Palin Unleashes New Attack Against Obama On Coal  —  From CBS News' Scott Conroy:  —  (MARIETTA, OHIO) - Seizing on a newly released audio tape picked up by the Drudge Report, Sarah Palin took the opportunity here in coal country to accuse Barack Obama of “talking about bankrupting the coal industry.”

JOE THE SKINHEAD  —  When he was just the topic du jour because of his question to Barack Obama back in the neighborhood in Ohio, that was one thing.  But “Joe the Plumber” is now actively campaigning with and for John McCain, appearing on stage with him at multiple events, etc.

Obama Leads McCain 52% to 46% in Campaign's Final Days  —  McCain Narrows Gap  —  Barack Obama holds a significant lead over John McCain in the final days of Campaign 2008.  The Pew Research Center's final pre-election poll of 2,587 likely voters, conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 1 …

My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned  —  This election is not about major policies.  It's about hope. … There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better “ground game” and superior campaign organization.

How soon will we know on election night?  —  Answer: Pretty soon, potentially.  Via CNN, a rundown of when the polls in various battleground states close (all times ET): … I didn't include Iowa because it's not a battleground anymore, assuming it ever was, but that's also a 10 p.m. close for what it's worth.

Myths and Realities  —  Jay Nordlinger writes at The Corner: … That may what “the evidence of [Nordlinger's] lived experience” says, but it would be strongly at odds with the historical pattern.  Here's Andrew Gelman's map of voting patterns among the top third of the income distribution in 2004:

Morning Status Update for Sunday 11/02  —  The most important thing to keep in mind about pre-election polls is that they come with random variability built-in.  That mostly predictable variation — known to most of us as “the margin of error' — comes from interviewing what we hope amounts …

A Long Campaign, And a Changed Barack Obama  —  Left to Right: Barack Obama announces his run for the presidency in February of 2007 ; Barack Obama at a campaign rally this week..  —  Almost two years ago, in the first months of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency …

The Most Accurate Election Forecast?  Hardcore Gamblers  —  Recently I was in Kentucky, reporting on horseracing for Garden & Gun.  A “whale” (bettor of thousands of dollars per day) I interviewed, Mike Maloney, successfully traded securities, options and futures, but chose to go to the track every …

McCain Did Not Disclose Keating Business Deal To Investigators  —  The New Republic published an explosive story Saturday evening detailing how John McCain, in all likelihood, leaked information to investigators of the Keating Five scandal that was designed to help his image at the expense of the other four Senators involved.

Soviet Doggies Bark for Barack  —  You have got to be kidding me.  —  Yesterday Zombie posted a photo of a silly Barack Obama poster featuring a barking dog, titled Bark for Barack!  —  But the original version of this poster was anything but silly.  It's a copy of a Soviet propaganda poster painted …

Palin misstates anti-Obama data source  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — At Gov. Sarah Palin's Sunday rallies, she's earned big responses by repeating the line that an independent organization has found that Sen. Barack Obama's proposed policies “would destroy 6 million jobs over the next decade.”

The Cellphone Effect, Continued  —  These are Barack Obama's leads in the likely voter models presently included in the Real Clear Politics average, plus the Research 2000 poll which they arbitrarily exclude.  —  The polls in the Cingular-y orange color include cellphones in their samples; the polls in gray do not.

Loving Sarah in Middle America  —  Chillicothe, Ohio — “I am Middle America,” Eric Rinehart tells me as we stand in front of the Ross County Courthouse after Sarah Palin's appearance here in this city of 21,000, sometimes called a bellwether city in a bellwether state.

A Reason to Elect McCain  —  There are a lot of people who didn't like Edmund Morris's biography of Reagan, which was authorized — they said it was a failure, or at least a missed opportunity.  I don't know.  I didn't read it.  But I do know this: Morris had one insight into Reagan, and it was perfectly observed.