memeorandum: Obamas give out treats, fruit to White House trick-or-treaters (Dan Zak/Washington Post)

1:10 PM ET, November 1, 2009

Top Items:

A changed race — Owens is best-equipped to represent NNY — Dierdre K. Scozzafava's decision to suspend her campaign for the 23rd Congressional District seat is a shocking development in what had already been an extraordinary race. — In her statement Saturday morning …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Hotline On Call, The Daily Politics, Raw Story, Texas for Sarah Palin, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, Campaign Trail, DaTechguy's Blog and Gateway Pundit

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York — BARACK OBAMA'S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week's election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war.

Charles Franklin / Pollster.com:

NY23 Siena Poll Again: Some Hope for Each Side — The new Siena College poll of NY-23 has mixed news for both parties now that Scozzafava has suspended her campaign. The key question is how does her vote split between Owens and Hoffman. (And keep in mind she'll still be on the ballot …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Daily Dish

Dede for Congress:

A Message from Dede — Dear Friends and Supporters: — Throughout the course of my campaign for Congress, I have made the people of the 23rd District and the issues that affect them the focal point of my campaign. As a life long resident of this District, I care deeply and passionately about its people and our way of life.

Discussion: Syracuse Post-Standard, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, Swampland, Watertown Daily Times, GayPatriot and Blogcritics

Michelle Malkin:

NYT columnist Frank Rich has the heebie-jeebies — Aw, poor Frank Rich. The far Left columnist for the New York Times is spooked by mainstream conservatives asserting themselves in the NY-23 congressional race. — Limited government activists rising up against the GOP elite? — Horrors!

Discussion: The Other McCain

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Jarrett: GOP ‘more and more extreme’ — White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said Sunday on ABC's “This Week” that the rise of a Conservative Party challenger in a closely watched upstate New York House election shows that the Republican Party leadership is “becoming more and more extreme, and more and more marginalized.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Reaction and CNN

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Washington Examiner:
It's the follow-through that matters in New York's special race

Discussion: CNN, Commentary and Riehl World View

Greg Gordon / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash — WASHINGTON — In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices …

Discussion: The Confluence, naked capitalism, Newshoggers.com and Prairie Weather

Dan Zak / Washington Post:

Obamas give out treats, fruit to White House trick-or-treaters — The first lady was dressed as a leopard, with a smear of eyeliner, fuzzy ears and a spotted orange-and-black top. The president was dressed as a middle-aged dad, with a black cardigan, checkered shirt and sensible brown slacks.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Below The Beltway, Hullabaloo and Althouse

Jeff E. Schapiro / Richmond Times-Dispatch:

McDonnell extends advantage in Times-Dispatch poll — Republican Bob McDonnell appears poised to win the governorship and lead a GOP sweep Tuesday, ending nearly a decade of reverses for his party, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch Poll. — McDonnell is favored by 53 percent …

Discussion: Politics Daily, TPMDC and The Hill

BBC:

Afghanistan poll in disarray after pull-out — President Hamid Karzai's rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential election has announced in Kabul that he is withdrawing from the poll. — “I will not participate in the election,” Dr Abdullah told supporters …

Discussion: Informed Comment, Guardian, Mudville Gazette, The Moderate Voice, The Agonist and Neptunus Lex

New York Times:
Transparent Election Is Not Possible, Says Rival to Karzai

Discussion: Jules Crittenden and Mudville Gazette

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

White candidate scrambles vote, attitudes in Atlanta race — For decades as white residents fled to the suburbs, Atlanta's black political establishment, led by a string of strong mayors, revived the moribund economy and so revamped the city's image that it earned a national reputation as “Hotlanta.”

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Daily Pundit

Laura Saunders / Wall Street Journal:

State Death Taxes Are the Latest Worry — With the federal estate tax disappearing for most people, state death taxes have emerged as a surprise new worry. — This year, the federal exemption rose to $3.5 million per individual, or as much as $7 million per married couple.