21.7% Of Households In Top Local TV Markets Watched Obama Infomercial  —  The combined overall household rating for Senator Barack Obama's Wednesday night infomercial, in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 21.7.

JOE?  WHERE DID YOU GO?  —  From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy  —  DEFIANCE, Ohio — “Where is Joe?  Is Joe here with us today?”  —  That's the question John McCain asked roughly 6,000 people at Defiance Junior High School here this morning, But the correct answer was no — Joe the Plumber was nowhere to be found.

Stan Greenberg's Letter To Bill McInturff, Lead Pollster, McCain-Palin 2008  —  To: Bill McInturff, lead pollster, McCain-Palin 2008  —  Partner, Public Opinion Strategies  —  From: Stan Greenberg, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Democracy Corps  —  RE: STATE OF THE RACE AND BALLOT POSITION

Checks on ‘Joe’ more extensive than first acknowledged  —  Tax, welfare info also sought on McCain ally  —  A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on “Joe the Plumber” were more extensive than it first acknowledged.

It's time  —  America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world  —  IT IS impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be.  Back in 2000 America stood tall as the undisputed superpower, at peace with a generally admiring world.

Qaeda wants Republicans, Bush “humiliated”: Web video  —  DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda leader has called for President George W. Bush and the Republicans to be “humiliated,” without endorsing any party in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to a video posted on the Internet.

Pre-emptive ejection: Audience members removed at McCain rally in Cedar Falls  —  Audience members escorted out of Sen. John McCain's, R-Ariz., campaign event in Cedar Falls questioned why they were asked to leave Sunday's rally even though they were not protesting.

Increasingly, Poll Shows Palin Hurting McCain's Chances  —  A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

McCain: 'When I'm President, we're not gonna let' Exxon reap record profits.»  —  Today, ExxonMobil shattered records by reporting a $14.83 billion profit, just in the third quarter.  Campaigning in Ohio, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared that when he's President, “we're not gonna let that happen.”

Sen. Bond Warns Palin Crowd That Obama Wants Judges Who Empathize With “The Gay”  —  From CBS News' Scott Conroy:  —  (CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO.) - Taking the stage as one of the pre-program speakers at a Sarah Palin rally here in Rush Limbaugh's hometown, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri …

As a Conservative, I Must Say I Do Quite Like the Cut of this Obama Fellow's Jib  —  By T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII  —  Columnist, The National Topsider  —  Membership Chairman, The Newport Club  —  When my late father T. Coddington Van Voorhees VI founded the iconoclastic conservative …

McCain-Palin Campaign Snubs Penn State Prez  —  Unwelcome at Palin Campus Event Because He's a “Big Democrat”  —  A McCain-Palin campaign official snubbed the president of Penn State University who inquired about attending a campus speech Tuesday by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin …

Exclusive: U.S. Expects Bin Laden Message Near Election  —  Analysts: OBL Could Speak Out in an Effort to Prove His Relevance  —  Multiple senior government officials tell ABC News the intelligence community is anticipating a message from Osama bin Laden before or just after the presidential election.

Poll finds 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim  —  WASHINGTON — A University of Texas poll to be released today shows Republican presidential candidate John McCain and GOP Sen. John Cornyn leading by comfortable margins in Texas, as expected.  But the statewide survey of 550 registered voters …

Erica Jong Tells Italians Obama Loss ‘Will Spark the Second American Civil War.  Blood Will Run in the Streets’  —  It seems that the final days of the presidential campaign have made Erica Jong and her friends more than a little anxious.  —  A few days ago, Jong, the author and self-described feminist …

Counterevidence Watch: Obama + 3 In The Fox Poll  —  http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/ 103008_poll.pdf  —  A Democratic reader writes: … Small variations in weighting can have proportionately large effects on the perception of a poll, t'is true.  —  But I'm no expert on this question …

Why White Supremacists Support Barack Obama  —  How do racists, anti-Semites and all-purpose hate-mongers view the possibility of America's first black president?  Not necessarily the way you think they would.  —  If recent polls are to be believed, white voters favor John McCain over Barack …

Voter Purge Rejected in Colorado  —  DENVER — Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state's voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week's election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here.

