EXCLUSIVE: McCain lambastes Bush years  —  ‘We just let things get completely out of hand’  —  NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW:  —  ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK AIR — Sen. John McCain on Wednesday blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare …

$150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image  —  Sarah Palin's wardrobe joined the ranks of symbolic political excess on Wednesday, alongside John McCain's multiple houses and John Edwards's $400 haircut, as Republicans expressed fear that weeks of tailoring Ms. Palin as an average …

The punditocracy's Seven Biggest Blunders of the 2008 election  —  Guess what?  The Conventional Wisdom has blown it again in handicapping Obama vs. McCain in the homestretch.  —  This has been a campaign season when the conventional wisdom has fared about as well as Bob Barr's prospects for moving into the Oval Office.

John McCain POW Footage Released  —  Footage of John McCain being interviewed as a bedridden prisoner during the Vietnam War has been released by the French national archive.  —  The video portrays the Republican as a hero but the message may be tarnished as he is filmed smoking a cigarette.

WHO IS JOHN GALT?  —  We've previously noted the gusher of illegal campaign contributions flowing into the Obama campaign from contributors such as “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will.”  More recently, incidents have been reported in which people have seen credit card charges surface suggesting they donated to Barack Obama when they did not.

A glimmer of hope for GOP?  —  It's not that the tide of the race is turning.  But for Republicans anxiously scanning the headlines for any sign of promising news, a few encouraging tidbits turned up Wednesday — signs that recent rumors of the McCain campaign's demise have been premature.

With $605 million already, Obama asks only $10 more from each of us  —  Having hauled in a record $208,333 every hour of every day last month — $150 million in all — plus a few more unreported millions so far this month, Barack Obama is worried that he might come up short in the political money war …

Murtha's hold on House seat slips  —  TRIBUNE-REVIEW  —  Two veteran warriors battling to represent the 12th Congressional District appear locked in the closest race in the district in years.  —  Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little …

Palin In 2012: The Argument  —  There's a suspicion in some McCain loyalist precincts that Gov. Sarah Palin is beginning to play the Republican base against John McCain — McCain won't let her campaign in Michigan...McCain won't let her bring up Jeremiah Wright... McCain doesn't like her terrorist pal talks....

Ex-ACORN worker: ‘I paid the price’ for voter registration fraud  —  SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) — Clifton Mitchell helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group ACORN.  But not one of them actually existed.  —  “I regret it.  I paid the price for it,” he said.

Sorry, I Can't Find Your Name  —  Before Mississippi's March presidential primary, one county election official improperly removed more than 8,000 voters from the eligible-voter rolls, including a Republican Congressional candidate.  Fortunately, the secretary of state's office learned of the purge in time and restored the voters.

GOING TO THE WELL A LITTLE TOO OFTEN.... It was the basis of a debate message.  And a stump speech.  And an ad campaign.  —  And now it's a tour. … Yes, that's right, John McCain is kicking off a “Joe the Plumber” tour.  Seriously.  —  This is terribly odd for a variety of reasons …

New Party: Where's the Press?  —  In “Something New Here,” I laid out Barack Obama's ties to the far-left New Party.  Blogger Trevor Loudon, of New Zeal, did the pioneering work on this issue.  Today, Loudon has posted good quality scans of New Party documents and pictures confirming Obama's membership.

Bipartisanship and threats of war toward Iran  —  Two former Senators — conservative Democrat Chuck Robb and conservative Republican Dan Coats (that's what “bipartisan” means) — have a jointly authored Op-Ed in The Washington Post today decreeing what the U.S. must do towards Iran.

Obama lead on McCain grows to 12 points  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

Rebranding the U.S. With Obama  —  The other day I had a conversation with a Beijing friend and I mentioned that Barack Obama was leading in the presidential race:  —  She: Obama? … [Long pause.]  —  She: Really? … We're beginning to get a sense of how Barack Obama's political success …

Why the Republicans Must Lose  —  Nothing short of defeat will put the GOP back on its limited government track  —  I grew up in a particularly conservative part of the already conservative state of Indiana.  I voted for Bob Dole in 1996 and George Bush in 2000, generally because …

NRCC Yanks Funding From Michelle Bachmann (UPDATED)  —  Tom Cole Thinks There Are Plenty of Republicans to Spare  —  Let's just call Tom Cole (R-OK), the head of the NRCC, what he is: a douchebag.  —  Some of you will be upset by the language, but I think it is an accurate description.

Pakistan Will Give Arms to Tribal Militias  —  Plan Bolsters U.S. Faith In Ally's Anti-Extremist Efforts  —  Pakistan plans to arm tens of thousands of anti-Taliban tribal fighters in its western border region in hopes — shared by the U.S. military — that the nascent militias can replicate the tribal …

A day in the life of Palin  —  One wonders if Obama could be so resilient  —  I have a dream for Sen. Barack Obama.  —  I have a dream that one day, for just 24 hours, he could be Sarah Palin.  —  OK, maybe that's less of a dream and more a plot point from a bad Lindsay Lohan movie (redundancy alert!).

William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire  —  William Ayers is a communist.  But don't take my word for it.  He said so himself:  —  And not some nicey-nice peace-and-love kind of communist.  Through his group the Weather Underground, Ayers was planning to “seize power” …

Barney Frank, Meet Robert Heinlein  —  This morning's WSJ editorial on “Obamanomics” starts with this quote from Barney Frank (and as you read it, note how confident the Left is: One of the main culprits of the credit crisis, saying this sort of stuff already, just before we vote and before they are even fully in power):

Amnesty  —  Governor, let me ask you about immigration.  How many undocumented immigrants are there in Alaska?  —  I don't know, I don't know.  That's a good question.  —  As governor, how do you deal with them?  Do you think they all should be deported?

Most Voters Say News Media Wants Obama to Win  —  “Joe the Plumber” a Top Campaign Story  —  Voters overwhelmingly believe that the media wants Barack Obama to win the presidential election.  By a margin of 70%-9%, Americans say most journalists want to see Obama, not John McCain, win on Nov. 4.

York: I Just Gave John McCain My Purple Heart  —  At John McCain's rallies these days, the talk is of taxes and Joe the Plumber and the financial crisis and mortgage relief and an end to wasteful federal spending.  Those are all perfectly fine things for a campaign to emphasize …