Here the People Rule  —  According to the silver-penned Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend, “In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics.”  —  Leave aside Noonan's negative judgment on Sarah Palin's candidacy, a judgment I don't share.

The Real Plumbers of Ohio  —  Forty years ago, Richard Nixon made a remarkable marketing discovery.  By exploiting America's divisions — divisions over Vietnam, divisions over cultural change and, above all, racial divisions — he was able to reinvent the Republican brand.

Jon Stewart to Sarah Palin: ‘[Expletive] You.’  —  Speaking to a college audience in Boston, Mass. Friday, “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart used his stand-up routine to respond to Sarah Palin's comments about “pro-America” parts of the country, shedding the profanity restrictions that govern his Comedy Central show.

Barack Obama is the better choice for our president  —  In the past 50 years, The Eagle has never recommended a Democrat for president.  We made no recommendations in 1960 and 1964 — when Texas' own Lyndon B. Johnson was on the Democratic ticket — nor did we in 1968 …

What Bradley Effect?  —  WITH only two weeks to go before the election, talk has turned to the Bradley effect.  The phenomenon is named for Tom Bradley, the African-American mayor of Los Angeles, who lost the 1982 California governor's race even though exit polls predicted he'd defeat his Republican opponent, George Deukmejian.

The Republicans have lifted the lid off their rightwing id  —  Now McCain's supporters are casting Obama as anti-American.  This may well scare voters, but not the way they mean to  —  A year or two ago, if you'd told me that Barack Obama would be leading John McCain by a seemingly comfortable margin …

More Challenges for McCain, From Ayers to the Palin Pick  —  Obama leads on optimism and temperment in final weeks.  —  More challenges for John McCain: Likely voters overwhelmingly reject his effort to make an issue of Barack Obama's association with 1960s radical William Ayers.

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case  —  Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.  —  SACRAMENTO — The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands …

Nafta-Plus  —  Canada looks to Europe in anticipation of Obama protectionism.  —  Barack Obama's promise to unilaterally rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement if Canada and Mexico won't go along with his ideas on labor and the environment has not gone unnoticed in Ottawa.

Many Holes in Disclosure of Nominees' Health  —  Fifteen days before the election, serious gaps remain in the public's knowledge about the health of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees.  The limited information provided by the candidates is a striking departure from recent campaigns …

Pat Buchanan says Colin Powell endorsed Obama because he's black  —  Liberals in general are no fans of Colin Powell, but watching the right wing ideologues slam Powell because of his endorsement of Obama, I can only assume that they fear this particular endorsement because it will have an impact on undecided and independent voters.

Military report: Terms ‘jihad,’ ‘Islamist’ needed  —  Team sees no reason to soften words  —  A U.S. military “Red Team” charged with challenging conventional thinking says that words like “jihad” and “Islamist” are needed in discussing 21st-century terrorism and that federal agencies …

Obama & Ayers Shared an Office Building... A Little Office Building (Photos)  —  OBAMA LIED ABOUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH TERRORIST BILL AYERS  —  He wasn't just some “guy who lived in the neighborhood” in Chicago.  —  They worked on the same floor of the same office building for several years.

Troopergate investigator, Palins to meet this week  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband will meet this week with an investigator determining whether she violated state ethics law when firing her public safety director.  —  Thomas Van Flein …

Deficit Rises, and the Consensus Is to Let It Grow  —  Like water rushing over a river's banks, the federal government's rapidly mounting expenses are overwhelming the federal budget and increasing an already swollen deficit.  —  The bank bailout, in the latest big outlay …

‘Joe the Plumber’ in media cross hairs  —  The eyes of Joe the Plumber stare sightlessly from the media pike that his head has been impaled upon.  A few crows fly over.  As crows are curious, they become interested in the offering below.  They lock their wings, caw and begin their swoop.

Obama ‘Flooding’ Florida Beginning With Tampa Visit  —  TAMPA - As early voting begins in Florida, some of the biggest names in Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign will barnstorm Florida for three days, starting with Obama's appearance at a rally today at Tampa's George M. Steinbrenner Field.

How to Read the Constitution  —  The following is an excerpt from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's Wriston Lecture to the Manhattan Institute last Thursday:  —  When John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country …

Palin says voters ‘irritated’ by robocalls  —  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) - All of a sudden, Sarah Palin is eager to meet the press.  —  John McCain's running mate took questions from her press corps for the second time in three days late Sunday after flying into Colorado Springs.

Obama's September Haul Provides Huge Advertising Edge  —  Democratic Sen. Barack Obama announced yesterday that he raised more than $150 million in September, obliterating previous fundraising records and giving him an enormous tactical advantage over Republican Sen. John McCain in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.