Top Items:
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame — FORT MYERS, Fla., Oct. 6 John McCain is collapsing in the polls in Florida and other swing states, but Sarah Palin, God bless her, has a solution. — “For me, the heels are on, the gloves are off,” she announced at high noon Monday to a group …
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
HIS DISGRACE KNOWS NO BOUNDS — As we saw yesterday, John McCain's latest gambit is to juice up his and Palin's crowds into calling Obama a “terrorist”, hurling racial epithets at black reporters (presumably, there aren't many in attendance as supporters), or just random calls for murder.
The Huffington Post:
Obama Hatred On Display Again At Palin Rally, Supporter Screams “Treason!” — In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed “treason!” during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.
David Talbot / Salon:
The Palins' un-American activities — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, at a rally in Vienna, Ohio, on Sept. 16, 2008. — “My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand.” — This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right?
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
William Ayers' past was unknown: Obama — NASHVILLE — Barack Obama has since condemned the Vietnam war-protest tactics of William Ayers, though a top adviser said today Obama didn't know of his past when Ayers hosted a campaign reception for Obama in 1995.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Commentary, www.redstate.com, Townhall.com, www.redstate.com and TIME.com
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Sarah Palin: Obama's ‘left-wing agenda’
Sarah Palin: Obama's ‘left-wing agenda’
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs, FiveThirtyEight.com, New York Post, The Caucus, Top of the Ticket, New York Times, PrestoPundit and Hot Air
Gallup:
Gallup Daily: 9-Point Obama Lead Ties Campaign High — Voters prefer Obama to McCain by 51% to 42% — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking poll shows registered voters preferring Barack Obama to John McCain for president by 51% to 42%. — The nine percentage point lead …
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Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans' Satisfaction at All-Time Low of 9% — Dismal rating sets stage for town hall-style debate — USA - Election 2008 - Government and Politics - Most Important Problem - Satisfaction - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John …
Roger Simon / The Politico:
How McCain could pull this one off — Can John McCain possibly win this thing? Can he actually win in November? — The outlook is bleak: The polls are ugly, the Electoral College map is grim, the economy is getting worse, and McCain's choice of Sarah Palin may have energized the Republican base …
Discussion:
Democratic Strategist
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
Hulu, NBC Pull SNL Skit — But Political Skits Bringing in Huge Numbers — The presidential campaign has been good for “Saturday Night Live” — and for Hulu.com. In a few short weeks, the first clip of Tina Fey impersonating Gov. Sarah Palin has become the site's most-viewed of all time.
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Advisers worry about ‘grumpy McCain’ — When Politico's Ryan Grim approached Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after the evening of the Senate bailout vote, the reporter didn't even get his question out. — “Excuse me, you're bothering me,” McCain said. — It was a surprising rebuke …
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Obama Outspending McCain Nearly 3 to 1 on Television — Barack Obama is outspending John McCain at nearly a three-to-one clip on television time in the final weeks of the presidential election, according to ad buy information obtained by The Fix, a financial edge that is almost certainly contributing …
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
McCain dumps racial-joking campaigner — The McCain campaign has denounced a racially charged, anti-Barack Obama newspaper column written by one of the Republican campaign's organizers in Virginia, and has removed the author-activist from his post as a member of the candidate's statewide leadership team …
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Fox News:
ACORN Vegas Office Raided in Voter Fraud Investigation — ACORN's Las Vegas headquarters has been raided by Nevada authorities looking for evidence of voter fraud. — LAS VEGAS — Nevada state authorities are raiding the Las Vegas headquarters of an organization that works to get low-income people to vote.
Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:
Dukakis on the Election: Obama Knows How to Win, ‘McCain Has Nothing’ — When John McCain's campaign made it clear over the weekend that their stretch-run strategy would lean heavily on raising questions about Barack Obama's personal history and past “associations,” Obama's communications director provided …
Discussion:
Wonkette
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Markets Slide After Bernanke Remarks — Another late day slide. — Stocks skidded lower on Tuesday afternoon despite reassurances from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, that the central bank was prepared to lower interest rates, words that many investors had said they were waiting to hear.
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Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Peggy Noonan Admits GOP Base Is Full Of Racist A**holes — A rather revealing exchange on ‘Hardball’ last night in which Nooner tells the truth about her fetid, decaying party (ignore the BS about Nooner being undecided about who to vote for): … Calling Obama a terrorist? Fine.
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
McCain also said U.S. troops killed civilians — John McCain in 2000 said because of tactical decisions U.S. troops were put in the position of killing civilians in Kosovo — something awfully similar to the comments he's now attacking Barack Obama for. — During a Republican primary debate …
ABCNEWS:
After Bailout, AIG Execs Head to California Resort — Rescued by Taxpayers, $440,000 for Retreat Including “Pedicures, Manicures” — Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat …
Discussion:
Don Surber
Daily Mail:
Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt … A man told today how he was shot three times in a London street for wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt. — Dube Egwuatu was buying a mobile telephone top-up card in an off-licence when the gunman confronted …
Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Bush Now Least Popular President Since Polling Began — Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but with the new Gallup poll, George W. Bush has passed Nixon and Truman, and become the least popular President of all-time. According to the Roper Center, here is the worst net approval / disapproval result …
Faiz / Think Progress:
U.S. debt grows too big for National Debt Clock. — The National Debt Clock in New York's Times Square — first erected in 1989 when the debt was less than $3 trillion — cannot keep pace with the growing national debt, now at more than $10 trillion. NBC's Brian Williams reported last night that …
KPIX-TV:
CBS 5 Poll: Young Voters Lead Prop 8 Support Shift — SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― A new CBS 5 poll finds that California's Proposition 8 has picked up support in the wake of a television ad campaign that features footage of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaiming same-sex marriage is here to stay “whether you like it or not.”
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Debate Format — The Town Hall, in case you were wondering, is basically a farce: … In essence, Tom Brokaw and his staff will be asking the questions. They're sifting through a big group of people, and their pre-set questions, and picking the questions they like.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: NEEDING A GAME-CHANGER — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — McCain heads into tonight's debate here down in the polls and in need of a game-changer. Three weeks after the Wall Street crisis began …
Attila Girl / Little Miss Attila:
THEATER FRAUD? Sabotage of An American Carol and Its Opening-Week Numbers? — Now this sounds like enemy action. Help me out here, folks. — Mpower pictures and Vivendi are starting to hear complaints about sabotage of An American Carol by employees of theaters that are carrying the movie.
Garance Franke-Ruta / Washington Post:
Obama Team Ready for Mud — NASHVILLE — Barack Obama's advisers are usually cautious about managing expectations — never predicting a landslide, always downplaying how well their candidate will do in the debates. But with just a few hours until the second presidential debate here on Tuesday night …
Discussion:
TIME.com