Top Items:
The Huffington Post:
Eagleburger Blisters Palin: “Of Course” She's Not Ready — A former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain's most prominent supporters offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of Sarah Palin's capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds — 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.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Washington Post, Electoral-vote.com, MSNBC, Political Radar, No More Mister Nice Blog, On Deadline, Brilliant at Breakfast, Daily Kos, Tikun Olam, The Heretik, Buck Naked Politics, Say Anything, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Truthdig, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, TIME.com and American Street
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Exclusive: Petraeus Wants to Go to Syria; Bush Administration Says No — Petraeus Proposed Visiting Syria But Was Rejected By Bush Administration — Apparently Gen. David Petraeus does not agree with the Bush administration that the road to Damascus is a dead end.
RELATED:
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Cover this! Inside the nastiest '08 rumors — Thank you for your e-mails! — When John McCain and Barack Obama started running for president in 2007, they were two of the most universally liked and respected politicians in America — men who even members of the opposite party saw as decent …
Washington Times:
Washington Times kicked off Obama plane for finale — The Washington Times, which has covered the Barack Obama campaign from the start, was kicked off the Democrat's campaign plane for the final 72 hours of the race. — The Obama campaign informed the newspaper Thursday evening of its decision …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org
RELATED:
Drudge Report:
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 …
Washington Post:
An ‘Idiot Wind’ — John McCain's latest attempt to link Barack Obama to extremism — WITH THE presidential campaign clock ticking down, Sen. John McCain has suddenly discovered a new boogeyman to link to Sen. Barack Obama: a sometimes controversial but widely respected Middle East scholar named Rashid Khalidi.
Discussion:
Yourish.com, Firedoglake, The E&P Pub, National Review, JTA Election Central, State of the Day and Little Green Footballs
RELATED:
New York Times:
Political Storm Finds a Columbia Professor — Rashid Khalidi had been bracing for the storm for months, friends said. — Since an April news report detailing his relationship with Senator Barack Obama, Mr. Khalidi, a Middle East scholar and passionate defender of Palestinian rights …
Wall Street Journal:
Obama and the Runaway Train — The race, the case, a hope for grace. — The case for Barack Obama, in broad strokes: — He has within him the possibility to change the direction and tone of American foreign policy, which need changing; his rise will serve as a practical rebuke to the past five years …
Discussion:
www.redstate.com
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
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.
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Poll: Dead heats in 2 key swing states — Barack Obama and John McCain are evenly matched in the swing states of North Carolina and Missouri, though Obama is strongly outpacing McCain in two of those states' crucial battleground counties, according to new Politico/InsiderAdvantage polls.
The Huffington Post:
Rick Sanchez V. Michael Goldfarb: McCain Spokesman Wusses Out On CNN — Oh, dear. Michael Goldfarb, who's clearly better off blogging about ABBA and criticizing people for playing Dungeons and Dragons, just pooped his pants on national television. The McCain campaign is making …
RELATED:
R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
A Last Push To Deregulate — The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January. — The new rules would be among …
Matthew Mosk / Washington Post:
In Final Stretch, McCain to Pour Money Into TV Ads — Sen. John McCain and the Republican National Committee will unleash a barrage of spending on television advertising that will allow him to keep pace with Sen. Barack Obama's ad blitz during the campaign's final days …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Caucus, Emptywheel, Real Clear Politics, TIME.com, Runnin' Scared and MSNBC
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
Mortgage Plan May Aid Many and Irk Others — As the Treasury Department prepares a $40 billion program to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure, it confronts a difficult challenge: not making the plan too tempting to people like Todd Lawrence. — An airline pilot who lives outside Norwich …
Alan Fram / Associated Press:
AP poll: 1 in 7 voters still persuadable — WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrick Campbell worries Barack Obama will raise his taxes but thinks John McCain will send people off to war. He says that leaves him leaning toward Obama ... maybe. — “I'm split right down the middle,” …
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Hank Paulson's $125 Billion Mistake — It was only a few weeks ago that most right-thinking economists and left-leaning bloggers were jumping on Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson for his plan to jump-start the markets in asset-backed securities by having the government buy them up at auction.
Carl Prine / PittsburghLIVE.com:
Majority of Allegheny prostitutes are on the Democratic side — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — John McCain and Barack Obama, if you're wooing a population of registered voters who are young, female and drawn to men in suits, then Allegheny County has 675 ladies ready to pull your lever.
The Huffington Post:
Court Docs: GOP Donor Secretly Funneled $75K To Coleman Family — The CEO of a major marine technology company is alleging that he was pressured by a friend and associate of Norm Coleman to secretly funnel tens of thousands of dollars to the Senator's family.
Kathy Kiely / USA Today:
His diversity a plus, Obama says — VIRGINIA BEACH — Democrat Barack Obama, looking forward to leading the country at a “difficult, challenging time,” says his biracial background and the years he spent as a child overseas will help him be a better president than rival John McCain.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Agence France Presse:
US election: If Iraqis could vote it would be for McCain … For five years Ali and Mohammed have lived alongside US soldiers in their Baghdad neighbourhood near Rasheed Street, a prominent commercial artery running through the heart of the Iraqi capital. — During that time American culture …
Los Angeles Times:
Somalia's pirate problem grows more rampant — For many Somalis on the coast, piracy is the only way to earn a living in a country without a functioning government and faced with soaring inflation, civil war and rising malnutrition. — Reporting from Haradhere, Somalia, and Nairobi …
New York Magazine:
November 5: Post-Election Plans of Prominent Politics Bloggers — The election is almost over, and if you think you'll be relieved, imagine the political bloggers who've spent the last eighteen months dissecting everything from Obama's flag pin to Mitt Romney's Battlefield Earth obsession.
Discussion:
Reason
Roxana Tiron / The Hill:
Murtha pleas for $1 million after racism comments — Veteran Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Pa.) has sent out a last-minute plea for $1 million to save his hotly contested seat, endangered by his own remarks describing his district as racist. — In an e-mail sent to potential donors …
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Obama Plans a Four-Day Hunt for More Democratic Voters — VIRGINIA BEACH — Senator Barack Obama is spending the final four days of his campaign mining for votes in places where Democrats have not turned out at full strength in recent presidential races, hoping to offset other areas in swing states where his candidacy may need a lift.