadn't been elected to the Senate. And when she was in third grade, do you really believe she was hearing about speeches by Joe Biden?

Discussion: CNN, Below The Beltway and Outside The Beltway

Andrew Halcro / Christian Science Monitor:
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DEBATE SARAH PALIN

Discussion: Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Politico, unbossed.com, Los Angeles Times and Taylor Marsh

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
McCain: I've turned to Palin for foreign policy advice many times in the past

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Think Progress and Wonk Room

NPR:
Listen Now — · Republican presidential nominee John …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Think Progress, MoJoBlog and MyDD

Rich Lowry / The Corner:
My Advice for Sarah... ...is different than that of the “free Sarah Palin” camp.

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Mike Murphy / Swampland:

Des Moines Register... As a former general in the GOP, I get a lot of emails from various operative types around the country. Many are old comrades from the forgotten wars of old Republican statewide campaigns. Unlike the well meaning but under-experienced six month wonders who seem …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Comments from Left Field, Ben Smith's Blogs, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Salon, Commentary and marbury

Ben / Think Progress:

McCain: ‘I Always Aspire To Be A Dictator’ — Discussing the Wall Street bailout yesterday during an interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said the failure of Congress to act is “just not acceptable.” Then — presumably making an attempt at humor …

Discussion: PERRspectives Blog, Jack & Jill Politics, Shakesville, The REAL McCain and Talking Points Memo

Mike Glover / Associated Press:
McCain turns irritable, sarcastic in interview

Discussion: Washington Post and Spin Cycle

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

Something just went wrong with McCain's face on national TV — UPDATE: There's now slow-motion video making it painfully clear that something is wrong. — In the post below, we showed a scene that just took place in which McCain was momentarily confused on stage, not knowing where to go.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Wonkette and Open Left

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Bill Clinton: Economic Crisis Means Veep Choice Is More Important — Bill Clinton — doing some powerful campaigning in Florida for the first time on Obama's behalf today — laid out an interesting argument against McCain-Palin, claiming that the economy will consume so much of the new president's attention …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and Spin Cycle

Wall Street Journal:
Bill v. Barack on Banks

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Reason and Wizbang

William R. Kapfer / Washington Blade:

McCain's gay Q&A — ‘I hope gay and lesbian Americans will give full consideration to supporting me’ — Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told the Blade in an exclusive written interview this week that he appreciates the Log Cabin Republicans' decision to endorse him …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Marc Ambinder, Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress, Pam's House Blend, Ben Smith's Blogs and The E&P Pub

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Palin campaign to shift media strategy — SEDONA, Arizona (CNN) - Sarah Palin's interview Tuesday with conservative talker Hugh Hewitt gave the vice presidential candidate a chance to showcase elements of her life story and demonstrate some of the folksiness that's been central to her political success.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Swamp and Washington Monthly

Chris Good / The Hill:

Palin questioner rejects ‘gotcha journalism’ charge — The Philadelphia man who asked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin about Pakistan on Saturday has told The Hill that GOP presidential nominee John McCain and Palin mischaracterized the exchange in a primetime interview.

Discussion: Booman Tribune