Shocking development: Mrs Obama decides enough is enough: “My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his step father, does that make him unpatriotic; she asks”, on a direct telephone to API.  —  Accusing API of colluding with American internet bloggers in an effort to bring down her husband …

Voting for Obama anyway  —  I just got an astounding e-mail from a Republican consultant I know well.  He's a guy who's always thought Obama had a “glass jaw,” and was always among those agitating for hitting Obama harder.  —  Recently, he conducted a focus group in an upper-Midwestern state …

Obama Flack Accidentally Sends Out Pre-Debate Talking Points  —  “Reminder: These are for staff only and not for distribution,” warns the e-mail.  —  And then, the spin, accidentally sent to reporters this morning.  —  “* This is John McCain's last chance to turn this race around …

Bill Ayers: ‘What could I possibly add?’  —  Decades removed from his radical opposition to the Vietnam War, UIC professor William Ayers lies low amid the political furor  —  As his name was tossed back and forth Tuesday in the fury of the presidential campaign, 1960s radical William Ayers spent …

Colin Powell Is Ready To Endorse  —  When Colin Powell turns off his TV after the final presidential debate, he will have learned everything he is going to learn about the candidates vying to succeed his former boss, George W. Bush.  Powell has made it clear that he has been thinking …

Breaking news: Secret Service investigating threat from Scranton Palin rally  —  The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a political event in Scranton.  —  The agency followed up on a report in The Times-Tribune …

Material linking Obama to Bin Laden removed from Sacramento GOP Web site  —  Sacramento County Republican leaders Tuesday took down offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to “Waterboard Barack Obama” …

McCain, advisers divided over Wright attack  —  John McCain is at odds with many of his top advisers over launching a renewed attack on Barack Obama's ties to his long-time pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to campaign sources.  —  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin …

Murtha: Western Pa. ‘racist’ but Obama should win … PITTSBURGH (AP) - U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama's victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.  —  The 17-term Democratic congressman tells …

Obama Dominating Among Early Voters in Five Swing States  —  SurveyUSA has a lot of good habits as a pollster, and one of them is breaking out the results of early and absentee voting in states where such things are allowed.  So far, SurveyUSA has conducted polling in five states where some form of early voting was underway.

Gallup Daily: Before Final Debate, Obama Leads by 7  —  McCain's 43% matches his high over the past two weeks  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report shows Barack Obama continuing to lead John McCain, now by seven percentage points among registered voters, 50% to 43%.

Exclusive: Obama - ‘Spread the Wealth Around’ Reveals Socialist Plan for America  —  Interview with Joe Wurzelbacher … PAM MEISTER: You recently met Sen. Obama on the campaign trail in Ohio, and you asked him a question about his tax policies.  What exactly was your question for him?

Working for the Working- Class Vote  —  For a guy who just four years ago was running his first statewide campaign, Barack Obama has made startlingly few missteps as a presidential candidate.  But the moment Obama would most like to take back now, if he could, was the one last April when …

WisPolitics: No RNC ads for the next week, TV stations report  —  The Republican National Committee hasn't booked ads for the next week in Wisconsin TV markets after running a series of spots attacking Barack Obama and congressional Dems, according to TV sources.

Palin unaware of Russian energy meeting in Alaska  —  DOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) - The campaign of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials to Anchorage on Monday.  —  Eight high-level officials from Gazprom …

OTD,  —  If ACORN has done nothing wrong in Ohio, then why has a RICO suit been filed against them?  —  Aaron,  —  McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone.  His parents were both citizens of the U.S. and conferred Natural Born Citizen rights to him based on the U.S. Code in affect at the time of his birth.

GOP deploys squirrels  —  Meet Tony Romo and Mickey Mouse.  —  They are this year's version of those dolphins that stalked John Kerry in 2004, swapping out “flip-flopping” for ACORN.  —  The nut-hunters swooped into Harry Smith's Manhattan nest this morning, surprising the CBS “Early Show” anchor.

CNN POLL: Obama making gains in red states  —  HEMPSTEAD, New York (CNN) - As the two major party presidential candidates get ready to face off in person one last time, new polls in some crucial states that could decide the race for the White House suggest John McCain is having to defend himself …

PALIN'S DELUSIONS WORSEN.... I can understand Sarah Palin feeling humiliated by her Troopergate scandal.  An independent investigation concluded that she violated state ethics, abused the powers of her office, and lied about it.  This isn't exactly easy to spin away this kind of violation of the public trust.

At Moment of Truth, U.S. Forced Big Bankers to Blink  —  WASHINGTON — On one side of the table sat Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair.  —  On the other side sat the nation's top bank executives …

Exclusive: Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch  —  BY JAMES V. GRIMALDI  —  Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCain decided to resolve an old problem — the lack of cellular telephone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona …

Palin, McCain stir up storm of ugly racism  —  'South Pacific" is a morality play for our time.  Sarah Palin is the Ensign Nellie Forbush — an All-American girl as racist, this time a racist with her eye on the White House.  She can stir up crowds to shout “Kill him!” …

Matt Taibbi and Byron York Butt Heads Over Whether McCain Deserves Blame for the Wall Street Meltdown  —  Every day (or close to it) until November 4, a series of writers and thinkers will discuss the election over instant messenger for nymag.com.  Today, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi …