OBAMA SEX PERV SCANDAL  —  The ENQUIRER exclusively reports a “sex pervert” was Sen. Barack Obama's longtime mentor and “father figure”.  —  For seven years, the presidential candidate had a “father-son” relationship with Frank Marshall Davis, who has confessed to having sex with children …

I Get So Weary of This ...  From the Corner today:  —  Respectfully Disagreeing [Kathryn Jean Lopez]  —  David Frum was on CBS this morning and expressed his view that the choice of Sarah Palin was a mistake.  He complained that it was a play to the base that hurts people like Coleman …

U.S. Investing $250 Billion in Banks  —  WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in large and small banks, according to officials.  The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued …

McCain's Monday Campaigning Leaves Some Puzzled  —  Elizabeth Holmes reports from Wilmington, N.C., on the presidential race.  —  Several things about John McCain's Monday caused some head scratching, including the tease of some new economic policies to a town hall meeting with no Q&A.

Sen. McCain Stood With ACORN Rally In 2006  —  A goldfish's lifetime ago, Sen. John McCain was happy to accept the honors and acclamation of the Service Employees International Union, People for the American Way, UNITE HERE — and ACORN.  Here he is, on Feb. 20, 2006, telling immigration rights activists …

Ugly Misogyny at the Official Obama Blog Site  —  The media keep hammering away at the “ugly incidents” at McCain-Palin rallies, but oddly they fail to notice stuff like this at the official Barack Obama blog site: Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need |  Rhiannon-Marie Volpe.

McCain calls Lewis remarks ‘outrageous’  —  (CNN) — Sen. John McCain said Monday that Rep. John Lewis' controversial remarks were “so disturbing” that they “stopped me in my tracks.”  —  Lewis, a Georgia representative and veteran of the civil rights movement, on Saturday compared the feeling …

A New Wrinkle (or Unwrinkle) in the Campaign: The Biden Brow  —  Joe Biden looks . . . different.  —  Something about his eyes, which seem smaller, and his forehead, which seems smoother.  Compared with images from last year, he seems better rested — yet also, strangely, a little sleepier.

Republican activists off-message at McCain rallies (cont)  —  An AFP shot from this morning in Virginia Beach.  —  I'm told in Ricmond, where Palin is now, the signs only accuse Obama of being a communist and Marxist.

Scandal engulfs Florida Democrat  —  The Democrat who replaced disgraced Florida Rep. Mark Foley — running on a pledge to restore dignity to the office — now faces a jaw-dropping election-year sex scandal of his own.  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling for an ethics committee probe …

President Bush Signs Bill To Create Cabinet-Level Intellectual Property Czar  —  President Bush signed into law today a bill that will create a centralized position in the executive branch, appointed by the president, to head up the fight against piracy and intellectual property violations.

Post/ABC Poll: McCain's Structural Problems  —  Photo by Mary Altaffer of the Associated Press  —  The new Washington Post/ABC News national poll puts John McCain behind Barack Obama by 10 points — his biggest deficit in the survey since the general election began in June.

Honoring Paul Krugman  —  Edward L. Glaeser is an economist at Harvard.  —  Rarely, if ever, has an economics Nobel laureate been as widely known before receiving the prize than Paul Krugman.  His New York Times columns have been read by millions; he has argued economic policy eloquently in a large number of popular books.

McCain Claims Obama Rally Crowds Call Him Terrorist, Traitor  —  The man is just a pathological liar.  Here's video, from a CNN interview with Dana Bash.  (And by the way, Bash gets serious minus points for not challenging McCain on his lie.)  —  YouTube link

FOX/Rasmussen Swing State Polling - October 12, 2008  —  Overview  —  Fox News/Rasmussen Reports polling this week in Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia shows a very stable race whose underlying dynamic strongly favors Barack Obama over John McCain.

Quiet Political Shifts as More Blacks Are Elected  —  BROOKLINE, N.H. — Melanie Levesque grabbed the campaign signs from her Mercedes S.U.V. and plunged into the white crowd at the fairgrounds here.  The cows were lowing, the cider presses churning and Mrs. Levesque, a black state legislator …

Exclusive: New TV Ad Attacks Obama on Abortion  —  Obama is getting hit on abortion from all sides now.  First it was National Right to Life.  Then Sarah Palin over the weekend.  Now?  The Family Research Council Action PAC will begin running TV commercials targeting Obama and abortion.