by John McCormick, updated

Less than two weeks after the presidential election, former rivals Barack Obama and John McCain met today in Chicago for their first extended conversation since one was elevated to the White House and the other returned to the Senate.

The two men released a joint statement following their meeting that stressed the need for unity.

"At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time," the statement started.

"It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family," the statement continued. "We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation's security."

Before the meeting started, Obama had offered a few words about his goals for the session.

"We're going to have a good conversation about how we can do some work together to fix up the country," he said. "And also to offer thanks to Senator McCain for the outstanding service he's already rendered."

Seated in a small room on the 38th floor of the Kluczynski Federal Building in the Loop, the men were expected to discuss how they can work together on the problems facing the nation.

The meeting, which was expected to last about 90 minutes, comes as Obama is trying to fill out his Cabinet and show he can reach across party lines.

When asked whether he was hoping to help an Obama administration, a smiling McCain responded, "Obviously."

by Frank James

The autopsies of Sen. John McCain's failed presidential bid continue to roll in.

This morning, National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" aired an interview with John Weaver, a former McCain strategist who left the campaign last year when the Republican presidential nominee's campaign first imploded during the primaries.

Among the McCain campaign's mistakes, according to Weaver, was its failure to realize this year's contest wasn't a 'base election" like 2004 when President Bush won by energizing core Republican voters and increasing their turnout.

The Rovians in the Bush campaign basically were fighting the last war.

Another mistake, Weaver said, was that the McCain campaign waited too long to define President-elect Obama. By the time they got around to it, it was too late. Obama had already defined himself.

by Jill Zuckman

PHOENIX - With the election behind him and no transition to plan, Sen. John McCain woke up early Wednesday morning and walked to Starbucks for his morning coffee - alone.

That he didn't have to ride in a motorcade with lights flashing to get a cup of coffee made him incredibly happy, aides said.

Friends and advisers who joined him and his wife at their condo later that morning described McCain as relaxed, joking and looking forward to getting back to work in the Senate after the bruising, two-year campaign.

McCain and his close friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have already begun talking about legislative initiatives they want to tackle, and they're planning a trip to Afghanistan, aides said.

"He's raring to go," said campaign manager Rick Davis. "He is anxious to get back and go to work as a United States senator. He didn't even spend 24 hours lamenting the loss."

McCain is never happier than when he is surrounded by friends, and he left Phoenix mid-day Wednesday for his valley compound outside Sedona with his wife, Cindy, his children, Graham and advisers Davis, Charlie Black and Carla Eudy. His plan is to man the grills, cooking up ribs for the group.

by Jill Zuckman

PHOENIX - There was a bittersweet feel to Election Day aboard Sen. John McCain's campaign plane. The candidate seemed subdued, the staff had stopped insisting they would win and the candidate's wife had tears in her eyes.

"This is our last flight on this airplane together," McCain told the traveling press, as Cindy McCain stood at his side, her eyes moist.

"We've had a great ride," said McCain, calling his 24-hour, 7-state, 3,700-mile campaign swing Monday "really a fun day."

"I'm feeling good, feeling confident about the way things have turned out," he said, as Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham watched from behind. "It was a great ride, a great experience, it's full of memories that we will always treasure."

In particular, McCain said he was touched by his last rally in Grand Junction, Colorado today, where the crowd was huge and exuberant.

by Jill Zuckman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - After a rally in Colorado, McCain arrived here at his campaign call center where he found supporters cheering him both outside and in.

"Thank you for getting out the vote," McCain told volunteers working from rows of tables with telephones in a warehouse-like room. "I want to thank you for your great work. We've got a few more hours to go vote."

McCain was accompanied by his wife, Cindy, mother, Roberta McCain, Senator Joe Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Pete Domenici, and Rep. Heather Wilson.

"There's very big turnout in states we need big turnouts in - Virginia, Florida, North Carolina," he said. "A couple are coming along well - Ohio and Pennsylvania."

McCain said he has to win New Mexico and joked that "I could talk to you for a long time, but that might cost us votes."

"I can't ever thank you enough," he said. "It's going to be that close."

by Jill Zuckman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Sen. John McCain had a little more drama than he might like before the polls closed today.

His "Straight Talk Air," a 737 plane, was on the verge of landing when it pulled up abruptly, circled around, teetered back and forth uncomfortably and finally landed safely at 2:07 p.m. Mountain time.

A flight attendant apologized for the "go around," but said there was traffic on the runway.

McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot, voted in Phoenix this morning, flew to Grand Junction, Colo., for a final rally, and then flew to Albuquerque to thank volunteers working for his campaign.

By Andrew Zajac

The Swamp offers this thought to cheer, or perhaps depress, students of the American political process now on the verge of a lull in the action after one of the longest presidential campaigns in U.S. history:

If John McCain wins, you're likely looking at a campaign to succeed him begin soon after he's sworn in, like maybe right after the dancing stops at the inaugural balls.

by Jill Zuckman

Grand Junction, Colo. - Accompanied by his 96-year-old mother, Roberta, and a retinue of friends and family, Sen. John McCain made his last campaign trip of the 2008 election, dropping in on this Republican community to pump up the turnout.

"I didn't live a day that I didn't thank God for serving the United States of America," McCain told a cheering crowd spilling out of an airport hangar here in view of the Rockies Western slope. "I owe this country more than it will ever owe me."

Reprising his standard stump speech - without mentioning Sen. Barack Obama - McCain touted his plans to cut taxes, restrain spending and protect voters' retirement funds while reforming Washington and Wall Street.

"I feel momentum, I feel it. We're going to win it. We're going to win it, right here in the state of Colorado," he said to a roar of approval.

by Frank James

Pollster.com has one of the best websites for tracking polls and allocating states on the Electoral College map using the best available information.

Their Election Day map shows Sen. Barack Obama with 291 electoral votes (270 is the magic number) based on the most recent polls with Sen. John McCain at 142. Toss-up states number 105.

Obviously, even giving McCain all the toss-ups doesn't get him to 270. Just as obviously, EVs are allocated on real votes, not polls.

Among the most important changes to the Pollster.com map was Ohio, a state President Bush won in 2004, being moved to the "toss-up" category from "leans Obama" although Mark Blumenthal, the main analysts for the site says he thinks Ohio is still leaning Obama.

Also, because of the latest polling, Colorado, which Bush also won in 2004, is now seen as solid for Obama.

A line of voters stretches around the corner as the polls open Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

by Frank James

Election Day is finally here! And what a most historic one at that. The nation will either elect its first African-American president or its first woman vice president. Most of the reputable polls in recent days suggest it will be the former.

We had expected long lines at polling places and those expectations are being met judging by reports we are seeing from the East Coast and southern states already open.

Besides whether the next president will be Barack Obama or John McCain by the end of the day (we hope), we should also know whether the Democrats will fully control Congress, with a Senate majority large enough -- 60 seats -- to allow them to pass legislation and approve judicial nominations over the objections of Senate Republicans.

An exciting day. An historic day. There are moments that are milestones; this is one of those times.

Make sure you get out to vote if you haven't already. That is a right too many Americans have fought, bled and died for on foreign shores as well as our own, for it to be taken lightly.

by Jill Zuckman

HENDERSON, Nev. - John McCain is not the only one with a lucky sweater.

Joe Lieberman has been wearing his lucky red sweater since the Peterborough, N.H. town hall meeting Sunday night. He wore it all day Monday as McCain flew across the country, trying to drum up support for Election Day. And he was wearing it here at the Henderson Pavilion outside Las Vegas as he introduced McCain to a boisterous, late-night crowd.

"I'm a Democrat reelected as an Independent, here to support the Republican candidate because country always matters more than party," said Lieberman, reprising a line he used in New Hampshire the night before.

"I know there are some Democrats who are unhappy that I'm here tonight supporting John McCain but that doesn't bother me because I know that whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," he said to a roar of approval. "And I know that tomorrow, here in Vegas and throughout Nevada, Independents, Democrats and Republicans are going to carry this state for John McCain."

Look for McCain to wear his lucky blue sweater - which used to be green before he lost the Michigan primary - today. And we'll see if Lieberman decides to keep that lucky red sweater on for yet another day of McCain luckiness.

by Jill Zuckman

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - The steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse are where Arizona politicians start their campaigns and they are where they bring them to a close.

At 12:30 a.m. Mountain time, Sen. John McCain returned to the place where Barry Goldwater, a Republican political icon, began and ended his 1964 presidential quest. A giant American flag draped the courthouse columns while supporters massed on the lawn and spilled down the streets.

McCain has similarly come to this spot, once the territorial capital, for his statewide campaigns. This morning, he was back to put a symbolic bow on his quest for the White House. By Tuesday afternoon, he'll be campaigning in Grand Junction, Colorado and visiting campaign volunteers in Albuquerque, N.M. before returning home to Phoenix for election night results.

This was his second midnight rally in a row on a day when he had logged 3,704 miles and hit seven states beginning in Florida. Clearly, the journey has taken an emotional toll. Cindy McCain choked back tears when she introduced "my husband John McCain." And when McCain said "God bless America, it's wonderful to be home," there was a quaver in his voice.

Still, he couldn't resist an exuberant rendition of the story about how "mothers don't tell their children they can grow up to be president" because of all the past failed efforts by Arizona politicians.

"Tomorrow, we are going to reverse that unhappy tradition and I'm going to be president of the United States," said McCain, never referring to his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.

"It's been a long, long journey to get the nomination and we've got one more day," he said, urging supporters to volunteer and help get out the vote so that he can bring change to Washington and "get the country back on track again.

And he acknowledged that the people in this particular crowd have been connected to him longer than many of the people he has spoken to in battleground states around the country.

"I thank you for the years you've allowed me to serve the state of Arizona," said McCain, promising to never let them down.

by Frank James

The Associated Press has a little news segment on the difficult state of affairs President Bush leaves his successor to deal with.

We all know the litany by now: the ailing economy and financial markets, Iraq, Afghanistan, global warming and so on.

The video includes a snippet of what looks to be a Bush press conference in the White House East Room in which he says his view of his job was "to confront problems, to not pass them on to future Congresses. Or a future president."

Obviously the president missed the mark on that goal.

The video led me to think. did Bush accomplish anything that could be viewed as helpful to his successor?

by Jill Zuckman

TAMPA - Standing outside the Raymond James Stadium where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play, Sen. John McCain stood under a giant pirate banner and fervently proclaimed his optimism.

"With this kind of enthusiasm and this kind of intensity, we will win Florida!" he shouted.

But McCain (pictured in Tampa in an AP photo by Carolyn Kaster) has issued the same line before in other states, only this time, the crowd was less than overwhelming. Reporters joked that if Sen. Barack Obama had had a rally here, he would be standing inside the stadium and the stadium would be filled.

"There's one day left till we take Florida in a new direction," said McCain, fueled by cups of coffee and an egg taco. "We need your help, volunteer, knock on doors, get your neighbors to vote."

McCain has embarked on an east-to-west round-the-clock campaign-a-thon. He kicked off the final hours of the election with a midnight rally in a Miami stadium - which was packed with Latino voters. After three to four hours of sleep for the candidate, it was off to Tampa, then Blountville, Tenn., Moon Township, Penn., Indianapolis, Ind., Roswell, N.M., Las Vegas, Nev., Henderson, Nev., and Prescott, Ariz.

While most polls show Sen. Barack Obama well ahead, McCain and his campaign advisers say they believe that he is quickly making up ground among undecided voters.

by Frank James

Adam Smith, the political editor for the St. Petersburg Times, was at a Sen. John McCain rally this morning in Tampa which he said was very poorly attended compared with a rally for President Bush four years ago.

"Maybe it's because it's Monday," he said on the Diane Rheem public-radio show this morning on his cell phone from the rally site. He said the McCain rally had about a thousand people while the Bush rally four years ago had about 15,000 people.

He hastened to add that he's not saying it's predictive of what the vote in the Tampa Bay area will be tomorrow. But it could be indicate a lack of excitement on the Republican side that could eat into Republican turnout tomorrow. Here's a posting he had up before the rally's start.

by Frank James

The highly regarded Ohio Poll sponsored by the University of Cincinnati predicts that Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, will win Ohio.

If Obama does beat Sen. John McCain in Ohio, it would represent a seismic shift in presidential politics since no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio.

President Bush relied on Ohio to deliver the votes that allowed him to defeat Sen. John Kerry in 2004 and give him a second term. If Obama wins Ohio, it's difficult to see McCain winning in enough other places to capture 270 Electoral College votes and it could point to an Electoral College landslide and a relatively early call of the presidential race tomorrow evening.

An excerpt from their press release:

Cincinnati, OH--The final Ohio Poll for the 2008 election season finds Senator Barack Obama likely towin Ohio's 20 electoral votes.

In 95 of 100 cases, the statewide estimates will be accurate to plus or minus 2.7 percent.

by Jill Zuckman

MIAMI - Sen. John McCain has always had a way of campaigning right up until the finish line.

