Olbermann crashes SNL set  —  Ben Affleck, who's hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week, was rehearsing a skit this afternoon mocking Keith Olbermann when Olbermann himself got past security to watch, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.  —  A source described the skit as …

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber  —  Vanessa Niekamp said that when she was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine.  A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Obama Is Up, and Fans Fear That Jinxes It  —  In the den of his home in New Hope, Pa., a liberal Democrat sits tap-tapping at his computer.  —  Jon Downs works the electoral vote maps on Yahoo like a spiritualist shaking his Ouija board.  He calibrates and recalibrates: Give Senator John McCain Ohio, Missouri, even Florida.

Trick or Treat  —  Do you spook easily?  —  Judging by the response in my inbox, some of you do.  —  Matt Drudge is touting the results of a one-day sample in a Zogby poll, which apparently showed John McCain ahead by 1 point.  —  There are a couple of significant problems with this.

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 …

El Rushbo's Gut Starts to Speak!  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: My gut is starting to talk to me, ladies and gentlemen.  As you know and as I discussed over the course of the previous week, my gut was not giving me any indication whatsoever, and my gut started talking to me last night.

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:

Judge orders Coffman to stop continued voter purge  —  A federal judge today angrily ordered Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman to stop purging names on the state's voter registration rolls.  —  The judge's order came in a telephone hearing this afternoon that was the latest clash between Coffman …

AP: Obama aunt from Kenya living in US illegally  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

Chuck Todd's state-by-state election guide  —  NBC's political director tells you what to expect in each state on Tuesday  —  WASHINGTON - There are a number of smart election previews out there.  —  Ready for one more?  —  Here are the things I'm watching for in every state, on every level.

Does Palin's maverick label still stick?  —  Featured Topics: - John McCain - Barack Obama  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A loyal Democrat, Kenny Powers never shared Sarah Palin's conservative politics.  But the United Way organizer confesses a fondness for the governor who paired a folksy charm with scorn for Alaska's Republican old guard.

Doonesbury declares a winner  —  The Doonesbury strip for Wednesday is set in Iraq with his military characters sitting around a television as Obama is declared the next President of the United States.  —  Risky?  Reckless?  —  Not for a cartoonist, but there's some discussion …

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 …

Letter to President Bush on Midnight Regulations  —  Dear Mr. President:  —  We are a diverse coalition.  All of our members share a deep concern about America's regulatory state.  We want to deliver a simple message: your administration should stick to its word and not issue any midnight regulations.

McCain-Palin Focus on Ohio and Pennsylvania  —  As the campaign enters its final days, we can develop a good sense of where the campaigns think they stand.  That's because campaigns have two scarce resources.  The first is money.  We can't track money directly, but we can track what it is buying - namely, television advertisements.

Boehner stumps for McCain in Oxford  —  Following a three-week tour around the country campaigning for House Republicans, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stumped for presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at Brick Street Bar and Grill.

Obama spent nearly $700,000 for stage, lights in Berlin  —  Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at the time [Note] CQ [/NOTE] he delivered a speech this summer in Berlin and declared himself a citizen of both the U.S. and the world.

Documents show how Ohio voting was routed to firm that handled Bush email accounts  —  Newly obtained computer schematics provide further detail of how electronic voting data was routed during the 2004 election from Ohio's Secretary of State's office through a partisan Tennessee web hosting company.