Gallup Daily: Obama's Lead Over McCain Expands to 11  —  52% share of the vote is Obama's highest to date  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report shows Barack Obama with a 52% to 41% lead over John McCain.  —  These results, based on Oct. 5-7 polling …

Obama's 180 on genocide  —  JOHN MCCAIN'S opening words last night were: “Senator Obama, it's good to be with you at a town hall meeting!”  Indeed it was.  We now know why Barack Obama declined McCain's invitation earlier this year to appear together in a series of 10 town hall meetings around the country.

SCRAPPING THE AYERS ATTACK ALREADY?.... The political world was told to expect some ugly, guilt-by-association attacks last night.  We'd hear about Bill Ayers.  And Tony Rezko.  And maybe even Jeremiah Wright.  The phrase “unrepentant terrorist” would be bandied about.  —  And then, nothing.

John McCain's New Mortgage Plan Is Worse than I Had Imagined Possibly, Even Given What I Know About John McCain  —  Douglas Holtz-Eakin says, this morning: … What does this mean?  It means that John McCain wants to give $100 billion of taxpayers' money to America's worst-behaving mortgage financiers.

Nobody's dummy  —  What a powerful letter — which I am pleased to share with Salon readers.  Yes, let us not forget the tragic series of dubious political judgments that led the U.S. to lurch into Southeast Asia after the French had prudently packed up and left.

Palin's Kind of Patriotism  —  Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel.  But given the huge attention she is getting, you can't just ignore what she has to say.  And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw.

You Guys Are Nuts  —  We have a disaster here — which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case.  We can parse it eight ways to Sunday, but I think the commentary is missing the big picture.

UTK student David Kernell indicted in Palin e-mail hacking case  —  David C. Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee., for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  —  More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel.

They Liked Him, They Really Liked Him  —  From TIME's Amy Sullivan:  —  As he did for the first presidential debate, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg gathered a group of undecided voters in a swing state (this time Colorado) to watch the town hall, polling them before and after to gauge …

Edited SNL subprime video also happens to excise Barney Frank's involvement  —  Not every comedy sketch on “Saturday Night Live” has to do with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.  —  It just seems that way recently, as The Ticket has reported here and here and here.  —  But there's an unusual twist this week over another SNL skit.

Central Banks Coordinate Cut in Rates  —  Central banks around the world cut short-term interest rates by up to half a percent on Wednesday after investors across Asia and Europe unleashed waves of sell orders onto already depressed stock exchanges.  —  The Federal Reserve …

Obama picks up second debate win, poll says  —  CNN Deputy Political Director  —  NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) — A national poll of debate watchers suggests that Sen. Barack Obama won the second presidential debate.  —  Fifty-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey conducted …

Md. Police Put Activists' Names On Terror Lists  —  The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners ‘Under Water’  —  More Defaults and Foreclosures Are Likely as Borrowers With Greater Debt Than Value in Their Homes Are Put in a Tight Spot  —  The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage …

What is (and isn't)'terrorism'?  —  It's common these days to refer to former Weather Underground radical William Ayers as a one-time “domestic terrorist.”  Was he?  —  And I'm wondering if we can have a calm, adult-like, non-partisan discussion about what that term implies and whether it applies retrospectively to Ayers.

Obama is Hiding a Radical Past!  —  Edited and updated at 8:50 p.m. ET.  —  Did you know that Barack Obama was affiliated with a leading national socialist party?  Barack Obama didn't include in his 2008 resume that he entered politics in the mid-1990s endorsed by Chicago's leading socialists.

750,000 lost jobs?  The dodgy digits behind the war on piracy  —  A 20-year game of Telephone  —  If you pay any attention to the endless debates over intellectual property policy in the United States, you'll hear two numbers invoked over and over again, like the stuttering chorus …

DEAR KOS:  —  Take a long crawl off a short pier, you astroturfing worm.  —  The more these idiots pound their scrawny chests, the more convinced I am that they're nervous.  If they're so confident, so sure they're going to crush the evil wingnuts, why are they desperately picking apart every utterance McCain makes?

The Early Line: Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll  — Obama and McCain are now tied 44-44% among men.  Today's Diageo/Hotline poll is the first in which Obama has not led men since he trailed them 46-45% in the survey completed 9/26.  — The candidates remained tied on economic issues.