While other candidates may saunter in the final days of a campaign, McCain keeps going, even when it seems he doesn't have a chance of winning.

Now, as the Republican candidate for president, McCain is breaking a time-honored tradition. Every Election Day, McCain goes to the polls to vote, and then he watches a movie to pass the time.

This year, campaign officials insist that they are gaining in the polls against Democrat Barack Obama. And they say, they will not ease up - even on Election Day.

Campaign manager Rick Davis said that McCain will travel to Grand Junction, Colorado and Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday shortly after he votes in Phoenix - for himself. In part, it's because Obama is already planning on campaigning on Election Day. And in part, Davis said, it's because they believe McCain is making gains in western states, such as Colorado and Nevada, which he will hit on Monday.

That means that after 26-hours of campaigning starting Monday morning in Miami through Tuesday morning in seven states, McCain will grab a couple hours of sleep, get up and hit the trail again.

Davis also said that the campaign is prepared in case McCain wins. Obama's campaign has created a separate team to work on the transition if he is elected. Davis said the McCain campaign will move quickly if the senator wins, but that they don't plan on sharing any information about it ahead of time. "We can still keep a secret," Davis said.

No word on whether McCain will watch a movie on his campaign plane.

Sen. John McCain's supporters cheer as he speaks Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 in Peterborough, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

by Jill Zuckman

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. - The old Navy fighter pilot has always had his lucky charms and superstitions to carry him through the day.

Sen. John McCain, now the Republican candidate for president, still likes to do things a certain way. He carries a lucky penny, thanks to the editor of the Union Leader of New Hampshire. He wears a lucky blue sweater on Election Day, which used to be green before it became unlucky in Michigan. And for both of his primary night victories in 2000 and 2008, he made sure to stay in the same Nashua hotel.

Sunday, he returned to this picturesque town in the Monadnock Region to talk to the voters and answer their questions at a town hall, his favorite style of campaigning. This is the place where he held one of his first town hall meetings in 2000, bribing voters with the promise of ice cream if they would just show up. And this is the place where he held his 100th town hall in 2008 before going on to win the primary in a spectacular comeback story.

With Election Day in sight on Tuesday, McCain took a sentimental journey back to a state he loves, but also to a town that he is sure brings him good luck.

He was greeted by more than 2,000 supporters standing in the street outside the old town hall building, cheering him on.

"Thank you for your friendship," McCain told the frenzied gathering before going inside. "I came to say thank you, but I came to ask you for one more effort."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., greets supporters as he enters a campaign rally at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

by Jill Zuckman

WALLINGFORD, Penn. - Trolling for 21 electoral votes in suburban Philadelphia, Sen. John McCain on Sunday brushed off the polls that show his opponent leading and said he could feel a victory coming on Tuesday.

"My friends, I've been in a lot of campaigns, I know when momentum is there," McCain told a cheering crowd gathered at the Strath Haven High School. "This enthusiasm, this kind of welcome, we're going to win Pennsylvania. We're going to win this election. I sense it and I feel it and I know it."

Delaware County, however, has been trending Democratic in recent years. Voters here chose Sen. John Kerry over President Bush in 2004 despite being a historically Republican enclave.

Nevertheless, the McCain campaign hoped to deny Sen. Barack Obama the cushion that voters in the outer suburbs could provide him.

"We're going to win here and we're going to bring real change to Washington. We've got two days, knock on doors," McCain urged the crowd. "With your help we can win. We need you to volunteer, we need a new direction. We can fight for it for the next two days and we can win."

McCain was spending Sunday campaigning in two states that went for Kerry in 2004, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. After Wallingford, he headed for Scranton and then planned to fly to Manchester and drive to Peterborough for his last town hall meeting of the election season.

by Jill Zuckman

SPRINGFIELD, Virginia - With just three days left to press his case, Sen. John McCain Saturday delivered an unabashed pitch contrasting his patriotism to Sen. Barack Obama's, sparking a nasty clash.

"We learn more and more about Senator Obama. He said the other day that his primary victory 'vindicated' his faith in America," McCain told booing supporters gathered just outside the Washington beltway. "My country has never had to prove anything to me, my friends. I've always had faith in it and I have been humbled and honored to serve it."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton called McCain's words "pathetic," and campaign aides insisted Obama was talking about the stepped-up grassroots activity he saw before the first primary votes were ever cast. But on Friday in Des Moines, Obama said that "on the day of the Iowa caucuses, my faith in the American people was vindicated," suggesting it was the result, not the process, that he was referring to.

by Jill Zuckman

John McCain will take a sentimental journey Sunday back to the place that helped shape his political image as a straight-talking maverick - New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation primary.

As he wraps up the final days of campaigning before Tuesday's Election, the Republican nominee for president will hold a town hall meeting in the old Peterborough Town Hall. Peterborough was the sight of McCain's 100th town hall meeting during the New Hampshire primary, and it was where he held his last town hall meeting during the 2000 primary.

The uniquely New England tradition of meeting at a town hall is McCain's favorite way to campaign, but it became increasingly rare as he delved deeper into the general election with the need to hammer a specific message each day.

by Jill Zuckman

MIAMI -- John McCain was never supposed to be here, holding rallies, waving to supporters, one step from the presidency.

His campaign was left for dead during the primaries, and polls have consistently shown him trailing Barack Obama. Yet he soldiers on, alternately wistful, reflective and pugnacious. "Nothing is inevitable here," McCain told a Florida crowd last week. "We don't hide from history. We make history."

That McCain is here at all, at the end of this election, is a surprise to many. Most surprised of all, perhaps, are his former Republican opponents, who thought McCain would be campaigning for them by this time, not the other way around. When McCain's primary campaign went broke last year, they effusively praised his courage and virtue, so sure were they that he was finished.

Most presidential campaigns are disorganized, unruly affairs, but McCain's 2008 campaign may be unique. From his days as a Navy cadet and fighter pilot, McCain has exhibited the temperament of a freewheeling risk-taker, and that personality has infused his campaign.

by Jill Zuckman

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Upbeat and on the offense, John McCain accused rival Barack Obama on Friday of a Halloween trick to tax people's retirement contributions.

As McCain toured Ohio for a second day, he brought a little extra star power along with him, showing off Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and governor of California, in the state capital, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, in Hanoverton.

"John McCain has served this country longer in the POW camp than his opponent has served in the United States Senate," Schwarzenegger told a pumped-up crowd in the Nationwide Arena here. "I only play an action hero in my movies, but John McCain is a real action hero."

Being president is about leadership, Schwarzenegger said: "If you were in a POW cell with the threat of dangers and torture as part of your daily life, who would you want with you?" The crowd chanted McCain's name.

by Andrew Zajac

Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune reported on a mysterious pattern of donations to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain and other, mainly Republican causes from Shi Sheng Hao, of Roselle, Illinois, and people related to him.

The story pointed out that Hao has business ties to the family of Gene and Nora Lum, who were convicted in a Democratic fundraising scandal in the 1990s, and who, it turns out, have kept a family hand in the political money business.

by Jill Zuckman

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and governor of California, rocked the Nationwide Arena Friday evening as he compared Barack Obama and John McCain to bodybuilders.

Once a year in March, Schwarzenegger holds Arnold's Classic, the world's biggest body building exposition, in Columbus.

"I want to invite Mr. Obama, he needs to do something about those skinny legs," Schwarzenegger said. "We're going to make him do some squats and some biceps curls to beef up those scrawny little arms. If only we could put some meat on his ideas."

McCain, on the other hand, Schwarzenegger said, "he's built like a rock," adding that his character and his views are solid.

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain and his team have talked in recent days about closing the polling gap with Sen. Barack Obama.

That may be true in some of the battleground state polls though even that is under some dispute between partisans on both sides.

But the Gallup Poll is suggesting that the race is not tightening, at least not on a national level.

An excerpt of Gallup's report:

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 him with an eight percentage point lead over John McCain among traditional likely voters -- 51% to 43% -- his largest margin to date using this historical Gallup Poll voter model.

Thursday night's interviews are the first conducted entirely after Obama's widely viewed 30-minute prime-time campaign ad, which ran on several television networks Wednesday evening. Obama held a substantial lead over McCain in last night's polling, however no greater than what Gallup found on Wednesday.

by Jill Zuckman

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Upbeat and on the offense, John McCain accused rival Barack Obama Friday of a Halloween trick to tax people's retirement contributions as he toured the back roads of small town Ohio for a second day.

McCain brought a little extra star power along with him, showing off Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and governor of California, in the state capital, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, in Hanoverton

Campaign officials insisted they have just had their best 10 days of polling since the convention, boasted of a voter contact operation that would dwarf President Bush's from 2004, and promised a final 24-hour burst of campaigning in seven cities in seven states leading up to Election Day.

"We're jazzed up by the movement," said campaign manager Rick Davis. "And we are witnessing, I believe, probably one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary."

by Frank James

Consumer spending is about 70 percent of the economy, definitely the dog that waves the tail.

So when it falls substantially, as it did in September, the economy is in a hole it can't crawl out of until consumers start spending again. Which they won't so long as corporations keep announcing large layoffs and house prices keep falling. Which just feeds the whole cycle all over again.

The Commerce Department reported this morning that consumer spending fell by an inflation adjusted 0.4 percent in September.

by Frank James

Back at the end of July, I wrote a posting ruling out a McCain-Palin ticket. I figured Troopergate had sunk her chances. What presidential candidate willingly takes on a running mate with such a liability?

Shows you how much I know. I'm the same guy who thought the jury in the original O.J. Simpson murder trial would find him guilty.

Anyway, based on the latest NY Times/CBS News poll, it looks like Sen. John McCain should've gone with my very conventional wisdom.

That poll indicates that Palin is a drag on the ticket.

by Jill Zuckman

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - This just in: Sen. John McCain will spend some of his last precious hours campaigning in the battleground city of....New York.

McCain will appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend within the last three days of campaigning.

"Senator McCain has appeared on the show before, and always has a good time," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the campaign.

Despite his well known abilities as a stand-up comedian, McCain has sometimes been accused of looking angry on the campaign trail. This may be one of his last opportunities to reach a national audience showcasing his good humor.

by Andrew Zajac

Companies affiliated with the family of Gene and Nora Lum, who were convicted of making illegal campaign contributions in a Democratic fundraising scandal a decade ago have donated at least $4,800 to the campaigns of Michael Brown, a candidate for Washington D.C. city council, who pleaded guilty in the same scandal.

Brown, the son of the late Ron Brown, a Clinton administration Commerce Secretary and one-time head of the Democratic National Committee, is seeking an at-large seat on the 13-member DC council.

by Jill Zuckman

WATERLOO, Iowa -- At the beginning of his long journey to the Republican nomination, John McCain sometimes spoke of his old friend Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican candidate for president.

McCain spent months traveling with Dole in '96, keeping the candidate company, entertaining the press and observing how a presidential campaign works. Or didn't work, in Dole's case.

The worst thing about Dole's candidacy, McCain used to say, was that Dole cut himself off from the press, isolating himself from reporters who liked him and wanted to hear what he had to say.

"I would not enjoy, in any way, the seclusion and keeping the media away," McCain said earlier this year. "It just wouldn't be any fun. And it's got to be fun."

To be sure, Dole had other problems. His sentences ran on at length. He spoke the language of the Senate, referring to "mark-ups" and "conference committees." He often concluded a thought by saying, "whatever." Most of all, he was an underfunded underdog facing a popular president.

by Frank James

There's been a good back and forth this week between Democratic and Republican pollsters.

Stan Greenberg of Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner, a Democratic pollster, sent out his own analysis of the presidential race this afternoon, to counter one distributed earlier in the week by Bill McInturff, official pollster for Sen. John McCain's campaign.

McInturff said he saw a number of indicators pointing to the race tightening significantly and being "functionally tied across the battleground states."

Greenberg disagreed. "The structure of this race just has not changed as we have moved to the finish line," he said in his response to McInturff, meaning that the Democratic pollster sees Sen. Barack Obama still leading by a significant margin in the swing states.

Both letters are worth reading although most people will probably agree with the pollster whose view reflects their own.

by Frank "the Blogger" James

Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher wasn't where the McCain campaign thought he was going to be today, that is, at a Ohio rally this morning.

Sen. John McCain called out for Wurzelbacher and when he couldn't find him after a few pregnant seconds, a momentarily deflated McCain recovered very deftly, saying: "Well, you're all Joe the Plumber..." Nice.

by Frank James

It's hard not to notice the disconnect between this ad from Sen. John McCain's campaign and the message McCain has been pounding on the campaign trail.

McCain has spent weeks calling Sen. Barack Obama's character into question through raising the William Ayers issue, the ACORN issue, the Tony Rezko issue and, this week, the Rashid Khalidi issue.

The McCain campaign's argument has been clear, Obama doesn't have the judgment and character to be president. This would seem to be the end of the matter.

