100,000 in St. Louis, MO: “All I can say is, wow.”  —  Barack just concluded his speech underneath the Gatway Arch in St. Louis, in front of a record crowd of over 100,000 people.  “All I can say is, wow,” Barack said as he took the stage. … Read the full remarks of Barack's speech in St. Louis, as prepared for delivery . . .

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Today's Polls, 10/18  —  John McCain has once again improved his position in the national tracking polls, having gained ground in 4 of the [5] 6 trackers that published today (Rasmussen and IBD/TIPP were the exceptions).  ** Our model now perceives that Obama has come somewhat off his peak numbers …

A tale of two networks  —  Carl Cameron and Ed Henry are both top-flight reporters.  —  But they work for networks which are viewed in, shall we say, differing lights by Republican activists.  —  So when Fox's Cameron and CNN's Henry took to opposing risers today at a McCain rally in Woodbridge …

Class Will Tell  —  Why is Bill Ayers a respectable member of the upper middle class and Sarah Palin contemptible?  —  Pour yourself a Johnnie Walker Black and remember.  The presidential campaign was going to be about sex—the sex of the inevitable winning candidate.  Then it was going to be about race.

Sarah Palin's Future  —  Alaska's most valuable resource.  —  Elon, North Carolina  —  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.

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.

The Trouble With Character  —  David Brooks was very high on Barack Obama for a while.  Then he got very upset at Obama for a while, slamming him as “Fast Eddie Obama.”  Now he's back to mostly praise: … I just wonder about this approach to thinking about politicians.

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.

Bush to Host World Economic Summit  —  WASHINGTON — Saying that “it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism,” President Bush announced on Saturday that he has agreed to host a summit of world leaders soon to discuss the global response to the financial crisis.