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 …

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.

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.

Final bill on the Barackopolis: $5.3 million  —  Keep this figure in mind when people claim that the $150,000 the RNC spent on Sarah Palin's wardrobe represents some kind of frivolity.  At least she's going to wear the clothes more than once, and it may raise some decent funds for charity at the end of the campaign.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska, records show  —  100-plus jobs went to campaign donors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.  Several donors got state-subsidized loans for business ventures of dubious public value.

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 …

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 …

How's Obama Going to Raise $4.3 Trillion?  —  The Democrat's tax and spending plans deserve closer examination.  —  The most troublesome tax increases in Barack Obama's plan are not those we can already see but those sure to be announced later, after the election is over and budget realities rear their ugly head.

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 …

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.

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 …

The Future of Conservatism  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: Linda from unknown parts of upstate New York, hello.  —  CALLER: Hi, Rush.  Upstate New York, western New York.  —  RUSH: Upstate western New York.  —  CALLER: Not to be confused with western Pennsylvania.  —  RUSH: Right.

Exclusive: Obama Explains Why His Campaign Will Wait for ‘Toot’  —  Obama Tells 'GMA's' Robin Roberts Why He's Halting His Campaign Swing to Visit Grandmother  —  Barack Obama is home today in Hawaii with his ailing grandmother rather than on the campaign trail because he fears she won't make it to Election Day.

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 …

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 …

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:

Oil powerhouse Venezuela struggles to keep lights on  —  SAN FELIX, Venezuela (Reuters) - Despite having some of the world's largest energy reserves, Venezuela is increasingly struggling to maintain basic electrical service, a growing challenge for leftist President Hugo Chavez.

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 …