But this ad released yesterday, raises the question of experience, then ends with the announcer saying "The fact is, Barack Obama is not ready... yet." Okay, so are we supposed to forget the other stuff the campaign's been saying? If we accepted the McCain camp's prior argument about Obama's character, are we then supposed to turn around and believe it wouldn't matter in four years?

Does this ad make sense to anyone out there? I think it really confuses McCain's argument. Either he believes Obama is unfit to be president or he doesn't.

by Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama has a humorous ad that warns his supporters against complacency and believing the election is over just because the polls and so many pundits are pointing to an Obama victory next week.

by Frank James

Beating up on the oil companies approached a sport over the summer, particularly for Democrats, when oil prices rose to $140 a barrel and gas prices at the pump topped out over $4 a gallon.

But as oil prices fell as a global recession began to take hold, reducing demand for petroleum, the oil companies seemed to become less villainous for Democrats including Sen. Barack Obama who, among other things, had called for a windfall-profits tax.

Given that background, it will be interesting to see if ExxonMobil's announcement today of record third-quarter profits gets the Democtats' idea of a windfalls-profits tax back on the front burner. The company reported record net income of $14.83 billion for the third quarter which was up 58 percent higher that the comparable year-ago quarter.

by Frank James

Nielsen, the audience measuring experts, says that Sen. John McCain's campaign is closing the gap on Sen. Barack Obama;s in terms of TV time in battleground states.

On Monday, Obama ran 113% more ad units than McCain, but by Tuesday that lead had shrunk to 105% -- or a margin of 1,617 ad units.

Not much of a gap closing but something.

Andrew Zajac

Today's Chicago Tribune features a story about a virtually unknown network of large donors to mostly Republican causes, including the McCain presidential bid.

The main donor, Shi Sheng Hao, lists an address in suburban Chicago and is the largest political donor in Illinois this election cycle who is not a self-funding candidate for office.

Hao, 64, is an intriguing character. He has the same name as a Taiwanese businessman who is embroiled in a legal dispute with Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson over a casino license in Macau. The Taiwanese Hao also has links to members of the Lum family, who were entangled in a high-profile Democratic fundraising scandal in the late 1990s.

While it's not known for certain if the two Haos are one and the same, a series of coincidences strongly suggests they are.

Judge for yourself by reading the story posted below.

by Frank James

How much have you heard on the presidential campaign trail about the growing weaknesses in the U.S. nuclear arsenal?

I don't recall hearing much about it at all, which probably says more about the way we view things in the post-Cold War world than we did during that anxious period of modern history.

But still it's no less true that the U.S. has real problems with a nuclear arsenal that's aging and a growing shortage of people who know how to turn that around.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to drive home that point yesterday during a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The inescapable conclusion from what he said it that our nuclear arsenal faces a crisis.

by Frank James

Running for president means making many promises you can't keep, plain and simple. Further, it means making pledges you know or should know you can't follow through on and that many voters suspect you can't live up to.

Yet, every four years, presidential nominees tell voters, with some variations of course, what they think citizens want to hear -- that they'll cut taxes while increasing spending for programs deemed popular with one or another sought-after demographic of voters while decreasing it on others.

It's a strange courting ritual between voters and candidates. It's essentially bogus but no one has yet figured a way out of it.

So it's no surprise we're seeing both Sen. Barack Obama's and Sen. John McCain's campaigns offer fiscal proposals that don't add up to sound fiscal policy for the long term.

by Jill Zuckman

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.--Even as Sen. John McCain aggressively presses toward next week's finish line, nervous Republicans say they are worried that he could face a rout at the hands of Barack Obama, losing a cascade of classic red states such as North Carolina, where McCain campaigned Tuesday.

"Nov. 4th is not going to be a good night for Republicans, this is not going to be our year," said Republican strategist Joe Gaylord, who predicts an Electoral College "landslide" for Obama. "McCain, though heroic in his effort and trying very hard, is not going to be able to overcome the attitude of the American people to the Bush administration and its perceived failures."

McCain began the race with an uphill challenge, thanks to voter anger over President George W. Bush's handling of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Hurricane Katrina. Republican corruption involving super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff made the situation worse. And the tumultuous stock market coupled with the conviction Monday of longtime Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) served as just another reminder of why voters are leery of Republicans.

McCain officials insist that they haven't given up, that they are making inroads with their economic message and that the nervousness is inevitable.

"Any time you have a race where you're down a few points, you do a lot of reassuring," said Mike DuHaime, McCain's political director.

by Frank James and updated, and again at 4:40 pm

Sen. John McCain and Sen. Ted Stevens are said not to be very friendly. During better days McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, got under Stevens' skin for being a constant critic of earmarks, including Stevens' "bridge to nowhere."

So it was no surprise that McCain would today call for Stevens to quit the Senate after the Alaska Republican was convicted yesterday on seven counts of violating federal disclosure laws.

McCain said in a statement:

"It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all."

Last we heard, Stevens showed no signs of ending his re-election bid and it's doubtful he'll be taking his advice from his party's presidential nominee.

McCain's running mate, the governor of Alaska, didn't take the question of Stevens;' future quite as far as McCain did, initially. See the video of Sarah Palin above.

But then, when she and McCain sat for an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, as the Top of the Ticket noted, Palin said: "Yeah, yeah. Ted Stevens, you know, a sad day for Alaska yesterday when he was found guilty of seven felonies. But -- and now he needs to do the right thing, and the right thing is -- as he's proclaiming his innocence and proclaiming, too, that he will go through the appellate process.

"OK, then he needs to step aside and allow our state to elect someone who will be supportive of those ideals of America: the free enterprise, the missions that we're on, to win the war, those things that have got to take place in order to progress this country. Ted Stevens has got to play a very statesmanlike role in this now.''

by Jill Zuckman

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - "When I'm elected president We're going to stop spending $700 billion to buy oil from countries that don't like us very much," John McCain said at Northern Iowa University this morning.

"You know, the other night in the debate with Senator Obama, I said his eloquence is admirable, but pay attention to his words. We talk about offshore drilling and he said he would quote, consider, offshore drilling. We talked about nuclear power, well it has to be safe, environment, blah, blah, blah."

(Hoots, hollers and applause.)

"And the fact is, ask any Navy veterans here. By the way, some of the greatest sailors come farthest away from the ocean. I found that to be true. Ask some of our Navy veterans here. They'll tell you. We've been sailing Navy ships around the world for 50 years with nuclear power plants on them.

"I have news for Senator Obama, nuclear power is safe, we ought to do it now. The British, the French, the Japanese, all reprocess spent nuclear fuel. We can do that, too. And by the way, he said he would consider off shore drilling. We'll drill off shore and we'll drill now."

(Chants of drill baby, drill.)

by Frank James

Political analyst Charlie Cook is about the closest Washington political culture has to the opera's singing fat lady. (Don't read too much into that Charlie.) He tends to be right so he tends to be listened to.

So his column in the National Journal yesterday was really noteworthy because he came as close to saying the presidential race is over as you can without saying it's over.

For a political analyst, the normal posture this time of year is much like a baseball umpire's: hunched over, peering carefully as the ball approaches the plate, watching for whether it breaks left or right, whether it's coming in high or low. But, these days, we analysts are more like outfielders, watching in awe as a ball seems on a trajectory to not only clear the fence but very likely land in the upper deck.

by Jill Zuckman

Mesilla, N.M. - John McCain knows the polls.

The Republican nominee also knows what the pundits are saying. And he's heard reports that Sen. Barack Obama has already written his inaugural address.

"When I pull this thing off, I have a request for my opponent," McCain told the crowd gathered in the Old Messilla Plaza near the Mexican border. "I want him to save that manuscript of his inaugural address and donate it to the Smithsonian so they can put it right next to the Chicago paper that said Dewey defeats Truman."

That paper was the Chicago Tribune, which ran the famously incorrect banner headline on Nov. 3, 1948 after President Harry Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey.

"There's 10 days left in this election," he said. "Maybe Barack Obama will even have his first State of the Union address ready before you head to the polls."

The Obama campaign said the report that initially suggested Obama had already written his inaugural address was not true.

"While this charge is completely false and there is no draft of an inaugural address for Senator Obama, the last thing we need is a candidate like John McCain who just plans on re-reading George Bush's," said spokesman Bill Burton.

by Frank James

Just in case some thought Charles Krauthammer had gone all wobbly, like some other well-known conservatives, for Sen. Barack Obama, the columnist has come out four-square for Sen. John McCain.

Those who thought Krauthammer had jumped ship could be forgiven. After all, he said some very complimentary things about Obama in a column earlier this month. "... He's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president," he wrote in a column about Obama and McCain earlier this month.

But in Krauthammer's latest column, he makes clear where his loyalties lie.

An excerpt:

Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.

by Frank James

A lot of push back from the McCain campaign, as one might expect, to the Washington Post's story today on a posting on an al Qaeda linked website that expressed a preference for Sen. John McCain to win the White House over Sen. Barack Obama.

In a teleconference for which the McCain campaign provided a partial transcript, Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign-policy adviser, questioned why the WaPo would run the story in the form it did, with what he called an "inflammatory" headline: "On al Qaeda web site, joy over U.S. crisis, support for McCain."

He also suggested the WaPo cherry-picked information, implying that it was an anti-McCain hatchet job.

by Christi Parsons

"He's fighting for Joe the hedge fund manager! He likes to talk about Joe the Plumber, but he's in cahoots with Joe the CEO!"

--Barack Obama, at Richmond, VA rally going on right now.

by Christi Parsons and Frank James

RICHMOND, VA -- At his press conference in Richmond today, Sen. Barack Obama hit two interesting points: he answered the Joe Biden question about whether the world would test him if he were president, and he spoke to the economic points Sen. John McCain is raising in New Hampshire today.

"Sometimes Joe engages in rhetorical flourishes," Obama said of his vice presidential running mate. "But his core point was that the next administration is going to be tested, regardless of who it is. The next administration is going to inherit a whole host of really big problems... The president is going to be tested... the question is whether the next president will meet that test."

by Jill Zuckman

Goffstown, N.H. - A sentimental and nostalgic John McCain returned to the state that has rewarded him time and again, reminiscing about the "hundreds" of town hall meetings he has held to meet with the voters he knows best.

"I love you, I love New Hampshire, I know I can count on you again," McCain told voters at the Saint Anselm College hockey rink. "My friends, I'm asking you to come out one more time, get out the vote, get 'em out and we'll win and we'll have a great election night.

"And my friends, some of my happiest, happiest memories are being here in this wonderful state," McCain continued. "I feel I know you. And I feel a great sense of pride in the independence and spirit, and the knowledge, and the way that people are when they judge the candidates."

Although the crowd was not particularly large, it was enthusiastic, and McCain seemed more emotional today than he has in recent weeks as polls show he is slipping further behind Sen. Barack Obama. He even told two of his favorite jokes about Mo Udall, the Arizona congressman who ran unsuccessfully for president.

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain's interview with Harry Smith of CBS's "Morning Show" aired today with the Republican presidential nominee defending his running mate Sarah Palin and the anti-Barack Obama robo calls. He also noted that he does pretty good stand-up.

by Jill Zuckman

Bensalem, Penn. - John McCain accused Barack Obama Tuesday of saying one thing in Philadelphia and another in Tampa Bay when he's campaigning.

It's a standard charge that politicians frequently level at one another to demonstrate hypocrisy or a loose commitment to the truth.

But this was serious. This was baseball. And it involves the World Series. Politicians, such as Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, have been pilloried before for suggesting they would root for a team other than their own.

In this case, Obama is a White Sox fan. McCain roots for the Arizona Diamondbacks, which his wife, Cindy, owns a stake in.

"I heard that Senator Obama was showing some love to the Devil Rays down in Tampa Bay yesterday," McCain said in suburban Philadelphia. "Now, I'm not dumb enough to get mixed up in a World Series between swing states, but I think I may have detected a little pattern with Senator Obama. It's pretty simple really. When he's campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies, and when he's campaigning in Tampa Bay, he shows love to the Rays.

"It's kind of like the way he campaigns on tax cuts, but then votes for tax increases after he's elected," McCain continued. "Or the way he says he backs the middle class and then goes and attacks Joe the Plumber after he's asked a tough question."

In a quick response to the looming public relations crisis, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said there should be no confusion about Obama's intentions.

"I guess these are the kinds of attacks you make when you have no plan to fix our economy," Vietor said. "Senator Obama said he's rooting for the Phillies. He said nice things about the members of the team who came out to support him, but that doesn't change the fact that they bounced his White Sox out of the playoffs."

by Frank James

Rush Limbaugh took after Christopher Buckley for supporting Sen. Barack Obama. The radio man ridiculed the son of conservative icon William Buckley for the compliments Buckley paid Obama's mind.

by Frank James

So many critics have spent the last week or so demolishing the McCain-Palin line of attack that Sen. Barack Obama wants to give "welfare" in the form of tax credits to people who don't pay income taxes, you would think the Republican ticket would've given up on that one and moved on to another attack line.

