Palin hits Obama for ‘terrorist’ connection  —  (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday slammed Sen. Barack Obama's political relationship with a former anti-war radical, accusing him of associating “with terrorists who targeted their own country.”  —  Palin's attack delivered …

Exclusive: Obama to preempt McCain assault  —  Branding his opponent as “erratic in a crisis,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is preempting plans by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to portray him as having sinister connections to controversial Chicagoans.  —  Obama officials call it political jujitsu - turning the attacks back on the attacker.

John Warner might vote for Democrat  —  Retiring Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) beat his Democratic opponent, Mark R. Warner, by 6 percentage points in the Old Dominion's “Warner vs. Warner” race of 1996.  —  Now, he might cross party lines and vote for him.  —  Mark Warner, who went …

Pressured to Take More Risk, Fannie Hit a Tipping Point  —  “Almost no one expected what was coming.  It's not fair to blame us for not predicting the unthinkable.”  — Daniel H. Mudd, former chief executive, Fannie Mae  —  When the mortgage giant Fannie Mae recruited Daniel H. Mudd …

GOP dread: Dems could hit 60 Senate seats  —  The possibility that Democrats will build a muscular, 60-seat Senate majority is looking increasing plausible, with new polls showing a powerful surge for the party's candidates in Minnesota, Kentucky and other states.

Conservatism = Debt  —  Cato's David Boaz alleges that “it must be a great disappointment to Goldwater Republicans to discover this story that got almost no notice this week.”  The story in question turns out to be about the burgeoning national debt in the Bush years:

Sarah's Pompom Palaver  —  I had hoped I was finally done with acting as an interpreter for politicians whose relationship with the English language was tumultuous.  —  There's W.'s gummy grammar, of course, like the classic, “Is our children learning?”  And covering the first Bush White …

Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain  —  SARAH PALIN'S post-Couric/Fey comeback at last week's vice presidential debate was a turning point in the campaign.  But if she “won,” as her indulgent partisans and press claque would have it, the loser was not Joe Biden.  It was her running mate.

L.A. Times Finally Admits that the President Can Fire the SEC Chair After All  —  It turns out that the President can indeed fire the Chair of the SEC after all.  —  After the L.A. Times and many others wrote that the President has no such authority, I sent a complaint to the L.A. Times on September 23.

The Early Line: Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll  — The Diageo/Hotline tracking poll has switched to LVs.  Only RVs who describe themselves as “extremely likely” or “very likely” to vote, or have already voted, will be included in the survey.  — Touchdown Fighting Illini?

Economic Unrest Shifts Electoral Battlegrounds  —  The turmoil on Wall Street and the weakening economy are changing the contours of the presidential campaign map, giving new force to Senator Barack Obama's ambitious strategy to make incursions into Republican territory …