Blame game: GOP forms circular firing squad  —  With despair rising even among many of John McCain's own advisors, influential Republicans inside and outside his campaign are engaged in an intense round of blame-casting and rear-covering—much of it virtually conceding that an Election Day rout is likely.

Palin's Makeup Stylist Fetches Highest Salary in 2-Week Period  —  Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain's presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?  —  Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain's chief foreign policy adviser …

Why that McCain volunteer's “mutilation” story smells awfully weird; Update: Police to administer polygraph; conflicting evidence at scene  —  Scroll down for updates..."Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence …

Former Mass. Gov. William Weld to endorse Obama  —  SALEM, N.H.—Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president, citing the senator's steady leadership, good judgment and ability to unify Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Barack Obama for President  —  Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation's future truly hangs in the balance.  —  The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush's failed leadership.  He is saddling his successor with two wars …

Former Bush aide voting for Obama  —  (CNN) — Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who sharply criticized President Bush in his memoir last spring, told CNN Thursday he's voting for Barack Obama.  —  “From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate …

McCain for President  —  WASHINGTON — Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain.  I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over.  I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left …

Sarah Palin talks about wardrobe flap, double standard for women and special education  —  An exclusive interview: ‘If people only knew how frugal we are’  —  PITTSBURGH - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted in an interview with the Tribune on Thursday that she did not accept $150,000 worth …

Today's Polls, 10/23: McCain on Life Support  —  This is not the time when John McCain can afford a bad polling day.  And yet he's had perhaps his worst one of the year.  —  The national trackers were essentially a push — three moved toward Obama, two toward McCain, two were flat — but the action today is at the state level.

Something About Sarah  —  My husband called it first.  Then, a brilliant 75-year-old scholar and raconteur confessed to me over wine: “I'm sexually attracted to her.  I don't care that she knows nothing.”  —  Finally, writer Robert Draper closed the file on the Sarah Palin mystery …

Group's Tally of New Voters Was Vastly Overstated  —  On Oct. 6, the community organizing group Acorn and an affiliated charity called Project Vote announced with jubilation that they had registered 1.3 million new voters.  But it turns out the claim was a wild exaggeration …

Civil War on the Right  —  Conservatives are at each other's throats, and here's what's revealing about how divided they are: The critics of John McCain and the critics of Sarah Palin represent entirely different camps.  —  One set of critics, skeptical social conservatives …

Runnin' with the Devil  —  In the first segment of the Great One's program last night, Mark highlighted this article by Thomas Lifson at the American Thinker, describing a clip, recently dug up by the Confederate Yankee site (the clip was also played by Mark), in which the FBI informant …

Obama Arrives in Hawaii to Visit Ailing Grandmother  —  HONOLULU — On a whirlwind trip back to Hawaii, Senator Barack Obama spent more than an hour visiting his ailing grandmother late Thursday and is set to return to her bedside on Friday morning after arriving here on a nine-hour flight …

1995 Obama Race Baiting Video Discovered  —  It sounds like those first 10 years with Rev. Jeremiah Wright rubbed off on The One...  Barack Obama slams “white executives” living out in the suburbs who do not want to pay taxes to inner city children in a 1995 interview:

Religious right group upset over GOP abandonment  —  The Family Research Council's (FRC) political arm ripped Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) Thursday for withdrawing ad spending on behalf of two endangered Republican candidates.  —  FRC President Tony Perkins said in a letter to Cole …

THREATENING LETTERS SPARK NEW PROP 8 CONTROVERSY  —  Last Updated:  —  A threatening letter has sparked a new controversy here in San Diego surrounding the gay marriage debate.  Donors who gave money to the No on Prop 8 campaign say they received blackmail letters demanding money …

Global Markets Plummet on Earnings Fears  —  PARIS — Stocks plummeted worldwide on Friday, with severe declines in Europe and Asia propelled by dismal corporate earnings and economic data pointing to a profound global slowdown.  —  Europe's major exchanges opened with falls of around 5 percent that turned quickly into a rout.

McCain surrogate tells Dominican students to prepare for war with Iran in next four years  —  A Republican charged with representing the views of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain told Dominican University students Thursday that war with Iran in the next four years is inevitable.

Spending rose in Palin's Alaska administrations  —  WASHINGTON — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin calls herself a fiscal conservative who wants to “rein in government spending.”  She says she “reformed the abuses of earmarks in our state.”  Republican John McCain said during the last debate …

The Point Of No Return  —  Thomas Frank, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, writes about ordinary folks back in his home state of Kansas as a kind of reverse model.  You can do all right, he argues, by watching the way those farmers, small businessmen and homemakers vote …

Stocks dive belief global recession is at hand  —  NEW YORK - Wall Street joined world stock markets in a precipitous plunge Friday, with the Dow Jones industrials dropping more than 300 points in early trading.  The growing belief that the world will suffer a punishing economic recession has investors furiously dumping stocks.