You would be wrong.

by Frank James

Why aren't the medical records of the presidential and vice presidential candidates an open book?

That's the critical question raised in the last two days by presidential historian Robert Dallek in an opinion piece in the Washington Post and New York Times medical reporter, Dr. Lawrence K. Altman.

Dallek wrote an excellent biography of President John F. Kennedy a few years ago, "An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963" in which he revealed to the public for the first time the full extent of the stunning array of medical conditions JFK suffered, from severe back pain to Addison's disease to an inflamed prostate, and the many powerful medications he used to try and control them.

(AP Photo/FOX News Sunday, Gary Gardiner)

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain, appearing on Fox News Channel this morning, responded to Gen. Colin Powell's nationally televised endorsement this morning Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Powell's was a coveted endorsement and thus losing it must've been a disappointment to McCain who has known Powell for decades.

McCain told Chris Wallace:

Well, I've always admired and respected General Powell. We're longtime friends. This doesn't come as a surprise.

by Jill Zuckman

CONCORD, N.C. - John McCain returned to the Tar Heel state and the Commonwealth of Virginia Saturday to stem the voter tide for Barack Obama, who is vigorously challenging him in these traditionally Republican areas.

And McCain brought with him a traditional attack, accusing Obama of offering "a phony tax cut" that will take from the taxpayers and provide government giveaways to everyone else.

"You might ask: How do you cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans, when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce the number zero?" McCain asked. "Well, that's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan: Since you can't reduce taxes on those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit."

McCain campaign officials say they are confident that North Carolina, with its 15 electoral votes, will remain in the GOP fold with the help of a McCain visit and plenty of "Joe the plumber" signs.

The iconic Joe Wurzelbacher from Holland, Ohio, has captured the imaginations of many in McCain's crowds, which were waving posters with tributes to the plumber here.

McCain said he thought he did "pretty well" in last Wednesday's debate, but he said the real winner was Joe the plumber.

"Joe won because he's the only person to get a real answer out of Sen. Obama," said McCain, who spoke to Wurzelbacher on Friday and invited him to campaign with him. "Congratulations, Joe, that's an impressive achievement."

And he chastised the Obama campaign for criticizing Wurzelbacher, who met Obama when the candidate went door-knocking in his neighborhood recently.

"Let me remind you my friends, Joe didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house and Joe didn't ask to be famous - but he is," McCain said, chuckling. "He certainly didn't ask for the political attacks on him by the Obama campaign. Remarkable isn't it? Remarkable."

It was Wurzelbacher who managed to learn what Obama's real plans are, McCain suggested.

"We learned that Senator Obama's economic goal is, as he told Joe, is to quote 'spread the wealth around.' He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans," said McCain.

by Jill Zuckman

Melbourne, Fla. - Sen. John McCain, who has been getting great mileage out of Joe the plumber since he brought him up in Wednesday's debate, has finally made contact. McCain spoke with Joe Wurzelbacher, the man who grilled Obama about taxes in Holland, Ohio, "for a few minutes this morning," aides said.

As McCain hammered Sen. Barack Obama for smearing Joe the plumber, he mentioned this evening that he had spoken with Wurzelbacher.

"Joe's last name is Wurzelbacher just for your information. He's a great guy," McCain said. "He's proud of his grandfather who served in the United States Marine Corps."

McCain accused the Obama campaign of attacking Wurzelbacher for asking Obama tough questions. (Wurzelbacher turns out to owe back taxes and not hold a license for his plumbing work, according to news reports.)

"I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions," McCain said. "So send Joe an email and tell him you're with him."

McCain accused Obama of wanting to "spread the wealth" and raise taxes. And he said he has not reacted well to Joe's concerns.

"The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house," McCain said in Melbourne. "He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks."

by Frank James

When Civil Rights-hero and congressman John Lewis warned the McCain-Palin campaign over the weekend that their attacks were creating a supercharged climate which raised the threat of violence, we assume these were the sort of threats now aimed by ACORN were among the things he was worried about.

Here's an excerpt from a story by McClatchy Newspapers' Washington bureau:

WASHINGTON -- An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group's Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.

"I would not say that Senator McCain is inciting violence," Kettenring said, "but I would say that his statements about the role of this manufactured scandal were totally outlandish. We would call on Senator McCain to tamp down the fringe elements in his party."

by John McCormick

ROANOKE, Va. - Campaigning in a conservative part of a state that has consistently voted Republican for president since 1964, Sen. Barack Obama told an audience this afternoon that his Republican rival hurt Medicare.

Citing a recent Wall Street Journal story, the Illinois Democrat charged that Sen. John McCain would make $882 billion in Medicare cuts to "pay for an ill-conceived, badly thought-through health care plan that won't provide more health care to people, even though Medicare is already facing a looming shortfall."

Appearing in front of a crowd estimated at about 8,000 at the Roanoke Convention Center, Obama suggested cuts of "more than 20 percent" were possible by next year under the McCain plan.

"If you count on Medicare, it would mean fewer places to get care, and less freedom to choose your own doctors," he said. "You'll pay more for your drugs, you'll receive fewer services, you'll get lower quality care."

Obama said McCain has "voted against protecting Medicare 40 times" during his 26-year tenure in Congress.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded that Obama was "lying" in a statement issued by the Republican campaign.

by Jill Zuckman

MIAMI - Sen. John McCain offered a vigorous defense of Joe the Plumber today, accusing Barack Obama's campaign of "digging through his personal life" because he asked Obama a tough question.

"I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions," McCain said.

Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber who questioned Obama about taxes in Holland, Ohio, turns out to owe back taxes and not hold a license for his plumbing work, according to news reports.

"The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house," McCain told a rowdy crowd at Florida International University. "He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks."

McCain said Joe's question is important "because Senator Obama's plan would raise taxes on small businesses that employ 16 million Americans."
That, said McCain, will kill jobs at a time when America needs to be creating jobs.

"Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you'd better hold onto your wallet," McCain said. "Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don't pay taxes. That's not a tax cut, that's welfare. America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by redistributing wealth; we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth."

by Jill Zuckman

MIAMI - At a packed rally at Florida International University in Miami, Cindy McCain repeated one of her most controversial lines this afternoon. "And yes," she told the screaming, pom-pom waving crowd. "I have always been proud of my country."

The line is a reference to something Michelle Obama said during the primaries. "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback," said Obama, taking heat for the remark.

Cindy McCain, who had just seen Michelle Obama say those words on television, when she walked into a rally earlier this year and said, "I have always been proud of my country."

Her response created its own firestorm, with Cindy McCain's words played endlessly on cable television.

The comment, with its implication that Michelle Obama had never been proud of her country before, set off a small furor. Taking the stage to introduce her husband, McCain said something that caught the media's attention: "I am proud of my country. I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier, I am very proud of my country," she said, with more bite than usual.

Despite many people's assumption that her words had been devised by a campaign strategist, she insists they were spontaneous. "You have to remember, I have a son" in Iraq, she said. "It just spilled out of my mouth, and then I got back on the bus and I thought, 'Oh my God, what have I done?' I thought, 'Oh, I should never have opened my mouth. How did that happen? I'll put duct tape over it.' "

McCain, who steers clear of news on the presidential race and is unused to the press paying attention to her comments, was surprised at the reaction.

by Jill Zuckman

After everything John McCain went through to get to the David Letterman Show Thursday, could the late-night comedian continue to hold a grudge against the Republican nominee?

McCain stood Letterman up recently, canceling his appearance on the show at the last minute in order to "suspend" his campaign and rush back to Washington to deal with the financial crisis. Only McCain didn't rush back. First, he talked to Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. The next morning, he addressed the Clinton Global Initiative.

Letterman was livid, aiming a barrage of pot-shots at the candidate ever since.

So when McCain found himself stuck on a tarmac at the Philadelphia Airport and facing a two-hour air traffic delay to fly to Newark and then drive into Manhattan on the very day he was supposed to make up with Letterman on his show, he knew he needed to act fast.

So the notoriously punctual McCain jumped onto a helicopter and choppered into Manhattan's West Side Heliport.

"I screwed up," McCain told Letterman, explaining why he blew off the late-night host last month.

When McCain first walked on the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, the home of
"The Late Show," Letterman immediately asked: "Can you stay?"

"Yes, sir," McCain said, quickly adding: "Depends on how bad
it gets."

Then McCain jokingly said that he asked his son in the Marine
Corps to FedEx his flak jacket in preparation for the visit.

McCain added, "I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation."

Letterman said, "I'm willing to put this behind us." And McCain told him that "there's going to be a kind of sad feeling around here when the election takes place."

Letterman also asked McCain about Wednesday's debate, and about Joe the now-famous plumber. "Joe, if you're watching, I'm
sorry," McCain said, referring to the press that has picked apart the Holland, Ohio man's life.

by Jill Zuckman

With Newark Airport delaying Sen. John McCain's airplane from landing for two hours this afternoon, McCain knew he might be late - or gasp! - miss the taping of David Letterman's show.

After having stiffed the late night comedian once before, McCain was determined to get to the show on time. So the campaign arranged for a six-seat helicopter to fly McCain to Manhattan's West Side heliport.

Reporters and staff are being left behind at the Philadelphia Airport. McCain is taking his wife, Cindy, his personal aide, Brooke Buchanan, Cindy McCain's personal aide, Meghan Latcovich, who is actually a former helicopter pilot in the Navy, and two Secret Service agents.

"The things we do for Letterman," joked Steve Duprey, McCain's friend, traveling companion and well-known "Secretary of Fun" for the campaign.

McCain canceled his last scheduled appearance on Letterman two weeks ago when he abruptly decided to suspend his campaign and return to Washington to deal with the economic crisis consuming the nation.

But instead of going straight to D.C., McCain stopped by the CBS Evening News to talk to Anchor Katie Couric first. Letterman was so offended that he took potshots at McCain for days afterward.

McCain's campaign had scheduled tonight's appearance as an olive branch to Letterman. McCain is likely to grovel.

The blue and white helicopter landed next to McCain's campaign plane on the tarmac at the Philadelphia airport at 3:55 p.m. and the group piled in. The helicopter, with tail number N886TW, took off without incident..

And just as it did, the airplane got clearance to fly to Newark International Airport.

by Jill Zuckman

Downingtown, Penn. - Sen. John McCain told voters here that the real winner of Wednesday night's debate was Joe the Plumber.

"Joe's the man," said McCain. "He won and small businesses won across America. The American people are not going to let Senator Obama raise their taxes in a tough economy."

Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio met Barack Obama over the weekend when Obama dropped by his neighborhood to knock on doors and talk to neighbors. Wurzelbacher challenged Obama on his tax plan and McCain raised the plumber's concerns at the final presidential debate at Hofstra University.

McCain noted that U.S. small businesses provide 16 million jobs and said that "raising taxes on small businesses will kill jobs."

"Joe the plumber said 'look, I've been working all my life, I want to buy the business I'm in, but your're going to raise my taxes,'" McCain recounted. "You know what Senator Obama said? He wants to spread the wealth around."

McCain vowed not to raise taxes if elected president and said people shouldn't have to give up their hard-earned dollars.

"America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by spreading the wealth, we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth," McCain said.

Stand-ins for Barack Obama and John McCain during final preparations for the presidential debate at Hofstra University, October 15, 2008 in Hempstead, N.Y. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

by Frank James

If there's anything to be thankful for today, it must surely be that we have reached the end of the the line with the last of the three presidential debates between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain occurring tonight.

The first two debates were so uninspiring, despite all the advance hype, it would be foolish to hold out hope that tonight's debate at 9 p.m. ET at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. will be any different.

Yes, McCain, the Republican nominee, is promising to come out swinging since he has fallen steadily behind his Democratic rival in the polls.

But the senator from Arizona has seen the same polls everyone else has, the ones that say his favorability ratings have declined versus Obama in recent weeks. The drop correlates with McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin's attacks on the Democrat over William Ayers, the former 1960s radical who Obama once served with on a education foundation board's.

That means McCain must walk a tightrope as he tries one last time in a debate setting to raise doubts in voters' minds about Obama without turning off independent and undecided voters.

Also, tonight's format is going to have the men sharing a table with CBS News' Bob Schieffer. That physical arrangement likely will make it more difficult for McCain to be slash at Obama.

For his part, Obama just has to continue to remain cool, which shouldn't be any problem for him. According to polls, he won the two previous debates and his calm, collected demeanor are largely responsible for that. He appears unflappable, unexcited at a time when the economy has left many others anxious, feeling unmoored.

Tonight's debate comes against a backdrop of the still uncertain financial markets, an economy widely believed to be in recession, and coordinated measures by policymakers in the world's leading economies, including the U.S., to restore confidence in the banking systems.

by Frank James

ACORN, the community organizing group, has become the incarnation of all that is unholy for many Republicans who accuse it of doing two things: trying to steal the presidential election for Sen. Barack Obama and causing the mortgage meltdown.

