Palin Fears Media Threaten Her First Amendment Rights  —  ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports: In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by …

Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama  —  (CNN) — Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN's Fareed Zakaria this week he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.  —  Duberstein said he was influenced by another prominent Reagan official - Colin Powell - in his decision.

PURGE: SKEPTICAL REPORTERS TOSSED OFF OBAMA PLANE  —  NY POST, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, WASHINGTON TIMES TOLD TO GET OUT... ALL 3 ENDORSED MCCAIN  —  The Obama campaign has decided to heave out three newspapers from its plane for the final days of its blitz across battleground states …

Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’  —  On the stump this week, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has pushed back against Sen. John McCain's description of his tax policies.  —  “The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything …

Gallup Daily: Obama's Lead Widens Some on All Bases  —  Advances to 8-point lead among “traditional likely voters”  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The political landscape could be improving for Barack Obama in the waning days of the campaign.  Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Oct. 28-30 shows …

The Big Empty  —  As the only reporter during this election who has actually visited upwards of 50 of John McCain's field offices around the country (13 battleground states and counting), this piece by Matthew Mosk at the Washington Post comes as no surprise:

What if it's really close?  —  Rush Limbaugh highlighted this yesterday, and it's subsequently getting picked up on the blogosphere today.  It is, putatively, the work of a repentant Hillary staffer who moved to the Obama campaign and is appalled by what she's learned of their deviousness and scheming …

AZ-Pres: Neck and neck, and check out 2010  —  Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/28-30.  Likely voters.  MoE 4% (No trend lines) … I can't believe we may actually win Arizona.  And I have a bonus treat for you guys: … Janet Napolitano is Arizona's governor, currently serving her second term.

The 99 Percent Solution  —  Barack Obama says that frequently differences in judicial philosophy aren't going to matter because in “ninety-nine percent of cases [because] the Constitution is actually going to be clear.  Ninety-nine percent of the cases, a statute or congressional intent is going to be clear.

When Consumers Capitulate  —  The long-feared capitulation of American consumers has arrived.  According to Thursday's G.D.P. report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent.

Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild: Barack Obama's America  —  When Barack Obama announced that he was running for president he was very clear that, if elected, he planned “not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.”  Twenty months after that statement in Springfield Illinois …

Democrats gaining ground in crucial Senate race  —  (CNN) — If the Democrats reach their goal of capturing 60 seats in the Senate, North Carolina may be a major reason why.  —  Freshman Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole is trailing her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, by nine points …

Studs Terkel dies  —  The author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol has died.  “My epitaph?  My epitaph will be ‘Curiosity did not kill this cat,’” he once said.  —  Terkel is honored on his 95th birthday at the Chicago History Museum during a broadcast on WFMT.

10 Reasons Why McCain Might Win  —  This is why it might happen.  Not saying it will.  —  1) One poll has undecided voters at 14 percent on the last weekend, which means most of them probably really aren't undecided, that they are either going to stay home or vote preponderantly for McCain and pull McCain across the finish line.

Who's Got The Momentum?  —  In the last 96 hours of any election, both parties seek to cast themselves and their candidate as the ones closing strong with a wind at their back.  —  This presidential election is no different, as already today the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain have each held a …

WWL Poll: Obama-McCain in virtual tie in Louisiana  —  Video: Watch the Story  —  NEW ORLEANS - An exclusive new WWL-TV statewide poll shows the contest for president may be closer than many had predicted among Louisiana voters.  —  In the telephone survey of 500 registered voters …

The Cruelest Cut  —  Why McCain is lying when he says he wouldn't cut Medicare, and why it's been so hard for the media to call him out on it.  —  Ten days ago, the campaign's unofficial referees came down pretty hard on Barack Obama and his campaign.  The issue was Medicare—specifically …

Your Second Grade Teacher Was Right - Good Handwriting is Important  —  This guy's vote almost didn't count and he's kind of famous.  Will yours?  (Photo via www.mikekinsley.com)  —  Michael Kinsley founded Slate, edited the LA Times opinion pages, and pens columns for the Washington Post.

Senate race in final leg  —  THE PUSH: Stevens insists he's not guilty while Begich envisions a different future.  —  scockerham@adn.com  —  With just four days before the election and Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens insisting he's not a felon, the U.S. Senate race is white hot.

Docs detail alleged payment to Coleman's wife  —  A Texas businessman who claims he was forced to make $75,000 in secret payments to the wife of Minnesota Sen. Norman Coleman has produced documents showing cash transfers to an insurance firm that employs the senator's wife Laurie.

Big Media Figures Admitting That Drudge's Influence Has Waned  —  It's one of the key underplayed stories of this election, but more and more media figures are beginning to acknowledge that the onetime Ruler of Their World has lost his hypnotic sway over the media.

As Mark Steyn says: McCain — faute de mieux  —  Yes, sports fans, I do know all about how the International Republican Institute, while McCain was chairing it (which he apparently still does), gave goo-gobs of money to a Rashid Khalidi founded Center for Palestine Research and Studies …

Barack Obama should be able to disclose his small-dollar donors pretty easily.  —  Barack Obama refuses to release the names of the 2 million-plus people who have given his campaign less than $200.  According to campaign officials, it would be too difficult and time-consuming to extract this information from its database.

Video: Michael Goldfarb On The Tightest Leash  —  for those of you holding out hope that McCain would somehow carpetbomb Obama into oblivion with a re-introduction of Rev. Jeremiah Wright in these final days, forget about it:  —  To have a campaign spokesman painfully twist in the wind …

Team McCain conference call: polling  —  With a mere four days left, the polls have begun to tighten in the presidential race.  Pennsylvania appears within the margin of error, and a last-minute surprise could turn the race in McCain's favor — or so they would like to think.