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?

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Liveblogging the town hall debate: Me, me, me  —  I don't have any prizes to give away, but you get Special MM.com Bonus Points if your insipid question suggestion gets asked tonight.  —  As for drinking game proposals, I recommend taking a swig every time Tom Brokaw inserts his two cents after the citizens ask their questions.

Live Blogging: Third Half Hour  —  10:29: Here's a YouTube of “That One.”  —  10:24: McCain uses question about whether US would defend Israel military if Iran attacks to bring up “without preconditions” vow, but McCain does not answer question...neither does Obama...smart of them both not to answer this question.

Live-blogging the big “town hall” debate.  —  6:14 Central Time: I'm just setting up the post so you'll know I'm doing this again.  —  8:11: After they blame each other for the financial crisis, Obama tells us we don't want to hear them blaming each other.  We just want to know how to stay in our homes and pay our bills.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Palin on the Plane  —  GREENVILLE, N.C. - After more than a month on the campaign trail, Gov. Sarah Palin has finally taken questions from her traveling press corps.  —  The very brief press conference occurred on a flight from Pensacola, Fla., to Greenville, N.C., when Ms. Palin walked …

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,” …

THE RIGHT BLAMES THE CREDIT CRISIS ON POOR MINORITY HOMEOWNERS.  THIS IS NOT MERELY OFFENSIVE, BUT ENTIRELY WRONG.  —  We've now entered a new stage of the financial crisis: the ritual assigning of blame.  It began in earnest with Monday's congressional roasting of Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld …

Town Hall Uncommitteds Look Like Uncommitteds  —  Via Andrew Sullivan comes this question from John Judis about the uncommitted voters who will surround the candidates and pose questions at tonight's town hall meeting debate: … The answer is that the participants are likely to include …

McCain, Obama both vow to get bin Laden  —  (CNN) — Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that he knows how to handle foreign affairs and questioned Sen. Barack Obama's judgment.  —  “My judgment is something that I think I have a record to stand on,” McCain said.

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 …

ROUND TWO DEBATE BLOGGING #2  —  9:29 PM ... Except for defense, veterans affairs and “some other vital programs”.  Wow, that's pretty air tight.  —  9:30 PM ... This debate's so boring I don't even know what to tell the staff to upload to youtube.  —  9:33 PM ... $20 for whoever can grab John McCain's notepad and let me see it.