Huffinton Post: Leah McElrath Renna: Five Reasons Why the Obama Infomercial was Worth the Cost

"Let's be honest: the Obama infomercial was about comforting white Americans -- especially middle and working class white Americans. That said, it was arguably necessary and -- for what it was -- very effective."

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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."

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Crooks and Liars: Neil Cavuto on John McCain: 'On economic matters, you have no convictions'

"On [Fox Business Channel]'s Cavuto show, Neil Cavuto lambasted John McCain over his economic policies, or lack thereof. It's a searing commentary on McCain's nonsensical approach and the shifting positions he has taken during his campaign."

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Huffington Post: GOP Doubts Grow: Romney, Pawlenty Sound Skeptical

"Doubts about John McCain's chances for the presidency grew louder among fellow Republicans on Tuesday as a White House race largely focused on Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania entered its final week."

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Huffington Post: Amb. Peter Bridges: We Know the World and We Support Obama

"A friend and former colleague of mine in the Foreign Service, Kevin McGuire, some time ago drafted a short statement of support for Obama and began to ask retired Foreign Service officers if they would sign it. So far 334 of us have done so, including by my count 66 former American ambassadors."

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Washington Post: Sorry, Senator. Let's Salvage What We Can.

"There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him."

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Huffington Post: Biden Tells Fifth Grade Reporter What VP Actually Does (VIDEO)

"When Joe Biden campaigned in Palm Beach County, Florida in September he was interviewed by one Damon Weaver, a remarkably poised and charming 5th grader. Weaver's news segment on Biden's visit is highly entertaining and worth checking out, And make sure to watch to the end, when Weaver pronounces Biden his 'homeboy.'"

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AP: Lieberman On Palin: "Thank God She's Not Gonna Have To Be President From Day One"

"Lieberman added that if Democrat Barack Obama wins the White House, he would support his presidency."

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Politico.com: Palin allies report rising campaign tension

"Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics. Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline."

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Washington Times: McCain supporters heckle early voters

"Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black. Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white."

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Huffington Post: Waiting for Nov. 4th, by Larry David

"I can't take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I'm anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I'm finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it's worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there's still a potential cure. With this, there's no cure. The result is final. Like death."

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McClatchy Washington Bureau: Enough Joe the Plumber; here's to Kareem the Soldier

"Obama 'is a Christian,' Powell said. 'He has always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, 'What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That is not America.' He added: 'I am troubled that within the (Republican) Party we have these kinds of expressions' suggesting that Obama is a Muslim, and that if he is, he likely associates with terrorists."

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New York Times: McCain Fights to Keep Crucial Blue State in Play

"Mr. Obama, who was in Florida on Tuesday, had no immediate plans to return to Pennsylvania in coming days, perhaps the most telling sign that his strategists were comfortable with his position there. But Democratic officials in the state said they had been urging the Obama campaign to send the senator back there at least once more before Election Day to shore up support."

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Think Progress: Palin Claims The Vice President Is ‘In Charge Of The U.S. Senate’

"Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school about what the Vice President does, Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is “in charge of the United States Senate“."

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Chicago Tribune: Political signs bring threats in Villa Park

"Two supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama found handwritten death threats in their mailboxes Thursday and reported them to Villa Park police."

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Slate.com: Stop covering Palin until she gives a press conference, by Christopher Hitchens

"...continued media coverage of her appearances is no better than lending a megaphone to a demagogue, the better to amplify her propaganda."

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Rep. Michele Bachmann Calls for Investigation of Anti-American Members of Congress and Suggests Obama is Anti-American — Then Denies the Statements

From Jonathan Turley:

"Bachmann’s comments are unfortunately an example of how, once unleashed by a campaign, these attacks quickly de-evolve into a form of fascistic rhetoric. From Palin’s reference to “pro-American” parts of the country to Bachmann’s call for the investigation of anti-American views, the all citizens should be equally concerned. At best, Bachmann’s comments were irresponsible and worthy of condemnation. At worse, it is a reflection of how politicians have unleashed the scourge of McCarthyism again in this country."

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Los Angeles Times: Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case

"The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud."

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Reuters: McCain compares Obama to European socialists

"'At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are up-front about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Senator Obama,' McCain said."

