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.

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.

Woman quits job at call center over anti-Obama script  —  WESTON, W.Va. — Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.  —  McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee …

Early Voting Update: North Carolina Gets Big Turnout  —  Maurice Tamman reports on the 2008 election.  —  Nearly half a million North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots, either with a mail-in absentee ballot or by casting one in person.  —  That means nothing Republican …

Gallup and New Coke  —  The polls are wrong this year, very wrong.  I have been saying this for months, and I have backed up my claim with both statistical and anecdotal support.  The claims I have made have inspired some, caused others to laugh in derision, and brought others to test their assumptions and revisit the hard data.

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.

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 …

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 …

The Making (and Remaking) of McCain  —  On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 24, John McCain convened a meeting in his suite at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.  Among the handful of campaign officials in attendance were McCain's chief campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt …

The ‘Socialist’ Scare  —  WOODBRIDGE — John McCain should not have to be here, not on a crisp October Saturday scarcely two weeks before the election.  Prince William County is the electoral Maginot line between the Washington suburbs and what a McCain spokeswoman has just unhelpfully described as “real Virginia.”

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.

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.

How Anti-Intellectual Is Palin?  —  Ramesh Ponnuru asks the question.  He refers to Noam Scheiber's devastating piece on Palin's Nixonian hatred of educated elites.  But Ponnuru wants more evidence.  Here's one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids?

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 …

Obama and the Tax Tipping Point  —  How long before taxpayers are pushed too far?  —  What happens when the voter in the exact middle of the earnings spectrum receives more in benefits from Washington than he pays in taxes?  Economists Allan Meltzer and Scott Richard posed this question 27 years ago.

Right-Wing Independent Group Sinks Over A Million Dollars Into Ads Attacking “Chicken” Obama  —  Let Freedom Ring, a conservative outside group formed in 2004, is spending over $1.2 million on a pair of ads attacking Barack Obama in multiple battleground states, newly-filed FEC reports show.

O'Reilly: You'll Still Have Me to Kick Around  —  Bill O'Reilly has signed up for another tour of duty at Fox News, saying that he decided “to put myself through all the attacks and smears” for several more years.  —  The pugnacious pundit said that he signed the contract despite what he sees as a constant assault on his reputation.

Bachmann: It's All Chris Matthews' Fault!  ‘He Laid A Trap, And I Walked Into It’  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is still on the defensive from an appearance last Friday on MSNBC's Hardball, in which she called for the media to conduct a “penetrating exposé” into anti-American views of members of Congress.

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.

McCain to Granite State: ‘I Love You’  —  GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — John McCain returned briefly this morning to the scene of some of his greatest political triumphs to try to rally voters for one last victory.  —  “I can't tell you how happy I am to be back in the great state of New Hampshire,” …

Steal Back Your Vote!  —  Greg Palast's book: Armed Madhouse is a good read.  —  Intimidation is a big part of Republican strategy to keep turn out low.  Latinos should band together and show up to vote in groups of at least four so that they won't be intimidated when someone tries to deny them the right to legally vote.