Sarah Palin's Personal Shopper  —  M  —  ove over Carson Kressley.  A new celebrity shopper has emerged!  —  The attention from Jeanne Cummings's much-talked-about Politico story has naturally focused on the $150,000 in luxury clothing purchased for Sarah Palin at Neiman Marcus, Sak's Fifth Avenue, and Barney's.

GOP Pulling Its Ads From Bachmann's Race, Media Buyers Say  —  Five days after Rep. Michele Bachmann went on a McCarthy-esque rant suggesting Barack Obama was unpatriotic and urging the major newspapers of the country to investigate anti-American sentiment in Congress, the national Republican political parties are running for cover.

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.

In New McCain Robocall, Rudy Giuliani Suggests Obama Opposes Jailing Murderers And Rapists  —  It was perhaps predictable that the task of recording the worst of McCain's robo-slime — the worst so far, at least — would fall to Rudy Giuliani.  —  Giuliani has recorded a new McCain robocall …

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 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 …

Poll: Obama Holds Leads in Key States; McCain Attacks Not Swaying Voters  —  With less than two weeks to go 'til Election Day, Barack Obama has held or increased his leads in four key states won by President George W. Bush in 2004 — Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and 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 …

Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel  —  Senior Tehran officials are recommending a preemptive strike against Israel to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear reactors, a senior Islamic Republic official told foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London.

Report: Obama Internal Poll Shows Two-Point Race in Pennsylvania  —  An internal Barack Obama campaign poll has the Democrat ahead of John McCain by just two percentage points.  —  WILK radio host Steve Corbett said Tuesday he obtained an Obama campaign e-mail about the internal poll showing a tight race.

SOCIAL SECURITY ALT.UNIVERSE  —  CNN just played the Social Security portion of John McCain's interview with Wolf Blitzer.  And two key points stood out.  —  First, McCain fabricated an alternative history of the 2005 Social Security battle in order to create a new tax talking points.

OFF THE RAILS  —  MSNBC just ran what we can only call an extraordinary interview with NBC News' Chuck Todd and Brian Williams.  They were discussing the interview NBC just did with John McCain and Sarah Palin.  We'll have the video shortly.  But what really stood out was the candidness …

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.

Study: Coverage of McCain Much More Negative Than That of Obama  —  Media coverage of John McCain has been heavily unfavorable since the political conventions, more than three times as negative as the portrayal of Barack Obama, a new study says.  —  Fifty-seven percent of the print …