Top Items:
Pew Research Center:
McCain Support Continues Downward Spiral — Obama Leads by 19 Among Those Who Have Already Voted — Barack Obama leads John McCain by a 52% to 36% margin in Pew's latest nationwide survey of 1,325 registered voters. This is the fourth consecutive survey that has found support for the Republican candidate edging down.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, TalkLeft, The Daily Dish, The Heretik, TIME.com, Donklephant, My Left Wing and Salon
George Stephanopoulos / ABCNEWS:
Rift Cracks ‘Demoralized’ McCain Campaign — McCain Staffers Blame Palin's Lack of Readiness; Palin Loyalists Blame Over-Managing By McCain Handlers — The McCain campaign is definitely demoralized right now. The blame game has begun. — There is no question that there is a rift …
Discussion:
Electoral-vote.com, ColoradoPols.com, TalkLeft, Vodkapundit, The Other McCain and Oliver Willis
RELATED:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
7 days — One week out — Republicans expect to be crushed in historic landslide: buy emergency time in Montana and West Virginia — GM seeks Treasury $$$ ... GOP blame game now reaches down to state parties - Al Hunt is in Obama's gym pool at this moment — Michelle Obama shops J. Crew online …
Steven G. Calabresi / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's ‘Redistribution’ Constitution — The courts are poised for a takeover by the judicial left. — One of the great unappreciated stories of the past eight years is how thoroughly Senate Democrats thwarted efforts by President Bush to appoint judges to the lower federal courts.
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Reid eyes Byrd ouster — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quietly preparing to ease 90-year-old Sen. Robert C. Byrd from his perch as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democratic insiders tell Politico. — Reid has not yet discussed his plans with Byrd.
Discussion:
Don Surber
RELATED:
Barak Ravid / Haaretz:
Sources: Sarkozy views Obama stance on Iran as ‘utterly immature’ — French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel's government. — Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Wake up America, Maggie's Notebook, www.redstate.com, PoliGazette, Commentary, rubber hose, NewsBusters.org, Political Punch and Ynetnews
National Review:
Rush's Blueprint — Last week, Tony Blankley published and Rush Limbaugh publicized what may prove one of the most important articles of 2008. I don't mean that the article was good - very much the contrary. But bad work can be even more important than good, if enough people can be got to believe it.
Discussion:
Achenblog
RELATED:
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Palin's Love Boats — Until two cruise ships steamed up to Alaska two summers ago, the record for the silliest statement by a journalist had been held by Lincoln Steffens, in his time a famous American radical. Sent in 1919 to see how Russia was doing under the communists …
Jack Shafer / Slate:
Watch as the press corps battles its performance anxiety! — With the election just a week away and Barack Obama pulling away from John McCain, tiny tendrils of trepidation are starting to drift over the liberal members of the commentariat and the political press corps.
Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:
Both sides of aisle rip MSNBC — Keith Olbermann also criticized at media luncheon — In a room full of television industry executives, no one seemed inclined to defend MSNBC on Monday for what some were calling its lopsidedly liberal coverage of the presidential election.
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
Why McCain Lost Me — Yesterday, while reading the latest polling data on John McCain, Sarah Palin and their appeal — or growing lack of it — to “ independent women voters” it suddenly dawned on me: I am one of these elusive independent female voters, and I have the credentials to prove it.
The Politico:
Why McCain is getting hosed in the press — Politico political editor Charles Mahtesian was e-mailing the other day with a Republican lobbyist who signed off with a plea that sounded more like a taunt: “Keep it balanced.” — A reader e-mailed us with the same sentiment in different language.
Christopher Edley Jr / Washington Post:
A Voting Rights Disaster? — Suppose in your neighborhood there are 600 registered voters per machine, while across town there are only 120 per machine. (That's a 5 to 1 disparity, which is what exists in some places in Virginia today.) On Election Day, your line wraps around the block …
Byron York / The Corner:
Obama's Moving Tax Threshold: $250,000? $200,000? $150,000? What Next? — One of the things I've seen at Republican rallies is that people just don't believe Barack Obama when he says he'll raise taxes only on those who make more than $250,000 a year.
Discussion:
MSNBC
HillBuzz:
Breaking: Here's what we know about Pennsylvania right now — Tonight we spoke with a friend from Hillary Clinton's campaign who is now working for McCain/Palin — and is specifically working with Democrats for McCain in Pennsylvania. We worked with her in Texas, Indiana, Ohio …
Patrick Healy / New York Times:
New to Campaigning, but No Longer a Novice — AKRON, Ohio — On a visit to her husband's campaign office here the other day, Michelle Obama was handed a phone and a script of talking points and made calls to a few undecided voters. Mrs. Obama mixed policy on taxes and health care with chitchat about Ohio …
Martin Markovits / The Huffington Post:
Tipping the Scales — Up to 10,000 Registrations Deemed Incomplete in Colorado — The crucial swing state of Colorado is the latest state in which some voters might not be able to cast a ballot because of a technical mistake they made when registering to vote.
Max Cleland / The Huffington Post:
Georgia On My Mind — Six years ago this week, I was campaigning across Georgia for re-election to the United States Senate. I loved being a U.S. Senator and serving the people of Georgia. As our country headed to war in Iraq, and continued to fight to find Osama Bin Laden …
Discussion:
Seeing the Forest
Michael Graham / Boston Herald:
Election 2008: Objective journalism the loser — Did you see that amazing video obtained by the Los Angeles Times of Sen. Barack Obama toasting a prominent former PLO member at an Arab American Action Network meeting in 2003? The video in which Obama gives Yasser Arafat's frontman a warm embrace, as Bill Ayers look on?
Discussion:
Political Punch
Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: Obama Under 50%, as McCain Holds Steady — Obama 49.0%, McCain 44.7% — UTICA, New York - The race for President of the United States continued to tighten, as both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain lost ground in a contest that is now a four-point game …
Discussion:
MyDD
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Parsing the (Tracking) Poll: Are We A Center-Right Country? — The latest Washington Post/ABC News tracking poll — using interviews conducted Thursday through Sunday — shows Barack Obama leading John McCain 52 percent to 45 percent. — Almost every other internal measure in the survey …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
What Would ‘Tightening’ Look Like? — There is a lot of discussion going on about whether the national race is tightening; our model concludes that it is not. But what would meaningful ‘tightening’ look like in terms of the Electoral College? — Let me be oddly specific here.