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 primetime television on CBS and NBC, sources confirm.  —  The Obama campaign is producing a nationwide pitch to voters that will air on at least two broadcast networks.

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.

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 …

Keating to McCain in 1986: 'I'm yours til death do us part.'  —  The Washington Times reports that in 1986, John McCain wrote a note on House stationery to Charles Keating, chairman of a failed savings and loan association who went to prison in the late 1980s.

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.

“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.

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.

Two kinds of fraud  —  “Acorn” may not exactly be a household word, but it was on the cover of one of the newspapers I read in hard copy today, so it seemed worth getting into a marginal story that the GOP is trying to make central.  —  The key distinction here is between voter fraud …

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 …

Dow plunges more than 678 to fall below 9,000  —  NEW YORK - Stocks plunged in the final hour of trading Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 675 points, or more than 7 percent, to its lowest level in five years after a major credit ratings agency …

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's Hero Petraeus: “I Do Think You Have To Talk To Enemies”  —  So General Petraeus agrees with Barack Obama — and not John McCain — on the question of whether we should meet with hostile enemies?  —  In an interview that aired on CBS last night, John McCain, when asked …

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.

Obama vs. S&P 500  —  A friend of mine who works in the finance industry sent this to me:

Dow 9,000!  —  Stock prices are, however, the least of our worries.  The money markets are frozen; the TED spread is 4.14%.  —  G7 meeting tomorrow, IMF-World Bank over the weekend.  Now is the time for major action — an announcement of coordinated capital injections, liquidity measures, and more.