Troopergate report: Palin abused power  —  A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister.  —  The report by investigator Steve Branchflower was made public late …

McCain Denounces Pitchfork-Wavers  —  Here in Lakeville, the traveling press was pretty sure we'd see more of the kind of vicious anti-Obama attitude that's becoming a hallmark of McCain rallies of late.  —  As the town hall started, McCain was off with more pep than usual.

Palin schedules bus tour of West Virginia  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio (CNN) — In what may be another signal that the troubled economy is forcing John McCain's campaign to play electoral map defense, Sarah Palin has scheduled a bus tour for Sunday through West Virginia, a state that's been leaning red throughout this presidential race.

McCain's Risky Turn  —  There is a scene early in “Dead Certain,” Robert Draper's book about President Bush, when the Bush campaign, reeling from its loss to John McCain in New Hampshire in the 2000 primary, is plotting its moves for a do-or-die struggle in South Carolina.

THE GIST OF THE ACORN STORY  —  The Republican party is grasping on to the ACORN story as a way to delegitimize what now looks like the probable outcome of the November election.  It is also a way to stoke the paranoia of their base, lay the groundwork for legal challenges of close outcomes …

Obama opens a double-digit lead in new NEWSWEEK poll  —  Obama on the campaign trail in Columbus, Ohio.  —  The global financial meltdown has caused a dramatic shift in the 2008 presidential race, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll.  With four weeks left in the presidential campaign …

Barack ‘Osama’ on Rensselaer County ballots  —  TROY — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's last name is spelled “Osama” on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County.  —  The misspelling, which elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist …

Re: Complaint against Steyn dismissed  —  Mark Hemingway is right to say that free speech in Canada “does not exist in any meaningful way”.  As the British Columbia “Human Rights” Tribunal's rambling and incoherent decision makes plain, Maclean's and I were acquitted of “flagrant Islamophobia” …

Memeorandum Colors: Visualizing Political Bias with Greasemonkey  —  Like the rest of the world, I've been completely obsessed with the presidential election and nonstop news coverage.  My drug of choice?  Gabe Rivera's Memeorandum, the political sister site of Techmeme …

Not about the financial crisis  —  The crisis isn't the only scary thing going on.  Something very ugly is taking shape on the political scene: as McCain's chances fade, the crowds at his rallies are, by all accounts, increasingly gripped by insane rage.  It's not just a mob phenomenon …

Question: Does Barack Obama Have Any Friends Who AREN'T Communists?  —  The news of Barack Obama's close relationship with Frank Marshall Davis has been around before, but it's important.  Via Accuracy in Media: … Aren't we seeing a pattern here?  One interaction with one old communist isn't particularly troubling.