Police: Campaign Worker Admits Making Up Story  —  A Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Ashley Todd confessed to making up the story & is facing charges  —  PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making …

Bachmann tapes apology ad  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has taped an advertisement apologizing for her televised comments calling Barack Obama anti-American, according to a Republican source familiar with her campaign's decision.  —  Bachmann campaign spokeswoman Michelle Marston …

Reagan Appointee and (Recent) McCain Adviser Charles Fried Supports Obama  —  Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States.  Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States.

Bull!  —  You just knew it was coming.  Obama is so determined to see Grandma - he just had to also sit down for an interview about it first.  This is kind of funny for a couple reasons, though.  So deeply is he worried ... he even managed to work it into an attack on McCain.  What a noble guy, this Obama.

On Clearance, Terrorists, Palling Around And Such  —  In response to this morning's post about an anti-Palin faction developing with the McCain campaign and among Republicans, Randy Scheunemann, McCain's chief foreign policy adviser, e-mails:

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 …

Top Salary in McCain Camp?  Palin's Makeup Stylist  —  (Photo: Michael Appleton for The New York Times)  —  Updated |  12:20 p.m. 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?

McCain Communications Director Gave Reporters Incendiary Version Of “Carved B” Story Before Facts Were Known  —  John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts …

Race would be different if Ridge were VP pick, ex-gov says  —  HARRISBURG — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said today that John McCain can't become president without carrying Pennsylvania and that the race would be different if McCain had chosen him as his running mate.

United Panic  —  I'll be blogging through much of today, as the world fears the worst.  The first posts will be at the bottom.  —  Slipping Back: European markets closed well above their lows, but now the American market is slipping back, with both the Dow and the S.&P, down 4 percent for the day.

New Allegations in Mahoney Sex Scandal  —  Current and former members of the staff of Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla) say he has yet to come completely clean about his multiple affairs, abusive behavior and alleged ethical lapses.  —  Last week, following a series of reports on The Blotter …

‘Joe the Plumber’ Mulling Run for Congress  —  Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber,” said Friday he may consider running for Congress in 2010, challenging longtime Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in the Toledo-area district.  —  “I'll tell you what, we'd definitely be in one heck of a fight,” …

Obama Wants Social Security to Be a Welfare Plan  —  His tax credit amounts to a radical change in the system.  —  Imagine this: Barack Obama proposes a Social Security payroll tax cut for low earners.  Workers earning up to $8,000 per year would receive back the full 6.2% employee share …

43% Isn't Nothing  —  Obama looks like a winner, but it's not over yet.  —  It's all going fast, the whirl of images on the screen, words on the page, data flashing by.  Barack Obama's up here, his lead now in the double digits there.  In green rooms on book interviews …

Just Look  —  The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks.  Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.  —  If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society …

Death Threats Sent to Pollster  —  After releasing this morning's numbers showing McCain ahead in Ohio and Florida, the Strategic Vision polling company received several death threats through the contact e-mail on the company's web site.  —  David Johnson, the CEO of Strategic Vision, shared the messages with National Review Online.