The Wright Stuff  —  I spoke on the phone Sunday with Sarah Palin, who was in Long Beach, Calif., preparing to take off on her next campaign trip.  It was the first time I'd talked with her since I met her in far more relaxed circumstances in Alaska over a year ago.

McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts  —  Medicare, Medicaid Spending Would Be Reduced to Offset Proposed Tax Credit  —  John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts …

McCain campaign: Keating Five investigation was ‘a political smear job’ on John McCain  —  Holy crap.  —  I'm listening to the McCain campaign conference call about John McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal.  McCain's lawyer just said that the Keating Five investigation was “political” as it concerned John McCain.

Biden's Fantasy World  —  Sarah Palin may not know as much about the world, but at least most of what she knows is true.  —  In the popular media wisdom, Sarah Palin is the neophyte who knows nothing about foreign policy while Joe Biden is the savvy diplomatic pro.

Lieberman: Palin Will Win “With God's Help”  —  Via CNN streaming video, I watched Sarah Palin's event in Clearwater, Florida, this morning.  She was heartily introduced there by John McCain's pal Joe Lieberman.  The former Democrat is a very strange figure these days, far from his moorings in the Democratic Party.

Dow falls below 10,000  —  Blue-chip average falls below the milestone for the first time in nearly 4 years as fears about financial crisis grow.  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks tumbled Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four years …

CNN RELIABLE SOURCES  —  Examining the Media and Coverage of Recent Stories  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  HOWARD KURTZ, HOST (voice-over): Palin and the pundits.  The media verdict: Sarah Palin did far better against Joe Biden than with Katie Couric.

Not Everyone Should Own a Home  —  Even without Fan and Fred, American mortgage rules are unusually lax.  —  Maybe only a friendly foreigner could say this.  But America needs to realize that not everyone can own a home.  The American Dream of home ownership for all is a fraud.

Ex-officials misled by pro-Obama video  —  A video released by the Jewish Council for Education & Research which appeared to show several retired senior IDF and Mossad officials supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has proven to be misleading, with a number of officials …

Sources: Taliban split with al Qaeda, seek peace  —  LONDON, England (CNN) — Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's bloody conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.