The Washington Post has a piece that takes a look at the Republican charges as well as ACORN's defense.

Republican officials and advisers to Sen. John McCain have sought to paint the group -- which focuses on low-income housing, voter registration, the minimum wage and other issues -- as radical and have accused it of playing a role in the economic crisis and fomenting voter fraud. At the same time, the McCain campaign has sought to tie the group closely to Sen. Barack Obama.

"It's pretty shocking that anyone would say such a thing," Bertha Lewis, interim chief organizer for National ACORN, said of Diaz's assertion. "It's a lie, it's irresponsible, and I'm really disappointed that they would say such a thing. What's the meaning of 'quasi-criminal' anyway?"

by Jill Zuckman

Blue Bell, Pa. - Fighting to stay competitive with Barack Obama, John McCain unveiled Tuesday a $52.5 billion economic plan to eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits, cut the capital gains tax rate in half for the next two years and lower the tax rate on withdrawals from retirement accounts.

"If I am elected president, I will help to create jobs for Americans in the most effective way a president can do this - with tax cuts that are directed specifically to create jobs, and protect your life savings," McCain told a small but boisterous crowd in suburban Philadelphia.

But as the stock market plunged over the last couple of weeks, McCain's fortunes seemed to go with it. New polls show him slipping well behind Obama here in the Keystone state, as well as in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

But advisers to McCain say the polls have been wrong before and the candidate would fight until the end.

"Political pundits have written off my campaign more times than I can count," McCain told an Orlando television reporter Tuesday morning.

The new approach to the economy, which would include a guarantee for 100 percent of all savings accounts over the next six months, comes one day after Obama announced new proposals and one day before the final presidential debate on Wednesday at Hofstra University in New York.

In Toledo, Obama proposed giving $3,000 tax credits to businesses that create new jobs over the next two years, penalty-free withdrawals up to $10,000 from retirement IRA's and 401K's through 2009, a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for people trying to pay their mortgages, and a way to lend money to struggling state and local governments.

McCain, however, dismissed Obama's proposals, saying "he is an eloquent speaker, but even he can't turn a record of supporting higher taxes into a credible promise to cut taxes."

At the heart of McCain's plan to get the economy back on track is:

*A reduction of the tax on the first $50,000 taken from IRA's and 401k's to 10 percent.
*A suspension of tax rules requiring seniors to begin withdrawing funds from their retirement accounts at age 70 ½.
*An acceleration of the tax write-off rules for people who sell at a loss during the current downturn.
*A cut in the capital gains tax for the next two years from 15 percent to 7.5 percent.
*A mortgage purchase program to help struggling homeowners by replacing their mortgages with fixed-rates.
*An elimination of taxes on unemployment benefits through 2009, affecting 3.6 million people.

"We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change," McCain said. "The hour is late and our troubles are getting worse. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now."

Obama's campaign has continued to portray McCain as flailing, angry and political. A spokesman described McCain's plan as "trickle-down, ideological recipes" that won't help the middle class.

"John has nothing new to offer," Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, said in Warren, Ohio. "That's why you're seeing John McCain's campaign becoming so erratic."

by Frank James

Our friends at the Orlando Sentinel found a barber down their neck of the woods who, apparently at a kid's request, cut the Democratic presidential candidate's name, stars and a likeness of Sen. Barack Obama (and a rather poor likeness at that) into the kid's hair.

Here's hoping this kid doesn't find himself unexpectedly having to walk through a neighborhood of Sen. John McCain supporters, or that he always keeps a baseball cap with him.

by Jill Zuckman

TOLEDO, Ohio--Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain battled long-distance over the economy Monday as Obama offered new proposals to aid middle-class voters, including a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures, while McCain presented himself as a fighter with a plan to restore the nation's finances to good health.

In advance of Wednesday's final presidential debate, McCain suggested that the nation's problems are too complex for Obama's relative inexperience, while Obama portrayed his opponent as more concerned with politics than with shoring up the workforce with new jobs.

Obama proposed allowing penalty-free withdrawals of up to $10,000 from retirement IRAs and 401(k)s through 2009, as well as giving $3,000 tax credits to businesses that create new jobs over the next two years. He also proposed a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for people trying to pay their mortgages and a way to lend money to struggling state and local governments.

"I won't pretend this will be easy," Obama told several thousand voters in this economically hard-hit region. " George Bush has dug a deep hole for us. It's going to take a while for us to dig our way out."

McCain, on the other hand, criticized Obama for planning to raise taxes, comparing him to Herbert Hoover, who presided over the Great Depression. McCain also reiterated his plans to buy up bad mortgages and refinance them so home values don't plummet, allow retirees to keep their money in retirement accounts longer in order to rebuild their savings, and cut taxes to spur competition and new jobs.

"If I'm elected president, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money, on top of the $700 billion we just gave the treasury secretary, as Sen. Obama proposes," McCain said. "Because he can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt."

by Frank James

Country star Hank Williams Jr. has penned a tune for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin callled "McCain-Palin Tradition."

Williams managed to get in the McCain campaign's talking points, of last week at least, that Obama has "terrorist friends." He also squeezed into the lyrics another Republican message, that the Democrats caused the financial meltdown by pressuring bankers to give loans to helpless bankers.

That's what you call some good old, down home poetic license.

(Hank Williams, Jr., sings on stage before Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, spoke at a rally at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Nothing in there about credit default swaps. Which is too bad since that term has some good rhyming potential: flops, mops, hops (as in beer), just to name a few.

There once was a time when working-class troubadors' songs criticized bankers who took advantage of the little people. Now we have pro-Republican country star lamenting the plight of the put-upon bankers. Only in America.

Anyway, here are the lyrics:

McCain - Palin Tradition
By Hank Williams Jr.

They all want to know Sarah
Why do you hunt
John why do you fish
How could she be so smart and savvy
Such a 'hey good-lookin'' dish
Yes John is his own man
And Sarah fixed Alaska's bad condition
They're going to get it right
We're going to see the light
It's a McCain - Palin tradition

by Frank James

We've got the last presidential debate coming up on Wednesday from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY and aren't we all hoping it won't be any more of a snore than the second debate?

That debate last week was roundly panned for a format whose time constraints didn't allow the candidates to fully engage each other on the issues. The format was so goofy that Saturday Night Live didn't have to work too hard to satirize it the other night. Sen. John McCain's walking the stage just added to the comic value.

This debate's format will mirror that of the first, two-minute answers that are followed by five-minute discussion for each question. There will be two-minute closing statements.

Since polls have indicated Sen. Barack Obama won the first two debates, it's safe to say we won't be seeing any changes from him since what he's done has worked.

Sen. John McCain is more the wild card. His more strident attacks on Obama on the campaign trail haven't appeared to work with independent voters so it's hard to see him coming after Obama with a lot of heated charges and passion in the last debate.

But Wednesday is McCain's last big TV audience unless something unforeseen happens. So the pressure is really on the senator from Arizona, the Republican nominee, to to do something to change the dynamics of the race. But what?

by Frank James

I say forget this week's last presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Let's instead schedule a cage fight between David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, and Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager.

The two were on Fox News Sunday and had themselves a verbal prize fight. Host Chris Wallace even had to tell the two political operatives to break their "clinches."

Talk about nasty. Based on the way these two clashed, we shouldn't expect to see a ratcheting down of the animus between the campaigns in the next few weeks before Election Day. Anything but.

Here's an excerpt that gives a flavor of how Axelrod and Davis beat each other, rhetorically, to a pulp:

WALLACE: David, you get the last word. And talk, if you will, about this argument that, you know, if you -- if you elect Obama and you have a strong Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate, you're giving total control of the government to the Democrats.

DAVIS: ... the patronage politics...

by Frank James

A thought about Rep. John Lewis statement on the McCain-Palin campaign's tactics.

Few members of Congress have John Lewis's moral authority which comes from his repeatedly placing his life and limb on the line during the Civil-Rights era to shame the nation into living up to the true meaning of its creed.

And so his statement which had the power of a thunderous sermon.

"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

"As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

The McCain campaign rejected Lewis's statement and called for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to denounce the congressman's implied comparison of McCain with Wallace which the Obama campaign did in part though it did share the congressman's concerns with how Sarah Palin whips up crowds.

Lewis's words rang true however. He was talking about demagoguery, a word you don't hear a lot these days but which is still a very present part of the American political scene.

According to the Random House Webster Unabridged dictionary, a demagogue is "a person, especially an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions and prejudices of the people." When used as a verb as in "to demagogue" it means "to treat or manipulate (a political issue) in the manner of a demagogue; obscure or distort with emotionalism, prejudice etc."

by Frank James

Little late to the party on this but it's still worth noting. Christopher Buckley, son of the late conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr. has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama.

With typical Buckleyan wit, the former Esquire editor and White House speech writer (Bush 41) makes clear he hasn't jumped ship and become a liberal. Instead his decision springs more from his disappointment with Sen. John McCain than any embrace of Obama's guiding political philosophy or agenda.

Here's an excerpt from the Daily Beast:

As to the particulars, assuming anyone gives a fig, here goes:

A year ago, when everyone, including the man I'm about to endorse, was caterwauling to get out of Iraq on the next available flight, John McCain, practically alone, said no, no--bad move. Surge. It seemed a suicidal position to take, an act of political bravery of the kind you don't see a whole lot of anymore.

by Frank James

Two new ads today from the Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign -- one for TV, the other for the web -- both mention Sen. Barack Obama's ambition using modifiers like "blind" and "vast" to describe it. (Are they saving "reckless" for closer to Election Day?)

Seems like it takes a fairly out-sized ambition for anyone to believe he or she should be president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, in the first place. A huge ambition isn't so much a disqualifier for the job as a prerequisite.

Indeed, ambition is a quality Americans tend to admire. What parent doesn't want his or her child to be ambitious? What organization doesn't want to set more ambitious goals?

We are an ambitious nation which likes its ambitions large; vast even. Manifest Destiny. Putting humans on the Moon. Fielding the most powerful military the world has ever seen.

If nothing else, it's usually the lack of ambition, an ambition deficit, that Americans find abhorrent.

That's true especially when it comes to African-Americans. They're often criticized for allegedly not having enough ambition.

Now an African-American running for president has too much of it. What's that about?

There's something very Rovian about this. As most students of politics know, Karl Rove, President Bush's ace political strategist, delights in taking a candidate's strength and making it a liability. Just ask John Kerry about 2004. Or McCain about 2000.

So in this case Obama's ambition becomes not something parents should point to as a model for their children but a cause for concern, something to be found objectionable.

by Frank James

David Gergen, sometime presidential adviser and CNN analyst, was on Steven Colbert's show last night and had advice for Sen. John McCain -- the Republican presidential nominee needs to "rein in" his attacks as well as those by running mate Gov. Sarah Palin on Sen. Barack Obama.

"They used to call it rabble rousing" said Gergen, who teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

The Huffington Post is also reporting that former McCain strategist John Weaver is warning the Republican nominee as well.

"People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Senator McCain," Weaver said. "And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive."

As my colleague Jim Oliphant wrote earlier, there are very real concerns that the kind of animosities now being stoked for political purposes could lead to violence against Obama or others.

Before Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first black mayor in 1993, I'm told there were similar worries and tensions. I wonder if the McCain campaign will start running "Vote for McCain ... Before it's too late" ads like those run by Washington's rival, Bernie Epton?

I moved to Chicago a week or so after that election. The cabbie who drove me into the Loop from O'Hare Airportsaid if the campaign had gone a week longer there would have been blood in the streets. If this presidential campaign stays on its current trajectory, many of us may find ourselves uttering something similar.

by James Oliphant

History has proven that some Americans don't take to social change with grace. And with the troubled economy, the wars, and the now real prospect of the first African-American president, there is, in pockets of the country, real confusion, dread and fear.

John McCain's presidential campaign encountered some of that Thursday, judging from accounts in the Washington Post this morning detailing a McCain rally in Wisconsin. Reports the Post:

In recent days, a campaign that embraced the mantra of "Country First" but is flagging in the polls and scrambling for a way to close the gap as the nation's economy slides into shambles has found itself at the center of an outpouring of raw emotion rare in a presidential race.

"It's time that you two represent the rest of us. So go get 'em."

The writer Andrew Sullivan, blogging for The Atlantic, goes further, comparing the situation to the furor in the 1990s in Israel over the Palestinian peace process that resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and suggesting that the McCain campaign is putting Obama's life in danger.

by Jill Zuckman

Chillicothe, Ohio - Barack Obama accused his rival, John McCain, of "stoking anger and division" amid "a barrage of nasty insinuations and attacks" during a morning rally rally here.

The charge came as McCain released a new ad accusing Obama of "blind ambition" in associating himself with the former 60s radical Bill Ayers when it would help him, and then "lying" about it when Ayers became inconvenient.

"In the last couple of days, we've seen a barrage of nasty insinuations and attacks, and I'm sure we'll see much more over the next 25 days," Obama predicted. "We know what's coming. We know what they're going to do."

