Obama leaving campaign trail to visit grandmother  —  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is canceling nearly all his campaign events Thursday and Friday to fly to Hawaii to visit his suddenly gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother, his communications director said.

Obama Appeal Rises in Poll; No Gains for McCain Ticket  —  As voters have gotten to know Senator Barack Obama, they have warmed up to him, with more than half, 53 percent, now saying they have a favorable impression of him and 33 percent saying they have an unfavorable view.

McCain camp looking for way to win without Colorado  —  (CNN) — The McCain campaign is looking at an Electoral College strategy heading into the final two weeks that has virtually no room for error and depends heavily on a dramatic comeback in Pennsylvania, which hasn't backed a Republican for president in 20 years.

What Biden Implied  —  John McCain took note Monday of Joe Biden's remarks the day before at a Seattle fundraiser (where Biden apparently didn't realize at first there were media present).  But there's more McCain could say.  —  Here's McCain, in Belton, Missouri:

FIRST COLIN POWELL, NOW...  Ken Adelman is a lifelong conservative Republican.  Campaigned for Goldwater, was hired by Rumsfeld at the Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon, was assistant to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld under Ford, served as Reagan's director of arms control …

Obama Talks Nonsense on Tax Cuts  —  Revenues will inevitably be diverted from Social Security.  —  Now we know: 95% of Americans will get a “tax cut” under Barack Obama after all.  Those on the receiving end of a check will include the estimated 44% of Americans who will owe no federal income taxes under his plan.

‘Anti-American’ comments hurt Minn. rep's campaign  —  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann spent months building her profile through appearances on “Larry King Live” and other TV talk shows.  It took only a few minutes of airtime, and one disparaging remark about Barack Obama, to undo it.

Murtha Calls Western Pa. ‘Redneck’  —  Congressman Says Western Pa. Was ‘Really Redneck’  —  CHARLEROI, Pa. — U.S. Rep. John Murtha is calling many of the people who put him in office “rednecks.”  —  The news comes one week after Murtha claimed the area is racist, then apologized for that comment.

Wave Watch: Smith's political minefield  —  Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican who has represented central New Jersey since 1980, probably didn't realize he was walking into a political minefield when his family requested a break on his daughter's huge college bill.

Appeals Court Halts Release of 17 Guantanamo Detainees  —  A federal appeals court Monday blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslims into the United States from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until it can hear further legal arguments in the case.

Bush Decides to Keep Guantánamo Open  —  WASHINGTON — Despite his stated desire to close the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Bush has decided not to do so, and never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options …

McCain lands at Columbia Regional Airport  —  Sen. John McCain stopped in Columbia on Monday afternoon.  —  The Republican presidential nominee from Arizona landed at the Columbia Regional Airport around 12:30 p.m. As McCain disembarked from the plane, a man yelled, “Go get 'em, John.”

Senator Dodd's Notion of Courtesy  —  After reports emerged in June about him having received favorable treatment on two home mortgages from the Countrywide Financial Corporation, Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, promised that he would release documents to support …

Palin on SNL: What Did You Expect?  —  In 1998, I attended the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.  A friend who is a lobbyist there escorted me to a weekend's worth of events.  As we moved around a brunch reception one late morning, I turned and suddenly faced Henry Kissinger.

RNC On New Mexico “Voter Fraud”: Never Mind  —  As if you needed any more evidence that the Republican effort to tout voter fraud is less about legitimate claims and more about a political agenda, consider this sequence of events:  —  Last week, as we noted at the time …

Obama's False Medicare Claim  —  He accuses McCain of proposing to cut benefits.  Not true.  —  In a TV ad and in speeches, Obama is making bogus claims that McCain plans to cut $880 billion from Medicare spending and to reduce benefits.  — A TV spot says McCain's plan requires “cuts in benefits, eligibility or both.”

News outlets sweat over exit poll accuracy  —  Media outlets are preparing for the possibility that their Election Day surveys could be skewed because of overstated support for Barack Obama, largely because of the enthusiasm of his supporters.  —  While exit polling is a notoriously inexact science …