Behind McCain, Outsider in Capital Wanting Back In  —  Cindy McCain was new to Washington and not yet 30 when she arrived at a luncheon for Congressional spouses to discover a problem with her name tag.  —  It read “Carol McCain.”  That was the well-liked wife John McCain had left to marry Cindy …

Fact check: Obama said he would ‘spread his wealth around’?  —  The Statement  —  Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, during a speech on October 16 outside Philadelphia, recounted the story of “Joe the Plumber,” a man who held a conversation with Democratic candidate Sen. Barack …

Signs that Republican Colin Powell will support Barack Obama for president  —  WASHINGTON - After months of playing political Hamlet, Colin Powell is finally ready to tell America who he likes for President - and the smart money says Barack Obama is Powell's choice.

Thousands Face Mix-Ups In Voter Registrations  —  In New Databases, Many Are Wrongly Flagged as Ineligible  —  Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.

Obama draws record crowd in St. Louis  —  ST. LOUIS - Standing under the Gateway Arch, Sen. Barack Obama spoke this afternoon before a crowd his campaign said totaled 100,000, a new U.S. record for his presidential bid.  —  “All I can say is wow,” Obama said as he took the stage …

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains Lead  —  Among registered voters, Obama now leads 50% to 42%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report from Wednesday through Friday, including two days of interviewing after Wednesday night's final presidential debate …

Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right's darkest impulses  —  Chris Matthews just gave Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Outer Wingnuttia, all the rope she wanted yesterday on Hardball, and boy did she make a handy little noose with it.  —  First Matthews tried to get Bachmann to tell his audience …

Pfotenhauer Insults Virginians: ‘Real Virginia’ Is Only Where McCain Is Winning  —  On MSNBC this morning, McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer asserted that “real Virginia” does not include Northern Virginia: … MSNBC host Kevin Cork gave Pfotenhauer a chance to revise her answer, telling her …

Stadium Star  —  Palin didn't need Greek columns.  People react to her because they believe she represents what the Greeks established.

Sarah Palin's Future  —  Alaska's most valuable resource.  —  Six thousand tickets were grabbed up in three hours for Sarah Palin's speech here at the baseball field of Elon University.  An even larger crowd—9,000 inside, 3,000 outside—showed up across the state in Greenville a few days earlier.

Obama's Ad Effort Swamps McCain and Nears Record  —  PHILADELPHIA — Senator Barack Obama is days away from breaking the advertising spending record set by President Bush in the general election four years ago, having unleashed an advertising campaign of a scale and complexity unrivaled in the television era.

What Is The Conservative Cocoon?  —  Ach, okay, I'll wade back in to this debate one more time, because I think Mark Steyn has slightly mistaken the thrust of this post: … Just to clarify: Sarah Palin's Alaska is not the conservative cocoon.  Neither is Tim Pawlenty's Minnesota …

GOP turnout lagging in heavy N. Carolina early voting  —  Thursday's first day of early voting drew record numbers across North Carolina, election officials said, as more than 100,000 people turned out.  —  That exceeded the 2004 figure by about 40 percent, said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections.

Joe and Barack's Tax Problems.  I was stunned to see some document showing Joe the Plumbers' tax problems on my 10pm (CT)newscast on the local NBC affiliate in Chicago on Thursday night.  They have very little time for any national news and they actually spent time on Joe the Plumbers' tax problems.

Is Anybody Happy?  —  Now is the October of our discontent.  —  First of all, George W. Bush showed up on TV Friday morning to reassure the nation.  What could possibly be worse?  —  Everybody knows that anything our president says is very likely wrong, and certainly won't happen.

Bernanke Is Fighting the Last War  —  ‘Everything works much better when wrong decisions are punished and good decisions make you rich.’  —  On Aug. 9, 2007, central banks around the world first intervened to stanch what has become a massive credit crunch.

Racists for Obama?  —  New polling and a trickle of stories from the battleground states suggest that Sen. Barack Obama's coalition includes one unlikely group: white voters with negative views of African-Americans.  —  Race has become the elephant in the room of the 2008 presidential campaign …