But Obama insisted that "misleading ads" and "the politics of anything goes" won't work.

"I think that folks are looking for something different," Obama said, adding that "it's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division."

Parroting McCain's line about putting country first, Obama said Americans are looking for someone who can lead the country: "Now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics."

by Frank James

The pressure is only increasing on federal policymakers grappling with the financial and economic slide.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 9,000, 680 points down this afternoon, signaling that the financial panic continues.

Part of the drop was due to General Motors being placed under review by Standard & Poor's due to concerns that the company might be unable to finance itself because of the credit freeze and general weakness in auto sales. GM is now trading at less than $5 a share.

Added to this is the growing consensus among economists that the U.S. is likely to have to endure one of the most painful recessions in decades.

According to a piece from The Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. economy has sunk into a recession and government action is critical to stem the damage, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

It is a challenging scenario for the next president, as the election moves into the home stretch. Either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama likely will face an economy in the midst of recession on Inauguration Day, even if the credit crisis begins to ease. The new administration will have to get up to speed quickly, taking over the largest government intervention since the Great Depression.

by Frank James

The McCain campaign has a new negative web ad which seeks to further its effort to fuel questions in some voters' minds about Sen. Barack Obama. It's all a part of the "who is the real Obama?" theme the Republican nominee's campaign has been frenetically pushing in recent days.

The ad's thrust is that Obama knew Ayers better than the Democratic nominee has let on. Of course, the conclusion it hopes voters will reach through this allegation is that Obama hasn't been forthcoming on his ties to Ayers so how could he possibly be trusted in the Oval Office?

There's no news in the ad. The only news is that the McCain campaign is spending another day on this as economic anxieties continue to dominate voters' concerns.

Maybe the McCain campaign is hoping voters will transfer their worries about the economy to Obama and McCain's stock will rise as voters head into polling places a few weeks from now.

These web ads are made in part so journalists like me will pick them up and run with them, since we're suckers for them, which helps to spread them. So it's mission accomplished for the McCain people.

Here's the ad's transcript:

Script For "Ayers" (WEB :90)

When their relationship became an issue, Obama just responded, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood."

by Frank James

This is weird. A man introducing Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden at a campaign rally mistakenly says the name of the guy at the top of the other side's presidential ticket. This could be a new Southwest Airlines ad: "Want to get away?"

by Frank James

Gallup's pollsters are reporting that the number of voters who say the race of the candidates could cause them to vote against Sen. Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election -- six percent -- may be offset by the nine percent who say it may make them vote for him.

Thus, Gallup is making the counterintuitive point that Obama may be helped by his race, not hurt by it as recently reported recently by the Associated Press story.

Any student of American history or race relations could be forgiven for being skeptical that being African-American would be an electoral net plus for a presidential candidate. But it's an interesting thought.

Here's how Frank Newport of Gallup puts it:

PRINCETON, NJ -- While 6% of voters say they are less likely to vote for Barack Obama because of his race, 9% say they are more likely to vote for him, making the impact of his race a neutral to slightly positive factor when all voters' self-reported attitudes are taken into account.

The potential impact of Obama's race on the election has been the more scrutinized this year. These data, taken at face value, show that if anything, his race could be a net plus, in the sense that it makes slightly more voters want to vote for him than not want to vote for him.

by Frank James

A lot of people thought last night's debate was really bad. Among them: Jim VanderHei and John Harris, the journalists who run the Politico.

A large excerpt:

With the country at one of its most interesting--not to mention terrifying--moments in a generation, John McCain and Barack Obama met in Nashville for what was surely one of the dullest and was definitely the least satisfying presidential debate in memory.

But the Belmont University showdown was something entirely different. Place the gravity of the moment next to the blah-blah-blah artifice of the rhetoric and overall insubstantiality of the evening and this is what you get: The worst presidential debate ever.

No wonder my eyes were crossing about halfway through. Actually, they started crossing earlier than that.

The writers fault the Commission on Presidential debates:

It would be hard to cook up a duller way of debating than we witnessed last night. The commission allowed the cautious handlers of the presidential campaigns to negotiate a format designed to limit improvisation, intellectual engagement and truth-telling.

It's not Brokaw's fault. Or Jim Lehrer's or Gwen Ifill's. The problem is the commission that has been invested with pseudo-constitutional status to run the debates but in fact weakly defers to candidates and clings to antiquated formats. No serious candidate would skip a debate. So the commission should use its leverage to insist that the debates are interesting to voters, rather than safe for candidates. Allow moderators to be more aggressive - and call-out candidates for lame answers- and then allow the candidates to go at it over the issues that matter most without time constraints.

by Frank James

We've been hearing for days now from Sen. John McCain about the earmark Sen. Barack Obama asked for to replace the failing projector at Chicago's venerable Adler Planetarium.

In case you've wondered what all the fuss was about, here's a picture of the old projector, circa 1970.

(Chicago Tribune photo by Alex Garcia.)

Here's a photo gallery of the projector, past and present.

And here are some details which Taxpayers for Common Sense provided last night on Obama's earmark request:

In tonight's debate, Sen. McCain cited a $3M earmark Sen. Obama sought for a projector at a planetarium.

At the page linked below there is a link to our spreadsheet of all Sen. Obama's earmark requests during his tenure, including the $3M request for the Adler Planetarium. There is also a spreadsheet of the earmarks that he received in FY08. Of course the earmark does not appear because the request was unsuccessful.

http://www.taxpayer.net/search_by_category.php?action=view&proj_id=1321&category=Earmarks&type=Project

The Obama campaign had the following comment:

"Senator Obama is firmly committed to enhancing our nation's science education programming, and he joined a bipartisan coalition of Illinois Members of Congress including Senator Durbin and Congressmen Kirk, Jackson Jr., Davis, and Emanuel in requesting funding to enhance and restore the Planetarium. Before leveling dubious charges against this science programming again, John McCain should check his own record - he voted for $200,000 in funding for the Adler Planetarium."

McCain Voted For Adler Planetarium Funding. McCain voted for the FY06 Commerce/State/Justice appropriations bill which included $200,000 for Adler Planetarium education programs. [Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW.org) Pigbooks, FY95-FY08; 2005 Senate Vote #329, 11/16/05, McCain: Y]

by Frank James

When politicians misspeak, it's often a humorous moment. But a verbal blunder by Sen. John McCain as he campaigned with Sarah Palin in Bethlehem, Penn. today was of the sort that draws more empathy than laughs.

McCain said:

"You and I together will confront the $10 trillion debt the federal government has run up and balance the federal budget by the end of my term in office. Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent."

by Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama's lead in Gallup's tracking poll has increased a percentage point to 52 percent versus 41 percent for Sen. John McCain.

This is how Gallup reports it:

These results, based on Oct. 5-7 polling, are the best for Obama during the campaign, both in terms of his share of the vote and the size of his lead over McCain. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)

Concern about the economy seems to be playing to Obama's advantage; he overtook McCain when the financial crisis worsened in the middle of September, and his strong showing today coincides with the worst rating of the economy this year (59% of Americans describe current economic conditions as "poor"). -- Jeff Jones

The curves for Obama and McCain are really starting to get a lot of daylight between them which is obviously a growing problem for the McCain camp.

Karl Rove recently wrote this in Newsweek:

But the race is tight, no candidate can get above 50 percent for more than a day or two, and it is likely to stay close right to the end.

If the current trend continues, Rove's statement will no longer be operative.

By Andrew Zajac

Newly-installed Fannie Mae CEO Herb Allison, Jr. was national finance chair of John McCain's Republican presidential bid in 2000 and as recently as 2006 he wrote a $5,000 check to McCain's Straight Talk America PAC. But a year later Allison switched his party affiliation to Democrat and this year he's contributed $4,600, the maximum allowed by law, to Barack Obama.

Allison, 65, voted as a registered Republican in New York in the November 2006 election, but a year later registered as a Democrat in Connecticut and voted as one in that state's primary on Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008.

Allison sent a pair of $2,300 checks to the Obama campaign, the most recent on August 25, two weeks before the government seized the struggling mortgage guarantor and put him in charge of it. Previously, Allison's political giving favored Republicans, but he's also donated to New York Sen. Charles Schumer and a few other Democrats.

He hasn't given anything to McCain since 2006, according to the non-partisan Opensecrets.org campaign finance web site.

by Frank James

by Frank James

The second presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain comes at a time in the race when the Democratic presidential nominee has taken a significant lead in national polls though it's still in the single digits.

As the two men meet in Nashville at Belmont University tonight, their backdrop is a nation of rising economic worries, with companies shedding jobs, rising housing foreclosures, tight credit markets and declining values on Wall Street .

Thus, the economy will likely be the debate's main focus though not exclusively.

The debate, which starts at 9 pm ET, will be take the form of a town-hall meeting. This is McCain's favorite format so that would argue for him having a lot of confidence tonight. But Obama has done town-hall meetings too, so the format shouldn't necessarily give the Republican nominee that big an advantage.

So what are five things Obama and McCain need to do tonight besides avoiding any obvious gaffes?

-- Obama will help himself hugely if he connects with the voters in the room and the greater television audience beyond. He's no Bill Clinton, he's not warm and folksy by nature. But if he can make a connection tonight, that could help him win over some undecided voters. Look for him to approach members of the audience tonight as he answers their questions in an attempt to show he feels their pain. As he tries to make that connection, however, Obama can't shift too much. By most polls, he won the first debate. Clearly what he's doing is working. So he doesn't need to make any major changes since one of his strengths is his calm and collected demeanor. In 2000, Al Gore made the respect of markedly changing his approach from one debate to the next, which turned a lot of voters off.

-- Both candidates have to present a credible approach for reviving the financial markets and the overall economy that goes beyond the recently passed $700 billion bailout legislation. In the last debate, they allowed it to become a competition over their respective campaigns' economic talking points which got lost in the weeds. Without getting too granular, they need to tick off a few major points about what they would do. But most importantly, they need to project confidence and courage about the economy. McCain particularly has to do more to convince voters that he's got real answers for the current economic plight since as economic concerns have risen, his polling numbers have fallen.

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain continued his try and sow seeds of doubt about Sen. Barack Obama in voters' minds. He was doing so much sowing in Albuquerque, New Mexico he was a veritable Johnny Appleseed of questions about Obama, indignantly asking not only where his rival came from but where he would lead the country.

It was pretty hard-hitting and if it was any indication of what we can expect tomorrow at the second presidential debate, then that event has the potential to be pretty heated.

Here's some of what McCain said:

SEN. MCCAIN: My friends, I set out on my own campaign for president many months ago. I promised at the beginning to be straight with the American people, knowing that even those who don't agree with me on everything would expect at least that much. I didn't just show up out of nowhere. (Cheers.) After all, America knows me. You know my strengths and my faults. You know my story and my convictions....

by Frank James

Dave Mendell, a reporter who once covered Sen. Barack Obama and wrote the first biography of the Democratic presidential nominee, writes on the "Run-Up blog about the McCain campaign's use of fear-mongering:

As the first biographer of Barack Obama, I have often found myself in a position where few journalists find comfort: defending the honor of a politician.

But a word to McCain's strategists: I think that any sustained effort to de-Christianize or de-Americanize Obama eventually will backfire. I believe that, deep down, Americans want to cast their votes not on fear, but on knowledge. Particularly at this precarious moment in our history, when we are staring at the potential collapse of the country's economic system, I have to think that voters will grow just as weary of these kinds of distortions as I have.

by Frank James

The Republican National Committee has been making noises for days about alleged political contributions from foreign nationals to the Obama campaign. That would be illegal if it happened and, of course, these charges are only that at this point.

Today, the RNC pulled the trigger on a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission.

Here's the release in which they announced their action:

RNC FILES FEC COMPLAINT AGAINST OBAMA CAMPAIGN

"We believe Obama for America has knowingly accepted excessive contributions and donations from foreign nationals, and has failed to take the necessary remedial action required by law. We see this as a wide-scale problem and it appears the Obama campaign may be in substantial noncompliance with federal campaign finance laws. Barack Obama broke his word to the American people and refused to accept public financing, and now his campaign appears to be disregarding the rules and laws that govern federal campaigns. Senator Obama routinely mentions the word 'change' on the campaign trail, yet it seems the only changes he supports are ones that personally benefit his own political aspirations."

by Frank James

If Sen. John McCain's efforts to go after Sen. Barack Obama's character are having any negative effect on the senator from Illinois, it's not yet discernible in the latest Gallup overnight tracking poll which shows the Democratic presidential nominee leading his Republican counterpart by eight percentage points.

Here's what Frank Newport of Gallup writes:

PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama leads John McCain among registered voters across the country by a 50% to 42% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Oct. 3-5, the tenth straight day in which Obama has held a statistically significant lead.

