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.

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.

McCain camp trying to scapegoat Palin  —  John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat.  It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.  —  And it has decided on Sarah Palin.  —  In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva.  She takes no advice from anyone.”

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Protest at the L.A. Times: Free the tape!  Updated  —  Photo credit: Omri Ceren at Mere Rhetoric  —  Scroll for updates...link to more photos and video below...  Several southern California readers send word that there will be a protest at the L.A. Times building today at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern …

Pennsylvania Hope for McCain  —  Republican must-win state poll from NBC/Mason Dixon:  —  Obama 47, McCain 43, Undecided 9

A Joke And What It Reveals  —  Speaking in front of a huge audience at downtown Raleigh rally yesterday, Barack Obama threw off a humorous line about John McCain's accusation that the Obama tax plan is redistributionist: … Ha ha.  —  Only, in this passage Obama revealed precisely …

FOX News Poll: Obama's Edge Over McCain Narrows  —  The race for the White House has tightened significantly — with Barack Obama now ahead of John McCain by three percentage points — according to a FOX News poll released Thursday.  —  FOXNews.com  —  As the candidates make their closing arguments …

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 …

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 …

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 …

With presidential race too close to call, ‘every vote counts’  —  Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama are locked in a dead heat among Hoosier voters, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) poll.  —  More than ever, that means Indiana's 11 electoral votes …

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 …

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.

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 …

For immediate release  —  The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 1 percent.  —  The pace of economic activity appears to have slowed markedly, owing importantly to a decline in consumer expenditures.

COLEMAN UP SIX OVER FRANKEN  —  From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann  —  As some pundits predict thunderclouds gathering on the horizon for incumbent Senate Republicans, a new NBC poll shows that Sen. Norm Coleman may be positioned to ride out the storm.  —  The results from the poll of likely voters …

Feds probe Countrywide's ‘V.I.P.’ program  —  The wide-ranging criminal investigation into wrongdoing at Countrywide - once the nation's largest mortgage originator - now includes serious scrutiny of a loan program that provided special mortgage deals to the well-connected and powerful, including two U.S. senators.

GOP Mailer Uses Obama Supporter To Attack...Obama  —  The Republican Party of Wisconsin is sending out a somewhat peculiar attack-mailer targeting Barack Obama.  —  The literature accuses the Illinois Democrat of never having “led” like a president is required to do, citing a history of voting …

THE LAST WORD—ALMOST  —  The Crystal Ball's Next-to-Last Projections for the 2008 Election  —  Director, U.Va. Center for Politics  —  These are our 2008 election projections as of Thursday, October 30.  We will make final adjustments and tweaks on Monday afternoon, November 3, and post them to the website.

Stephen Colbert Endorses Barack Obama  —  Several prominent Republicans have announced their support for Barack Obama, which means Stephen's not getting any attention.  The media can now talk about the courage it took Stephen to cross party lines into the one that has a pretty good shot of winning.

Banks to Continue Paying Dividends  —  Bailout Money Is for Lending, Critics Say  —  U.S. banks getting more than $163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission, over the next three years.