Obama Recruiting Volunteers For Arizona; “Real Chance”  —  An Arizonan forwarded this e-mail to Barack Obama's supporters in Arizona:

Gallup Daily: Obama Lead Among Likely Voters 5 to 7 Points  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama holds a statistically significant lead over John McCain in both Gallup likely voter models, according to Oct. 27-29 Gallup Poll Daily tracking.  In the traditional model, which defines likely voters based …

John McCain: Not More of the Same  —  Barack Obama and his allies have spent the last year arguing that John McCain is just like George W. Bush.  They're wrong.  In reality, McCain's brand of great power neoconservatism, recession economics, and conflicted environmentalism makes him McDifferent

Huffington Post Writer Stabs Lover 222 Times  —  It was inevitable that the Huffington Post would somehow end up sullied by recruiting such a massive army of unpaid contributors.  But few would have imagined something this awful: Valued HuffPo political blogger Carol Anne Burger shot herself Friday …

In Which Michael Goldfarb Has A Bad Day  —  Though Sanchez shouldn't have internalized the premise of Khalidi being anti-Semitic.  Just because the McCain campaign says something doesn't make it so.

Obama and the Politics of Crowds  —  The masses greeting the candidate on the trail are a sign of great unease.  —  There is something odd — and dare I say novel — in American politics about the crowds that have been greeting Barack Obama on his campaign trail.

PICS AND VIDEO FROM THE LA TIMES “FREE THE TAPE” PROTEST (UPDATED: 2ND VIDEO, 25 PIC GALLERY ADDED)  —  This is why we're losing.  We don't know how to throw a protest.  A potentially explosive national issue with questions about judgment that are at the center of a Presidential election.

You're Still A Racist, Obama Advisor Says  —  Even if you vote for Obama, you're still probably a racist, according to Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, in his remarks at a recent panel discussion at my alma mater.  Ogletree, Obama's top advisor on race issues, explains that since Obama is …

Breaking: Rubashkin arrested, will appear in federal court today  —  First on the Iowa Independent: Federal prosecutors have arrested Sholom Rubashkin, former chief executive officer and vice president at Agriprocessors and son of company founder Aaron Rubashkin, on a criminal complaint …

OBAMA X.  —  Granted, it's probably (okay, certainly) not true.  But if that crazy person who runs Atlas Shrugged is right and Barack Obama really is the son of Malcolm X, that would make my day.  Honestly, who wouldn't give Malcolm props for that one?  And think there's anyway we can fit Tupac into the bloodline?

‘Blue Dog’ Democrats ready to bark louder on Hill  —  Featured Topics: - John McCain - Barack Obama  —  WASHINGTON - Conservative Democrats who've been a thorn in the side of liberal party leaders could grow into a major obstacle to Barack Obama's agenda if he is elected president.

Heilemann: Barack and Bill Still Strangers, Despite Appearances  —  “See you next year... maybe.”  —  Photo: Getty Images  —  So the first and last episode of the Barack and Bill Show took place last night in Kissimmee, Florida, with some 35,000 regular people in attendance, along with an all-star roster of journos (Jake Tapper!

Still No Palin Medical Records: Why?  —  Was that promise last week another lie?  Again, I challenge Mark Salter personally.  He called me crazy for asking questions about Sarah Palin's alleged fifth pregnancy.  If you think questions are not worth asking, or based on nothing but partisanship and hate …

Reality Check: The Cost Of Obama's Pledges  —  Web Exclusive: If Victorious, Barack Obama May Find Fewer Resources Than He Needs For His Campaign Promises  —  (CBS) This story was written by CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.  —  Without question, the Barack Obama infomercial served …