Looked at broadly, Obama's percent of the vote has been within a very narrow range of 48% to 50% over the last ten days, and McCain's has been within an equally narrow range of 42% of 44% over the same time period. These results suggest that aside from normal sampling error, the underlying dynamics of the race have become quite stable, and underscore the degree to which there has been little meaningful change in the race in well over a week.

by Frank James

As Sen. John McCain's poll numbers have dropped and Sen. Barack Obama's have risen, the Republican nominee's campaign team have indicated they plan to relentlessly focus on Obama's character. This means we'll likely see more negative ads from McCain and from Obama as he responds.

The Democratic National Committee has a new ad of its own in which it uses McCain's own criticism of negative advertising, uttered during the 2000 presidential campaign, against him.

Here's the ad's transcript:

CHYRON: "John McCain... readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character." [Washington Post, 10/04/08]

CHYRON: John McCain: We Can't Afford More of the Same

by Frank James

This is dog-bites-man, I'll grant you, in other words, hardly a surprise. The New Yorker has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in a piece called "The Choice" (kind of sounds like The One, no?)

In a 4,172-word essay which may require more than one latte to get through, the New Yorker renders judgment on President Bush ("The Presidency of George W. Bush is the worst since Reconstruction... ,") links Sen. John McCain to that presidency, gives the Arizona senator his due for once fairly regularly bucking his party but declares those days over, then asserts that Obama, despite some weaknesses, is the man for this moment.

Here's the final paragraph in which the New Yorker's editors gather up the various strings of their previous arguments to weave their final pitch for an Obama presidency:

We cannot expect one man to heal every wound, to solve every major crisis of policy. So much of the Presidency, as they say, is a matter of waking up in the morning and trying to drink from a fire hydrant. In the quiet of the Oval Office, the noise of immediate demands can be deafening. And yet Obama has precisely the temperament to shut out the noise when necessary and concentrate on the essential. The election of Obama--a man of mixed ethnicity, at once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of twenty-first-century America--would, at a stroke, reverse our country's image abroad and refresh its spirit at home. His ascendance to the Presidency would be a symbolic culmination of the civil- and voting-rights acts of the nineteen-sixties and the century-long struggles for equality that preceded them. It could not help but say something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks. At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader's name is Barack Obama.

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain has a new anti-Obama ad out called "Dangerous" which tries to work on at least two perceived voter concerns -- the X factor which Sen. Barack Obama still represents for many voters and the thought of Democrats controlling two branches of government.

Here's a transcript of the ad's narrative:

ANNCR: Who is Barack Obama? He says our troops in Afghanistan are

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.

The McCain campaign also provides an annotated version of the text in the ad:

by Frank James

As I watched the Washington Redskins-Philadelphia Eagles game yesterday, a Microsoft ad came on, part of the software giant's new campaign in which a number of real people announce "I'm a PC" or just "PC." Kind of like the "I'm Spartacus," scene from the movie of the same name except instead of crucifixion what comes next is the blue screen of death.

Anyway, I noticed one guy in the ad wearing a blue campaign button that looked very familiar. Where have I seen that before? Then it hit me -- It looks like he was wearing one of those anti-McCain buttons, distributed in Denver during the Democratic National Convention, with the message: "Ask me how many houses I own." A lot of people wanted one of those buttons. They thought it was very clever.

(Screenshot from one of Microsoft's "I'm a PC" ad.)

I got one from a woman with a bucket full of them who was handing them out like Halloween candy at the Big Tent, the site in Denver many bloggers used as their headquarters. The guy looks to be wearing a couple of lanyards of the sort that held media credentials so it looks like his video may have been taken in Denver.

True, the guy with the campaign button goes by pretty quickly. But that's what Tivo's freeze feature is for.

Was this meant to be a subliminal show of support for Sen. Barack Obama from Microsoft and Bill Gates who appears in the ad? Was it the work of some Obama supporter in Microsoft's ad ad shop?

Or was it merely an oversight with the advertising agency people who created the ad not noticing the McCain-mocking button?

Whichever it was, it's certainly a little different to see in a company's major image-advertising campaign a message that jabs a presidential candidate.

At least this ad is more understandable then the Gates-Jerry Seinfeld ones which left a lot of people scratching their heads.

by Jill Zuckman

Sen. John McCain responded today from Pueblo, Colorado, to the news that Congress finally passed a rescue package for Wall Street and President Bush signed it into law.

"I commend the House of Representatives for coming together to pass the economic rescue bill today. I'm glad I suspended my campaign to go back to Washington to help bring the House Republicans to the table. I believe that the taxpayer protections that have been added have improved the bill.

"That's how we're going to get America moving again, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you and again, I commend the House Republicans for acting in the best interest of our nation."

by Jill Zuckman

With the economy continuing to sour at an alarming rate, Sen. John McCain's campaign pulled out of Michigan, a state once thought ripe for the taking from the Democratic column.

"We will monitor the state and if we see a swing back in our favor, we will reengage. It's been a state that has been the worst state of all the states in play," said a McCain senior adviser, calling Michigan "an obvious one" to ditch.

The campaign plans to shift some of its resources to Maine, which splits its electoral college votes.

McCain campaign officials insist that all they were doing was trying to force Sen. Barack Obama to spend money in what should be a Democratic state, just as he tried to do the same in places like Georgia and North Dakota before pulling out.

But in truth, McCain believed that the old coalition of Reagan Democrats in the swing areas of Macomb and Oakland Counties could help put him over the top in a state where voters are as mad at the Democrats as they are with Republicans.

Michigan has lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, unemployment is the highest in the country and the state is just one of two in the nation losing population. In addition, the automakers are struggling to sell cars as they resturcture to eliminate jobs and even health benefits for current retirees.

Still, Republicans have not been able to win the state since Ronald Reagan's vice president, George H.W. Bush, swept Michigan in 1988. Since then, Democratic candidates for president have won, but only narrowly.

McCain was supposed to hold a rally in Plymouth, Michigan next Wednesday but scrapped those plans this morning. Michigan Republicans say the McCain campaign decided Wednesday night to give up the state and told them Thursday afternoon.

"There wasn't any reason given other than they were reallocating resources to other states," said Bill Nowling, communications director for the Michigan Republican Party.

McCain has not visited Michigan since holding a joint town hall meeting in Grand Rapids with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin more than two weeks ago.

Bill Ballenger, the editor of Inside Michigan Politics, called the McCain campaign "just plum stupid" for acknowledging that they are giving up. "To come out and acknowledge that's what they're doing is destructive - not only to their own campaign - but it hurts other Republican candidates down the ticket," he said.

Recent polls have shown Obama pulling ahead of McCain, but Ballenger said McCain was forcing Obama to spend time and money in the state. In fact, Obama campaigned in Michigan on Thursday.

"I think he might have made Obama sweat and he was making Obama sweat," said Ballenger. "I guess he doesn't have to worry now."

by Frank James

A new TV ad from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign strives to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the nation's current economic anxiety by linking him to the subprime mortgage crisis which helped trigger the current financial quagmire by claiming that while the Republican nominee tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the Democrat stood by "silent."

Called "Rein In," as in rein-them-in, the ad even features video of former President Bill Clinton blaming Democrats for impeding reform of the two government-sponsored enterprises that were taken over by the federal government a few weeks ago after they faced insolvency.

Here's the ad's transcript:

ANNCR: John McCain fought to rein in Fannie and Freddie.

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

by Frank James

Take it for what it's worth, but according to the traders at Intrade Sen. Barack Obama now has a better than 63 percent chance of becoming president compared with Sen. John McCain's just over 36 percent chance of winning the White House.

Obama's trading chart with Monday's close.

McCain's trading chart with Monday's close.

by Jim Tankersley

One of the most important qualities in a president - and one of the hardest for voters to gauge on the campaign trail - is the ability to move key pieces of his or her agenda through Congress. As we learned in the Bill Clinton years, it's one thing to promise universal health care in a New Hampshire living room and another to gather the votes to pass it into law.

The tribulations of a power-sapped president were on full display yesterday, when a $700 billion financial bailout package that President Bush called essential for the nation's economy died in the House: "If there was any doubt that President Bush had been left politically impotent by his travails over the last few years and his lame-duck status," the New York Times' Jackie Calmes wrote in a news analysis, "it was erased on Monday when, despite his personal pleas, more than two-thirds of the Republicans in the House abandoned the plan."

Oddly enough, the failure gives both men running to replace Bush a rare pre-election chance to flex their vote-hoarding muscles.

It's simple math: Both John McCain and Barack Obama count, among their earliest and most fervant congressional supporters, at least 10 House members who opposed the bailout on Monday. These are representatives who endorsed McCain and Obama this time last year, well before the Iowa caucuses, at a time when Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney were leading their respective parties' Capitol Hill endorsement races.

In other words, these are the true McCain and Obama believers in Washington. If just 12 of them change their votes - out of 22 - the bailout passes.

By Andrew Zajac

Democrats in Ohio, already rolling a stone uphill in trying to deliver the Buckeye state for Barack Obama, aren't helping the cause with a series of self-inflicted wounds.

The latest is installing term-limited House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty in a ginned-up $320,000 per year job at Ohio State University. That's roughly quadruple her legislative salary and is more than several Ohio university presidents earn.

by Frank James

My first impression of last night's' first presidential debate, even during the event, was that Sen. John McCain had won it.

After the debate, I still held that view despite hearing analysts on the cable news shows declare otherwise. I wondered if they and I had watched the same debate.

And this morning, after a few hours of sleep interrupted by a lightning storm that passed over the nation's capital in the wee hours I still believe McCain won.

Whether that matters in the end is unknowable at this point. But if you look at what each man had to accomplish, McCain accomplished more of what he needed to in the debate than Obama did, and by that measure he won.

From much of what I've seen on the blogs, the determination about who won has everything to do with whether which team you're on, Republican red or Democratic blue.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post saw it as more of a draw than I did but he makes the same point that many people are seeing it's outcome through red and blue lenses:

Each rose to the challenge here Friday night, forcefully scoring points on one another, sparkling at times, but neither emerged as the obvious winner except perhaps to their partisans. There were good exchanges but few big moments of the kind that can change a presidential race.

But I think David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register has a better view, if only because his agrees with mine:

It was one of the most substantive debates in recent presidential campaign history, and John McCain won it.

He repeatedly put Barack Obama on the defensive throughout the 90-minute session. Obama did little to assure voters that he is experienced enough to handle foreign and defense policy. That was his No. 1 task Friday night, and he failed.

McCain had to get through unscathed the first part of the debate, which everyone knew was going to deal with the economy, not his strong suit.

by Jill Zuckman

Oxford, Miss. - After wrapping up his first debate against Barack Obama, John McCain, his wife Cindy and daughter Meghan stopped by a raucous debate party at the Lyric, a bar and club in Oxford Square.

Huge cheers went up when the party arrived and took the stage. Cindy McCain introduced her husband, who was clearly more than satisfied with his performance.

"Well, my friends, do you think we showed them who's qualified to be
commander in chief?'' McCain said, grinning broadly, to more loud cheers.

"I'm overwhelmed by your enthusiasm and support and
I want to say that I thank you all for being here. I want to tell you
that I will not let you down," he said.

"So my friends, I want you to -- we've only got 39 days, who's counting? And
in those 39 days I'd love it if you would spend a little time making
sure we get out our vote," McCain told the crowd. "As you may know, my family's roots go back to the state of Mississippi...And I was
once stationed at the Naval Air Station in Meridian. And I just want
to say to you I hope I didn't -- I hope I made you proud tonight."

More cheers went up as McCain said, "I'm grateful for your friendship, I'm grateful for your support and I can't think of a better place to be than Oxford, Mississippi.''

by Frank James

When Sen. John McCain announced today that he was indeed going to attend tonight's first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi, I thought, "Aha, he's pulling a Jimmy Carter."

Carter, those of you who are old enough to remember, had his Rose Garden strategy in 1980. Faced with an insurgent primary challenge from Sen. Ted Kennedy, Carter suddenly announced that he was so preoccupied with ending the hostage crisis and bringing the captured Americans home from Iran, he wouldn't campaign until they were released.

For months Carter stayed at the White House while Kennedy criss-crossed the country attacking the Carter presidency.

Then, there was the failed hostage rescue.

As Time magazine reported at the time:

At least one hostage was freed by Jimmy Carter's aborted rescue raid: the one in the White House. Five days after the failed mission to save the 53 American captives in Tehran, the President jettisoned his six-month-old pledge not to campaign until the hostages were home. Speaking at an energy briefing in the East Room, Carter lamely explained that the nation's problems "are manageable enough for me to leave the White House for a limited travel schedule, including some campaigning if I choose."

