BIDEN: SAY IT TO HIS FACE  —  From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli  —  ST. JOSEPH, MO - Joe Biden echoed the campaign's response to continued Republican efforts to highlight Obama's past associations, adding a personal touch to the idea that McCain wasn't willing to make the attacks in person.

Exclusive: Obama buys half-hour of network primetime  —  Barack Obama has purchased a half-hour of airtime on CBS and NBC, sources confirm.  —  The Obama campaign will air a primetime special on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. — less than a week before the general election.

USA TODAY/Gallup Poll signals that debate boosted Obama, not McCain  —  Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama convinced many more viewers to think more favorably of him during Tuesday night's presidential debate than did his Republican opponent, John McCain, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll signals.

States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal  —  Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

Exclusive: Inside Account of US Eavesdropping on Americans  —  US Officer's “Phone Sex” Intercepted, Recorded, Shared Across NSA Listening Post  —  Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped …

QUESTIONER: ‘I ACTUALLY DID’ KNOW FANNIE  —  From NBC's Michael Levine  —  I tried to get in touch via Facebook with Oliver Clark, the man who McCain said probably didn't know what Fannie Mae was before the financial crisis (at Tuesday's debate).  Apparently others have done the same.

Dem strategists see landslide in the making  —  Three weeks of historic economic upheaval has done more than just tilt a handful of once-reliably Republican states in Barack Obama's direction.  Democratic strategists are now optimistic that the ongoing crisis could lead to a landslide Obama victory.

Economists Expect U.S. Crisis to Deepen  —  The U.S. economy has sunk into a recession and government action is critical to stem the damage, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.  —  “We're in the middle of a very dark tunnel,” said Brian Fabbri of BNP Paribas …

Obama: ‘Unravel’  —  A new Obama ad, airing (at least) in Florida, paints an alarming picture of McCain's health care plan, warning that it could cause viewers to lose their health care.  —  The campaign hasn't released the ad, or other attacks on McCain's plan, but the Republican National Committee caught …

McCain in a Bear Market  —  Time was, the Baltimore Orioles' manager was Earl Weaver, a short, irascible, Napoleonic figure who, when cranky, as he frequently was, would shout at an umpire, “Are you going to get any better or is this it?”  With, mercifully, only one debate to go, that is the question about John McCain's campaign.

Todd Palin campaigned years to get trooper fired  —  SWORN STATEMENT: He says he wanted to protect his family.  —  bwhite@adn.com  —  Todd Palin talked with over a dozen state officials, many of them repeatedly, in his crusade to get a state trooper fired whom he considered to be a bad cop …

Pressing Ayers  —  McCain isn't putting any money behind an Ayers ad at the moment, but he is still pressing the issue, Amie Parnes reports from his Wisconsin town hall.  —  There, a man asked how Obama came to be where he is, but didn't mention Ayers.  —  “Everyone here is just tickled …

Most Left-Wing Ever?  —  I was just chatting this over with Jonah.  If Obama is elected, won't we have our most left-wing government ever?  Obama is to the left of FDR and LBJ, Democrats who existed in a different world, prior to the cultural revolution in the Democratic party.

Supreme Court won't block Troopergate inquiry  —  The Alaska Supreme Court today rejected an attempt by a group of six Republican legislators to shut down the Legislature's investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin.  —  The ruling means that Steve Branchflower, the investigator hired by the Legislative Council …

McCain Co-Chair Calls Obama “A Guy Of The Street,” Raises Drug Use  —  Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a McCain campaign co-chairman, edged up to an explicitly racial attack on Barack Obama on Thursday, describing the Illinois Senator as a “guy of the street” before raising his youthful drug use.

“He's Got The Bloodlines”  —  McCain-Palin supporters at a Palin rally tell us what they think of the “terrorist” running for president.  More accusations from McCain supporters in Pennsylvania that Obama is a “commie faggot” and a Muslim terrorist here.

The Bridge To Nowhere Lie Returns: McCain Claims Palin ‘Stood Up Against’ The Project  —  After the talking point was thoroughly debunked, the McCain campaign slowly backed away from the claim that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said “thank but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere.

Obama as “terrorist”  —  A sad video taken by an Obama backer outside a McCain visit yesterday in Ohio featuring Republicans saying Obama is “a terrorist,” among other things.  —  Party activists of the sort who show up at rallies always tend to be more partisan, but it's difficult to imagine …