Top Items:
Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
McCain pulling out of Michigan — John McCain is pulling out of Michigan, according to two Republicans, a stunning move a month away from Election Day that indicates the difficulty Republicans are having in finding blue states to put in play. — McCain will go off TV in Michigan …
Discussion:
The Swamp, Washington Post, Townhall.com, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Newshoggers.com, Liberal Values, MyDD, Open Left, TalkLeft, Hot Air, MSNBC, Ben Smith's Blogs, Political Machine, Emptywheel, Political Radar, AMERICAblog News, Comments from Left Field, Spin Cycle, Taylor Marsh, Reason, The Debatable Land, Truthdig, Early Returns, TPM Election Central and Salon
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin's new plan: Go after Biden — ST. LOUIS — Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight's debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight's showdown.
Foon Rhee / Boston Globe:
McCain: Life isn't fair — Republican John McCain — making the rounds of the morning news shows as polls show him falling behind Democratic rival Barack Obama and his running mate losing the confidence of voters — sounded either bitter or fatalistic, or perhaps was trying some gallows humor.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
McCain fate hangs on three states — ST. LOUIS — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) now must win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Minnesota in order to get enough electoral votes to win the presidency, his campaign says. — Those were considered swing states in 2000 and 2004, but George W. Bush lost them both times.
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
McCain's ‘Stop Sarah Palin’ strategy working like a charm, polls show — Fresh evidence tonight that the brilliant McCain campaign strategy to lock away the political effervescence of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to stoke overconfidence among the nation's Democrats and set the stage …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Plouffe protests — David Plouffe spoke to reporters just now, my colleague Victoria McGrane reports, previewing the debate. — After repeatedly calling Palin first “an extremely good debater,” then a “great” one, at the end he ramped it up to “Gov. Palin is one of the best debaters in American politics …
New York Times:
Questions for the Next Vice President
Questions for the Next Vice President
Discussion:
Jeffrey Goldberg, Sister Toldjah, Hullabaloo, Patterico's Pontifications, unbossed.com, Townhall.com and Campaign Stops
Lexie Verdon / Washington Post:
Biden to Speak at Son's Deployment Ceremony
Biden to Speak at Son's Deployment Ceremony
Discussion:
Boston Globe
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
GOP ‘Gotcha Journalism’ Charges Throw Spotlight on Debate — For days now, television viewers have watched Sarah Palin unable to explain the significance of her home state's bordering Russia, unable to name a Supreme Court ruling she disagrees with, unable to name a single newspaper she reads.
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Ross Douthat:
The Struggles of Sarah Palin — What's been interesting - in a watching-from-behind-your-hands sort of way, if you're a conservative who wishes her well - about Palin's interviews with Charlie Gibson and especially Katie Couric is the way they've provided examples of almost every single …
Discussion:
The Corner, The Daily Dish, Commentary, The American Scene, The New Republic and The Raw Story
Chris Orr / The New Republic:
Another Reason Palin Will Win Tonight — I think Michelle is spot on in her pre-analysis of tonight's Biden-Palin debate, but I'd add one additional dynamic that's likely to operate in Palin's favor: She is much closer to her floor of support right now than her ceiling.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
iowahawk:
Ifill Ethics Commission Clears Ifill — By Gwen Ifill — PBS Chief Political Correspondent — and Gwen Ifill — President, Ifill Center for Media Ethics — and Gwen Ifill — Editor, BarackBeat Fanzine — WASHINGTON - As expected, a blue ribbon panel from the Ifill Center …
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Liz Cox Barrett / CJR:
Drudge Raises a Point
Drudge Raises a Point
Discussion:
The Raw Story, The Volokh Conspiracy, News Hounds, The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org and Jack & Jill Politics
Washington Post:
Judge Could Dismiss Stevens's Indictment or Declare Mistrial — Prosecutors Wait Until Last Minute to Disclose Potentially Exculpatory Material — A federal judge this morning scolded lawyers prosecuting Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) on ethics charges for waiting until the last minute …
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New Yorker:
THE CHOICE — Never in living memory has an election been more critical than the one fast approaching—that's the quadrennial cliché, as expected as the balloons and the bombast. And yet when has it ever felt so urgently true? When have so many Americans had so clear a sense that a Presidency has …
Margaret Newkirk / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Black turnout high in early voting — A disproportionate number of Georgia's 194,138 early voters are African-American, in what could be an encouraging sign for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. — As of Wednesday, about 39 percent of those voters — 74,961 — are African-Americans …
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
New Obama Ad In South Stars Bluegrass Legend Saying Obama Is “A Good Man” — Now this is a good ad. A Virginia Democrats sends over a new radio spot that Obama is airing in the southern part of the state — it stars homegrown bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley vouching for Obama's values …
St. Petersburg Times:
Florida GOP meets in secret as Obama passes McCain in polls — TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republican leaders hastily convened a top secret meeting this week to grapple with Sen. John McCain's sagging performance in this must-win state. — Their fears were confirmed Wednesday when four …
Marc Fisher / Washington Post:
Gilchrest Unloads on Know-Nothing Pols and the Rest of Us — Wayne Gilchrest, the nine-term Republican congressman who represents Maryland's Eastern Shore and parts of Anne Arundel County, has had it, and he's ready to talk. — He's had it with his own party, which he says “has become more narrow …
Justin Scheck / Wall Street Journal:
Mackerel Economics in Prison Leads to Appreciation for Oily Fillets — Packs of Fish Catch On as Currency, Former Inmates Say; Officials Carp — When Larry Levine helped prepare divorce papers for a client a few years ago, he got paid in mackerel. Once the case ended, he says, “I had a stack of macks.”
Stephen Shankland / CNET News:
Obama releases iPhone recruiting, campaign tool — Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign launched an iPhone application on Thursday that turns the vaunted device into a political recruiting tool. — The most notable feature “organizes and prioritizes your contacts by key battleground states …