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AP: Obama raises stunning $150 million in September

"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised more than $150 million in September, a stunning and unprecedented eruption of political giving that has given him a wide spending advantage over rival John McCain."

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Think Progress: Bachmann Calls For McCarthyite Investigation Into Anti-American Activities Of Liberals

"[Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)] called on the media to conduct investigations into the anti-American activities of members of Congress, similar to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s discredited House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the 1950s. “I think people would love to see an expose like that,” she claimed."

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CNN: Obama camp calls for special prosecutor in fraud investigation

"The Obama campaign announced Friday that it is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to turn over any investigations of voter fraud or voter suppression to Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy. Dannehy is also the special prosecutor recently appointed to investigate the U.S. attorney firing scandal. It's the latest salvo in an escalating war over allegations of possible voter irregularities during the upcoming presidential election. 'What they're actually about is the unprecedented effort to essentially sap the American people of confidence in the voting process,' Bob Bauer, the Obama campaign's general counsel, said Friday on a conference call."

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FiveThirtyEight.com: On the Road: Marietta, Ohio

"When local field organizer Christian Lund took the stage just prior to Joe Biden's appearance on Tuesday night in Marietta, he asked those in the attendant crowd of about 4,000 to look at the sheets in their hands. Each sheet held four names, and each name had a phone number and a bar code for later data scanning. Lund asked the people in the crowd to make four phone calls to this targeted group, and then he demonstrated. Lund got voicemail. Over the microphone, he left a message informing his phonee about where and when to early vote, as well as where and when the Obama volunteer office was located in town and what it's hours were. After he was finished, it was the crowd's turn. 'We even got extra cell tower juice just for tonight' Lund told the crowd, so go ahead and make four quick calls on Barack Obama's behalf. They did."

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A Vote For Science: All 2008 US Nobel Laureates in Science Endorse Obama!

"From the Obama campaign: 'With one voice, 65 of the nation's greatest minds, the largest number of Nobel Laureates to ever endorse a political candidate for office, have encouraged the American public to vote Obama on November 4th.'"

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Salon.com: Sarah Palin and the Jewish vote in Florida

"The local retirement community known as Century Village is just one outpost in a statewide network of Century Villages, Florida’s largest chain of retirement complexes. It is also a time capsule of the New York Jewish gestalt, circa 1965, transplanted intact to the golf greens of Palm Beach County. If a small, unscientific sampling of the shoppers in the Hamptons Plaza mall, directly across from the complex, is any indication, John McCain’s choice of running mates may have pushed the residents of this heavily Democratic enclave back in Barack Obama’s direction."

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BBC News: 106-year-old voter chooses Obama

"A 106-year-old American nun living in a convent in Rome could well be one of the oldest voters to cast a ballot in the 2008 US Presidential election. Sister Cecilia Gaudette, who last voted for President Eisenhower in 1952, has registered to vote and says she will vote for Democrat Barack Obama."

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New York Times: Fire the Campaign, by William Kristol

"It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign. He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed."

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New York Times: The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama

"...we’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise."

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CNN: New York county prints ‘Barack Osama’ on ballots

"Hundreds of absentee ballots sent to voters in New York State’s Rensselaer County, near Albany, were printed with Barack Obama’s last name spelled as “Osama,' the Albany Times Union reports.

County elections officials tell the newspaper that it was a typo that made it by three rounds of proof-readers. They also said the error affected just a few hundred voters, and that they will re-send corrected ballots on request."

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The Daily Beast: Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama, by Christopher Buckley

"Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance.

Or would they? But let’s get that part out of the way. The only reason my vote would be of any interest to anyone is that my last name happens to be Buckley—a name I inherited. So in the event anyone notices or cares, the headline will be: “William F. Buckley’s Son Says He Is Pro-Obama.” I know, I know: It lacks the throw-weight of “Ron Reagan Jr. to Address Democratic Convention,” but it’ll have to do."

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Politico.com: Palin: Obama not telling ‘total truth’

"The Alaska governor told Ingraham’s listeners that if those questions were being answered, voters would find Obama “out of the mainstream,” adding that the Illinois senator would diminish “the prestige of the United States presidency.”"

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New York Times Editorial: Politics of Attack

"It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember. They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison."

