RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion  —  The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

Shame on McCain and Palin for using an old code word for black  —  The “socialist” label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.  —  J. Edgar Hoover …

THE END OF JOURNALISM AS WE KNEW IT  —  I'm not familiar with columnist Orson Scott Card, but his open letter to journalists is must reading.  It appeared first in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina.  Via InstaPundit: … But the mainstream media—which is to say …

As clock ticks, hope dims for McCain savior  —  For the GOP, the cavalry apparently isn't coming.  —  Republicans attuned to conservative third-party efforts say that with less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the prospects for any 11th-hour, anti-Obama ad campaign are highly unlikely.

NYT Mag Lifts Curtain On Palin Choice, Angst With Schmidt, Worry In McCain Campaign  —  The New York Times Magazine is set to publish an explosive story this Sunday on the inner workings and combative personalities of what has been a wild few months for the McCain campaign.

Protestor tries to arrest Rove in SF  —  SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — There was major political theater involving President Bush's former chief of staff Karl Rove.  A protestor tried to arrest Rove for treason Tuesday morning while he was speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association Convention, continuing in San Francisco.

Police prepare for unrest  —  Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest.  —  Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election …

Big Donors Drive Obama's Money Edge  —  The record-shattering $150 million in donations that Sen. Barack Obama raised in September represents only part of the financial advantage the Democratic nominee has amassed entering the final weeks of the presidential contest, newly released campaign finance records show.

Are the Polls Accurate?  —  Reading them right is more art than science.  —  Can we trust the polls this year?  That's a question many people have been asking as we approach the end of this long, long presidential campaign.  As a recovering pollster and continuing poll consumer, my answer is yes — with qualifications.

A Closer Look At the State Polling  —  Alternate Title #1: Why the Democrats are still very nervous.  —  Alternate title #2: Why John McCain is touring PA today.  —  RCP is THE must-have resource for any election and this one is no different.  While I've been keeping a sharp eye on the state polling …

McCain's Camp Shaves Its Ad Targets  —  Democrats who monitor advertising spending now put at five the number of states where Senator John McCain is reducing his advertising - New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, Maine and Minnesota.  —  In essence, Mr. McCain's campaign has decided to spread …

McCain Accidentally Agrees: Western Pennsylvania Is Racist  —  Sen. John McCain offered, on Tuesday, what may go down as one of the more awkward moments of this campaign cycle, in which — speaking in Western Pennsylvania — he declared he 'couldn't agree more' with the sentiment …

The Emperor Has No Taste Buds  —  Here's humorist David Sedaris in that bastion of sophistication, The New Yorker, on undecided voters:  —  To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane.  The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat.

On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain  —  Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market's downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America's economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.

Rendell ‘still a little nervous’ about Penn., asks Obama to return  —  (CNN) — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has sent two separate memos to the Obama campaign in the past five days requesting that the Democratic Presidential candidate—as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton—return to campaign in Pennsylvania …

Creative Protesting  —  MIAMI - Another protest by air for - or more accurately against - Barack Obama.  —  At the Democrat's rally Tuesday evening in Miami, a single engine plane buzzed around pulling a banner asking Senator Obama and his wife, Michelle, to “repudiate” 60s radicals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

In Endgame, Metrics Are Adding Up For Obama  —  It Ain't Over Till It's Over, But Several Key Factors Don't Look Good For McCain  —  One of the most unsettling aspects of this campaign is that for an election cycle so turbulent, with so many surprising twists and turns …