Why can't Klein get a seat?  UPDATE  —  Time columnist Joe Klein, who's been a forceful critic of the McCain campaign (and already said he's unwilling to accept a post-election apology), has found himself without a seat on the McCain or Palin the past four months.

Kristol: 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 THOUGHTS: OFF THE TRAIL  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann  —  *** Obama off the trail: NBC/NJ's Athena Jones reported last night that Obama was canceling his scheduled trips to Iowa and Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday, so he could travel to Hawaii …

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.

OPRAH OFFERS PRODUCTION HELP WITH OBAMA'S NETWORK SPECIAL  —  Oprah Winfrey is offering to “produce” the half-hour Barack Obama advertisement set to air on Oct. 29, a top source tells the DRUDGE REPORT.  The Daytime TV dynamo has even offered up her studio space in Chicago.

Spotted: Mark Foley  —  There have been so many scandals since October, 2006, the month that I launched this blog, that I just about forgot who Mark Foley was.  —  I got an excited phone call yesterday from two friends, TV producer Richard Ayoub and talent manager Dolores Cantu, who were having lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Fresh Face on Cable, Sharp Rise in Ratings  —  Rachel Maddow, a woman who does not own a television set, has done something that is virtually unheard of: she has doubled the audience for a cable news channel's 9 p.m. hour in a matter of days.  —  More important for her bosses at MSNBC is that …

Still more terrorist mail  —  Jonathan Martin posts another RNC mailer, this one of a plane bearing down on an airport.  —  It in Virginia and, apparently, Missouri, where McCain was handed it by KSDK, and said he was “absolutely” proud of it, according to the clip below, sent over by a Democrat.

Poll Suggests U.S. Troops Support McCain 3-1  —  A Military Times poll indicates landslide support for John McCain, who captures 68 percent of the military vote to Barack Obama's 23 percent.  —  FOXNews.com  —  A poll by the Military Times newspaper group suggests that there is overwhelming support …

Barack Obama: Why I believe he should be the next President  —  There are all sorts of reasons for hoping that Barack Hussein Obama will be the next president of the United States.  He seems highly intelligent.  He has an air of courtesy and sincerity.  Unlike the current occupant of the White House …

But Why Keep Talking to Him?  —  I confess I haven't followed the Ayers matter — except for one key and persistently bothersome detail — the continued communications following 9/11.  Relying on the unimpeachable New York Times, I learned two fact: (one), Bill Ayers, in 2001 said that he felt …

Sarah Palin's college years left no lasting impression  —  In the five years of her collegiate career, spanning four universities in three states, Palin left behind few traces.  Not many professors or students even remember her.  —  Reported from Moscow, Idaho — What can we learn …

Barack Obama to visit ill grandmother Madelyn Dunham  —  Race suspended as he travels to Hawaii  —  Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, in 1979 gets a hug during his high school graduation in Hawaii from his maternal grandparents, Stanley Armour Dunham and Madelyn Payne, both natives of Kansas.

NARAL hits McCain in mail  —  That cover should draw some, ahem, attention.  —  The piece is hitting voters ID'd as pro-abortion rights in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  —  (Digression: Where do they find male models …

Palin dubs Obama: ‘Barack the Wealth Spender’  —  GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (CNN) — Taking “Joe the plumber” wordplay to an unprecedented new level, Sarah Palin on Monday dubbed Barack Obama “Barack the Wealth Spender” for his plan to offer tax credits to lower and middle-income wage earners.

White supremacists target middle America  —  The white-power movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal.  —  The USA's largest neo-Nazi group is ditching its trademark brown Nazi uniform with swastika armband for a more muted look in black fatigues.

Palin Rally Breaks Record  —  With just 15 days to go until Election Day, there was a record breaking crowd at Suplizio.  According to Mesa County Republicans the rally drew 22,000 people making it the biggest in Grand Junction's history.  The speech was only about 15 minutes …

The Manifesto of the Silenced Majority  —  • We believe that Barack Obama is a brilliant orator and a man possessed of more charisma than any politician since JFK.  —  • But we also believe that his philosophy of “spreading the wealth around” is an ill-disguised form of socialism …

Majority of States Now in Recession  —  In March, 5 States Were in Recession; Now There are 27 With 14 More at Risk  —  ABC NEWS Business Unit  —  What started out as a housing problem in a few states has now exploded into a full-fledged recession with a majority of states now in or dangerously close to recession.

Palin in Debate  —  I missed the vice-presidential debate, being in an airplane.  But I watched some of it last night.  And one of the things I was most struck by was Governor Palin's extreme self-confidence.  Her critics say she has nothing to be self-confident about.  But she hasn't gotten the message.

‘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.

Governor stumps for state GOP candidates  — Gov. Charlie Crist dashed around the state Monday to stir up support for state Republicans fighting an unprecedented TV ad barrage by the well-funded Barack Obama campaign.  —  Amid national speculation that Crist and the Republican Party …

Buh-Bye And Smoke Up  —  A hedge-funder who got an 870 percent gain last year quits and writes a memorable farewell letter: … He urges throwing away your blackberry and getting stoned.  The full, somewhat brazen, and thoroughly enjoyable screed is after the jump.  He's right about marijuana, of course:

Bill Clinton must be yelling “I told you so!”  —  Once again we see the Obama Rules in action: Obama as Zeus on Olympus decries the petty mean politics of mere mortals that the McCain campaign is using against him: “In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over.