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.

Dr. Dobson Talks with Gov. Sarah Palin  —  The Republican vice presidential candidate talks about her family, the sanctity of human life and the pressures of the election season.  Dr. Dobson encourages listeners to pray for our country as the election draws near.  —  Listen to the broadcast:

Republicans Disgusted By RNC Spending On Palin … There is already an attempt to blame the media — as in, the liberal media would have looked askance at Palin if she wasn't clad in Neiman Marcus, but this won't wash. Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed …

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 …

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 …

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA WIDENS LEAD  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann  —  *** Obama widens his lead: With 13 days to go, Obama has opened up his biggest lead over McCain in the NBC/WSJ poll, 52%-42%, which is up four points from his lead two weeks ago.

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 ‘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.”

FOX News Poll: Obama Grabs Nine Point Lead Over McCain  —  Less than two weeks before Election Day, Barack Obama leads John McCain 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday.  —  Obama's advantage comes mainly from independents …

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?

AP presidential poll: All even in the homestretch … WASHINGTON (AP) - The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running …

The McCain Pennsylvania Theory  —  OK, so commenters in the previous swing state thread have laid out what they see as McCain's rationale behind targeting Pennsylvania instead of Colorado, and I can kind of see how it makes sense.  In the extended entry, I provide a full explanation.

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.

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.

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 …

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.