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?

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 …

ACORN office in Vegas raided in voter-fraud probe  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada state authorities are raiding the Las Vegas headquarters of an organization that works to get low-income people to vote.  —  A Nevada secretary of state's office spokesman said Tuesday that investigators are looking …

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 …

Debate Live-Blog and Chat!  —  The second John McCain/Barack Obama presidential debate will start at 9 PM ET, and Hot Air will be at the forefront of instant commentary!  I'm using the Cover It Live system again tonight, but I'm combining it with the Ustream chat room from my show.

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 …

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 …

After Bailout, AIG Executives Head to Resort  —  Less than a week after the federal government offered an $85 billion bailout to insurance giant AIG, the company held a week-long retreat for its executives at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., running up a tab of $440,000 …

Palin will sit for two more Fox News interviews; campaign scoffs at idea of a press conference.  —  Fox News announced today that it scored two more interviews with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK).  A Sean Hannity interview with Palin and John McCain will air tomorrow night, followed by a Palin interview by Greta Van Susteren.

Cindy McCain makes appearance at Children's Hospital  —  Cindy McCain said today that she expects her husband to clear the record at tonight's debate and let America know where he truly stands.  —  McCain, who stopped to visit a half-dozen children at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital …

Sarah Palin's museum of trite right-wing tactics: 1980-2008  —  (updated below)  —  Listening to a Sarah Palin rally is like visiting a museum exhibit of every empty, trite, manipulative right-wing political slogan from the last three decades.  Today, an anti-war heckler interrupted …

Court Orders Release of 17 Innocent Guantanamo Detainees into U.S.  —  Tallahassee and D.C. Religious and Community Leaders Offer Plan for Men's Support  —  Today, for the first time, a federal court ordered the release into the United States of 17 innocent Uighur men who have been imprisoned …

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 …

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 …

Obama Team Ready for Mud  —  Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs in St. Paul, Minn. (Jim Mone/Associated Press)  —  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.

Obama wishes he had more time for staying fit  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Barack Obama says he wishes he had more time for staying fit.  And the Democratic presidential candidate admits that he still occasionally smokes a cigarette.  —  “Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts,” …

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.

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.

A follow-up follow up  —  Lynn Sweet reported yesterday that the two campaigns had reached an agreement under which, among other things, moderator Tom Brokaw wouldn't ask follow-up questions tonight.  —  But Brokaw wasn't a party to the deal, I'm told, and hasn't agreed to it …

Barbara Walters: Stop Discussing William Ayers!  —  What may possibly be a peak into why the mainstream media has been less than enthusiastic in investigating Barack Obama's background and associations, Barbara Walters, on the October 7 “View,” called on all to “stop slinging mud around” …