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ABC News: 'Tis the Season of Election Dirty Tricks: Scaring Student Voters

"Young voters at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn. have already been targeted, with students reporting that flyers have been posted around campus warning that undercover police will be at the polls on Election Day looking to make arrests."

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CBS: Poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Debate

"... this new poll has good news for the Democratic ticket: Just as in the first presidential debate and the vice presidential face off, more uncommitted voters say the Democratic candidate won the debate. (The exact numbers may change as more respondents complete the survey.)"

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AP: McCain linked to private group in Iran-Contra case

"GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair. McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago. The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe."

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Think Progress: Top McCain Aide: ‘If We Keep Talking About The Economic Crisis, We’re Going To Lose’

"“It’s a dangerous road, but we have no choice,” a top McCain strategist told the Daily News. “If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we’re going to lose.”"

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AP: Palin's Ayers Attack "Racially Tinged"

"Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as 'not like us' is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American."

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New York Times: Racism Without Racists

"...a careful survey completed last month by Stanford University, with The Associated Press and Yahoo, suggested that Mr. Obama’s support would be about six percentage points higher if he were white... Most of the lost votes aren’t those of dyed-in-the-wool racists. Such racists account for perhaps 10 percent of the electorate and, polling suggests, are mostly conservatives who would not vote for any Democratic presidential candidate. Rather, most of the votes that Mr. Obama actually loses belong to well-meaning whites who believe in racial equality and have no objection to electing a black person as president — yet who discriminate unconsciously."

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Philadelphia Daily News: Vote-scam fliers target black neighborhoods

"An anonymous flier circulating in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia states that voters who are facing outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets may be arrested at the polls on Election Day."

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New York Times: Palin’s Alternate Universe

"After Ms. Palin had woven one of her particularly impenetrable linguistic webs, Joe Biden turned to the debate’s moderator, Gwen Ifill, and said: “Gwen, I don’t know where to start.” Of course he didn’t know where to start because Ms. Palin’s words don’t mean anything. She’s all punctuation."

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FiveThirtyEight.com: On the Road: St. Louis County, Missouri

"You could take every McCain volunteer we’ve seen doing actual work in the entire trip, over six states, and it would add up to the same as Obama’s single Thornton, CO office. Or his single Durango, CO office. These ground campaigns bear no relationship to each other."

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Huffington Post: VP Debate: McCain's Big Gamble Comes Up Snake Eyes, by Arianna Huffington

"After watching this debate, I am convinced that if the country somehow has a collective mental meltdown and elects Sarah Palin, she will be even more dangerous than Cheney. Not only does she want more power for herself than the Constitution grants -- or than Cheney took for himself -- but she is so obviously not equipped to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, it takes your breath away that McCain picked her."

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Daily Kos: Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

"I know some folks out there might have had trouble following the Vice Presidential debate. Particularly, trying to parse meaning from the things that Sarah Palin said. With that in mind, I have compiled a handy resource for your perusal. I hope to update this chart, both graphically and grammatically, when it is no longer ten to five in the morning. For for the mean time. . . enjoy!"

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AP: Estimates show Palin assets top $1 million

"Sarah Palin and her husband have pieced together a uniquely Alaskan income that reached comfortably into six figures even before she became governor, capitalizing on valuable fishing rights, a series of land deals and a patchwork of other ventures to build an above-average lifestyle. Add up the couple's 2007 income and the estimated value of their property and investments and they appear to be worth at least $1.2 million."

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Time: Poll: Palin Less Popular with Women Voters Than with Men

"Palin's unpopularity with women may prove a drag on the ticket with the very constituency she initially inspired. Obama now leads McCain by 17 points among likely female voters, 55%-38%. Just after the Republican convention, a TIME poll had the two candidates virtually tied among women, 48% for Obama and 47% for McCain."

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Pollster.com: USA Today/Gallup on Financial Crisis

"If you haven't seen it yet, this Gallup analysis of the latest USA Today/Gallup poll on the Wall Street crisis, conducted over the weekend, is a must-read. The poll...:

finds more Americans disapproving than approving of how most of the major national political players have handled the recent problems on Wall Street. Only Barack Obama squeaks by with more Americans approving than disapproving of his performance on the issue, 46% to 43%.'"

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