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 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.

Rick Davis: Campaign Rethinking Playing The Rev. Wright Card  —  John McCain's campaign manager says he is reconsidering using Barack Obama's relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue during the election's closing weeks.  —  In an appearance on conservative Hugh Hewitt's radio program …

Rep. Hayes: ‘Liberals Hate Real Americans That Work And Achieve And Believe In God’  —  On Saturday, Republican North Carolina Reps. Patrick McHenry and Robin Hayes warmed up the crowd at a rally for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by throwing red meat to the right-wing audience.

Poll: Obama Gained During Debates  —  CBS News/N.Y. Times Follow-Up Survey Of Likely Voters Suggests Democrat's Advantage Grew  —  (CBS) The standing of the Democratic presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden improved during the last few weeks of the presidential campaign …

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.

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.

Obama Praised ‘Searing and Timely’ Book by Ayers  —  Barack Obama once gave a glowing endorsement of a book by former domestic terrorist William Ayers and was mentioned by name in the book itself.  —  FOXNews.com  —  Barack Obama, who has consistently downplayed his relationship …

Obama Blitzes Florida As Early Voting Starts  —  Barack Obama barnstormed the battleground of Florida on Monday with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and others, as voters began going to the polls in a state that has vexed Democrats in the past two presidential elections.

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.”

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 …

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.

Lorne Gunter: Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof  —  In early September, I began noticing a string of news stories about scientists rejecting the orthodoxy on global warming.  Actually, it was more like a string of guest columns and long letters to the editor since it is hard …

Bear found dumped at WCU with Obama signs  —  Comments on Topix forums (click to comment):  —  CULLOWHEE - A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said.

WaPo-ABC Daily Tracking - Release #1  —  Democrat Barack Obama enters the final two weeks of the presidential campaign holding a clear lead over Republican John McCain, aided by voters' focus on the shaky economy and by their perceptions that he is better equipped to handle those problems than his rival.