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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:
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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.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Talking Points Memo, Boston Globe, Weekly Standard, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Patterico's Pontifications, Open Left, TPM Election Central, AMERICAblog News, Portfolio, Hotline On Call, Hot Air, TBogg, Balloon Juice, Agence France Presse, Sister Toldjah, Politics Blog, Stop The ACLU, Donklephant and MyDD
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.
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.
Discussion:
Liberty Street, Comments from Left Field, The Huffington Post, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly and Shakesville
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 …
Marc Ambinder:
McCain's Now Playing Defense; Obama Bracing For Counterattacks — The Politico reports this afternoon that the McCain campaign has canceled their television ads and direct mail program in Michigan, and plans instead to fortify McCain's defensive positions in states won by President Bush in 2004.
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 …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Dish Rag, BizzyBlog, Wonkette and Democratic Strategist
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Palin's foreign policy adviser stood in for Biden in mock debates — ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) - Sarah Palin's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann played the role of Joe Biden in several mock debates this week in Arizona, a campaign official confirmed Thursday.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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 …
Natalie Gewargis / Political Punch:Debate Tip: Look for Palin to Use Biden's Own Words to Attack Obama
Discussion:
Hot Air
Liz Cox Barrett / CJR:
Drudge Raises a Point — Gwen Ifill has done solid, important journalism. She'll likely be a good, tough, and neutral moderator to the vice-presidential debate. Let's set that aside, for now. — Conflict of interest is often about appearances. There appears, to us …
Discussion:
News Hounds, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Huffington Post, The Raw Story, NewsBusters.org and Jack & Jill Politics
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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 …
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.
RELATED:
Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
RNC shatters monthly fundraising record — The RNC raised nearly $66 million in September, breaking its all-time record. — Committee spokesman Alex Conant credited the haul to the strength of John McCain and Sarah Palin. — The figure is a reminder that, despite her recent slip-ups …
Discussion:
www.redstate.com
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 …
Matt / Think Progress:
Lieberman: We Need To Pass The Bailout Because ‘It Will Be Good For John McCain’ — On Fox News today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) discussed the downturn in Sen. John McCain's presidential prospects, saying McCain “is behind now because of the economy.” Lieberman then said that he hopes …
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 …
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 …
Erik Eckholm / New York Times:
Parents Give Up Youths Under Law Meant for Babies — OMAHA — The abandonments began on Sept. 1, when a mother left her 14-year-old son in a police station here. — By Sept. 23, two more boys and one girl, ages 11 to 14, had been abandoned in hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Photos: Minnesota Left's political tolerance — Tonight, as we prepare for our Debate Party tonight at Trocadero's, one of the listeners for our radio station AM 1280 The Patriot has to prepare for some hard work cleaning his work van and personal car. He made the mistake of thinking …
Discussion:
www.redstate.com
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.”
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