Gallup Daily: McCain Moves Ahead, 48% to 45%  —  McCain enjoying increase in support following convention  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48% to 45%, when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the presidential election were held today.

Palin Media Avoidance Watch: Day 9 — McCain Camp Says She Won't Do Interviews Until It Knows She'll Be Treated with “Deference”  —  Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself …

Obama considered joining military, regrets abortion answer  —  Barack Obama says his answer about abortion at the Saddleback Church forum was “probably” too flip.  —  During separate televised interviews last month, Pastor Rick Warren asked the two presidential candidates when a baby gets human rights.

Palin floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee  —  The Democrats are in trouble.  Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign.  —  Period.  —  Palin's speech to the GOP National Convention on Wednesday has set it up so that the Republicans are now on offense and Democrats are on defense.

AC360 Exclusive: The trooper who worried Sarah Palin  —  The Alaska state trooper at the center of a probe into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power says he has “made mistakes, and I've learned from those mistakes.”  But in an exclusive interview with us, Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law …

FALSE EQUIVALENCY.... I tend to like the fact-checking work the Washington Post's Michael Dobbs has done over the course of the campaign, but this morning, he published an item about “some of the more questionable claims” that didn't quite work.  For example, there's this quote from Joe Biden:

McCain's history of hot temper raises concerns  —  WASHINGTON — John McCain made a quick stop at the Capitol one day last spring to sit in on Senate negotiations on the big immigration bill, and John Cornyn was not pleased.  —  Cornyn, a mild-mannered Texas Republican …

When Barack's berserkers lost the plot  —  My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week.  Their charismatic candidate was ahead in virtually every poll.  George W Bush was so unpopular that conservatives were scrambling around for reasons not to invite …

Media Bashing 101  —  SARAH PALIN'S national opening last week was judged an unqualified success by the media elite, even though much of her debut speech Wednesday night was devoted to whacking the media elite.  —  “I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member …

Daily Show: “John McCain: Reformed Maverick”  —  Jon Stewart traces John McCain's evolution from a straight-talking maverick to a shameless panderer who now embraces all the things he used to condemn.  —  Download |  Play Download |  Play

Sarah Palin's appeal to working-class women may be limited  —  For many of these critical swing voters, economic interests trump any admiration of the Alaska governor's maternal grit, and some are repelled by her sarcastic jabs at Obama.  —  UNIONTOWN, PA. — Trish Heckman …