Even Carter winced afterward over that statement, which was made in response to a question planted by a White House staffer. Returning to the Oval Office, the President said to a top aide: "Manageable was not a good choice of words, was it?" Indeed not, but the aide and Carter's other political strategists did not much care what excuse he used to leave the Rose Garden. For weeks, they had been telling him that both his standing with the public and his fund raising were suffering from his stay-at-home strategy. Then came the unsuccessful raid in Iran, followed three days later by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance's resignation, which amounted to a stinging vote of no confidence that was only partly offset by Carter's choice of Senator Edmund Muskie as Secretary of State. The President decided that he had little choice but to begin campaigning. Said a top aide: "He's tired of getting dumped on for everything he does. He's ready to do battle."

by John McCormick and Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama spoke to reporters on his plane today as he left Washington and headed south so he would be in place for tonight's scheduled presidential debate at the University of Mississippi, which now appears on again with recent word that Sen. John McCain apparently will attend after all.

Obama made a statement which lasted three minutes total as he stood in the middle of Row 14:

He said he has been talking today to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chris Dodd and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ... "Over the last 24 hours, I've also had a few conversations with Republicans who are involved in the process."

"I am optimistic that we can get something done. I think that there is real progress being made this morning and last night and I think it's important that the markets seem to be staying relatively calm at this point. And at this point, my strong sense is that the best thing that I can do, rather than to inject presidential politics into some delicate negotiations, is to go down to Mississippi and explain to the American people what is going on and my vision for leading the country over the next four years. I'm looking forward to the debate and look forward after the debate to coming back to Washington and hopefully getting a package done."

Then he took questions:

Q: Has anything happened since the White House meeting to make you more optimistic?

OBAMA: "They're still working it through. Keep in mind that some of these proposals were very rough and sketchy, in outline form. So, I'll leave it up to people who are experts in the markets to make an assessment as to what's going to work. But I think what's important is just making sure that everybody in America knows that the parties are serious about getting something done."

by Frank James, updated at 12:45 pm

Sen. Barack Obama has a knack for having momentous events in his presidential campaign fall on important historic events.

His convention acceptance speech occurred on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.

And today, the scheduled date for the first presidential debate between Obama and Sen. John McCain is the 48th anniversary of President John Kennedy's famed 1960 debate with Vice President Richard Nixon in Chicago.

Of course, we're not sure if today's planned debate will actually happen since McCain has made the debate hostage to the negotiations over the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout occurring in Washington. At this stage it looks like it may not be Obama-McCain. More like Obama-empty chair.

-------------------------

Updated: Now we know that the debate will occur, at least if McCain doesn't change his mind again. McCain is headed to south and is scheduled to be in Oxford, Mississippi for his 3 pm walkthrough and mic check. So there won't be an empty chair after all, though it was fun for a while to consider the possibility

by Jill Zuckman

New York, N.Y. - Sen. John McCain continued to call Thursday for putting politics aside to deal with the financial crisis and prevent credit from drying up, saying he is returning to Washington because no consensus has emerged to deal with the problem.

"I'm an old Navy pilot and I know when a crisis calls for all hands on deck," McCain told the international crowd attending the Clinton Global Initiative meeting here. "I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not."

President Bill Clinton lavished praise on McCain, the Republican nominee for president, saying he was "profoundly honored" by his presence. And McCain lauded Clinton for his ongoing dedication to public service after 12 years as governor and 8 years as president.

As Clinton left turned the podium over to McCain, he accidentally took McCain's remarks with him.

"What kind of host is that?" McCain joked after Clinton returned the papers. "I almost gave one of the most extemporaneous speeches of my career."

McCain on Wednesday said he is suspending his campaign and all political activity to return to Washington to bring Congress and the White House together to reach a deal. Both McCain and Sen. Barack Obama issued a joint statement last night calling for a bipartisan solution that protects voters, a move that Clinton called "unprecedented."

But the Obama campaign, clearly peeved that McCain is trying to get the upper hand on the situation, pointed out that McCain was still saying that there is no solution at hand even though congressional leaders appear to be closing in on a deal. Obama spokesman Bill Burton emailed reporters an Associated Press story saying the bailout agreement was near, including more protections for taxpayers and new help for distressed homeowners.

Still, McCain reiterated his concerns that Americans will bear the burden of staving off an economic disaster.

"Seven hundred billion dollars is a staggering and unprecedented figure, and there should be no misunderstanding about the dimensions of this proposal," he said. "Seven hundred billion dollars, for example, could rebuild the crumbling infrastructure in every town, county, and state in this country. A great deal is being asked of the American people. And great care must be taken to ensure their protection."

McCain also hammered CEO's, much the way Obama did yesterday, saying they should not be allowed to profit from whatever rescue plan the federal government puts into effect.

"No Wall Street executives should profit from taxpayer dollars. Let me put it this way: I would rather build a bridge to nowhere -- and put it square in the middle of Sedona, Arizona -- than take money from teachers and farmers and small business owners to line the pockets of the Wall Street crowd that got us here in the first place," McCain said.

by Frank James

The Obama campaign sent vice presidential running mate Sen. Joe Biden out to soften up the target, namely Sen. John McCain, today in anticipation of Friday night's presidential debate.

That was before McCain turned the tables on Sen. Barack Obama by asking to delay the debate.

And before Obama turned the tables on McCain and indicated his inclination was to go ahead with Friday's debate on the University of Mississippi campus.

Anyway, Biden's job was to lay out a series of what the Obama campaign considers McCain's foreign-policy judgments from the Arizona senator's contention that Iraq is the central front on the war on terror (which Biden turned into the "central war on terror") to McCain's criticism of Obama for the Illinois Democrat saying he would sit down for discussions with the nation's enemies.

Said Biden, Senate Foreign Relations chair who's known McCain the whole time the Republican presidential nominee has been in the Senate and therefore referred to him the way one would a buddy:

"John is more than wrong -- he is dangerously wrong. On a question so basic, so fundamental, so critical to our nation's security, we can't afford a Commander-in Chief so divorced from reality and from America's most basic national interests."

On that last point, Biden said sitting down with Iran Mahmoud Ahmadenijad for instance would allow Obama to stress to the Iranian leader the seriousness of the American stance against Iran's procurement of nuclear weapons as well as what Iran stands to gain if it goes along with the U.S.

" Ladies and gentleman, since when has talking to our enemy taken 'no' out of our vocabulary? Ladies and gentleman, it's amazing how little faith John McCain has in himself and his foreign-policy team that they're afraid to sit down. We can still say no. We can still say no.' "

Biden's goal was at least two fold, to lay out like a prosecutor the case against on McCain. The other goal: and to get under McCain's skin, to throw him off his game, to jerk his chain enough so that McCain will respond to him on Friday instead of Obama.

The Democratic National Committee's anti-McCain press kit lampooning his defense of Bermuda as a tax haven. Photo provided by the DNC.

by Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee launched a coordinated campaign yesterday to zing Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain for comments he made that were supportive of Bermuda as an off-shore tax-haven.

The goal: to portray McCain as a friend to wealthy corporate CEOs and tax avoiders to weaken the Arizona Republican's claim to be a populist reformer. It was an obvious attempt to tap into the growing hostility towards Wall Street among voters.

The Obama campaign released a TV ad based on an article that appeared in Bermuda's Royal Gazette newspaper chronicling McCain's visit last year to the British colony.

The Arizona Senator, who spent three days on the Island this week meeting business and political leaders, said he understood the concerns of the insurance and reinsurance sectors about draft legislation proposing a clampdown on US business operations in so-called tax havens.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The industry, the re-insurance that's had such phenomenal success has been good for both nations. I would oppose any measures that would upset that."

McCain later received campaign contributions from insurance interests the Obama campaign links to that visit.

by Frank James

In the span of 24 hours, we have two major polls that give us opposite readings on whether Americans support the Bush Administration's proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.

A Los Angeles/Times Bloomberg poll found 55 percent of those surveyed opposing the bailout while 31 percent supported it. The Los Angeles Times has a report on that poll.

That result exactly contradicted the conclusion of a Pew Reseearch Center poll we reported on last night which found 57 percent of those surveyed supporting the bailout plan while 30 percent were against it.

Looks like we need another poll that can serve as the tiebreaker on that issue.

Both polls pointed in the same direction in terms of which presidential candidate was viewed as being better able to navigate through the financial crisis. Sen. Barack Obama was favored in both polls as the candidate who would be better for the economy, with 45 percent of those in the LA Times/Bloomberg Poll choosing him compared with 33 percent.

In the Pew Poll, it was 47 percent for Obama versus 35 percent for McCain.

by Frank James

George Will, the nation's best-known conservative columnist and Chicago Cubs fan, may not be cutting an ad for Sen. Barack Obama but in his column today, he sure does seem to be expressing more confidence in the Democratic presidential nominee than in the Republican one, fellow conservative Sen. John McCain.

In his column today, Will repeated the criticism he made on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that McCain's attack last week on Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox was unpresidential and unbecoming.

Will attributes McCain's call to fire Cox, to McCain's personality which the columnist clearly doesn't believe is the most even-tempered, to say the least:

In any case, McCain's smear -- that Cox "betrayed the public's trust" -- is a harbinger of a McCain presidency. For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people. McCain's Manichaean worldview drove him to his signature legislative achievement, the McCain-Feingold law's restrictions on campaigning. Today, his campaign is creatively finding interstices in laws intended to restrict campaign giving and spending.

A "smear" as "harbinger of a McCain presidency?" With those words, Will certainly isn't giving the McCain campaign anything it can use in an ad. That's pretty caustic stuff.

Will ends his column with these words:

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

While the columnist doesn't answer that question, he makes it pretty clear what side he comes down on.

Meanwhile, he indicates that Obama's defect--his relative lack of experience in national and foreign policy--is remediable by time. Not a full-throated endorsement but still rather striking coming from one of the nation's leading conservative writers.

by Andrew Zajac

Charles Black Jr., a top adviser to the McCain campaign, has been the subject of unflattering ads in recent days by the Barack Obama campaign connected to his lobbying for Chinese and Russian oil companies.

But Black's largely-overlooked lobbying for a Russian think tank closely linked to the Kremlin may be more intriguing, and more instructive in understanding the limitations of current lobbyist disclosure laws.

In 2005, Black (pictured with McCain, left, aboard McCain's campaign plane in an AP photo by Mary Altaffer) signed up to lobby for the awkwardly named Center of the Development of Information Society, headed at the time, by Leonid Reiman, the telecom minister for then-president Vladimir Putin.

Black's firm, BKSH & Associates Worldwide, was paid $50,000 for eight months work, but it's not clear from disclosure what, if anything, the firm did for the money.

by Frank James

A new poll tells us what we already knew, that some white Democrats won't vote for Sen. Barack Obama because of his skin color. It suggests the margin for Sen. John McCain could be larger than the 2.5 percent gap of four years ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks -- many calling them "lazy," ''violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents -- voters Obama can't win the White House without -- agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Sad but true....

by Frank James

Factcheck.org has caught Sen. Barack Obama seriously distorting Sen. John McCain's position on Social Security personal accounts as well as important details about Republican proposals for such accounts, all apparently to scare seniors out of their wits about the Republican nominee.

Factcheck.org reports the following in a summary of its analysis of charges Obama made while campaigning in Florida today:

In Daytona Beach, Obama said that "if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week." He referred to "elderly women" at risk of poverty, and said families would be scrambling to support "grandmothers and grandfathers."

Obama would have been correct to say that many workers under age 58 would have had some portion of their Social Security benefits affected by the current market turmoil - if they had chosen to participate. And market drops would be a worry for those who retire in future decades. But current retirees would not have been affected.

In his more detailed analysis, Brooks Jackson also wrote that McCain hasn't made Social Security private accounts a central part of his campaign:

While McCain has voted in favor creating private Social Security accounts in the past, and endorsed Bush's 2005 proposal (which never came to a vote in Congress), he is not making a strong push for them as part of his campaign. In fact, a search for the term "Social Security" on the McCain-Palin Web site brings up the following: "No documents were found."

by Frank James

We have what may be our first significant Republican sacrifice to the voter gods by Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

That would be Securities and Exchange Commission Christopher Cox who, McCain said, bears significant blame for the current market meltdown.

Campaigning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa today, McCain said:

The primary regulator of Wall Street is the Securities and Exchange Commission -- we call the SEC -- kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino.

They allowed naked short selling, which simply means you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year an important rule called the uptick rule, that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground.

The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president, and in my view has betrayed the public trust. If I were president today, I would fire him. (Cheers, applause.)

Ladies and gentleman, can we say scapegoat? Oh, and then there's this other problem that's been raised since McCain's pummeling of Cox. The president can't fire the SEC chair, who serves a set term.

In any event, the short sellers who make bets that a company's stock price will go down, have been blamed by some Wall Street chieftains for undermining their firms and driving them into desperate straits. Bear Stearns officials, for instance, pointed the finger at short sellers, accusing them of rumor-mongering and causing a run on their investment bank that eventually led to a federally engineered acquisition of that company by JP Morgan Chase.

by Frank James

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama will be on the cover of October's Field & Stream magazine. ("McCain vs Obama: We question the candidates on guns and conservation" the teaser on the front tells us.)

I think I can guess which candidate most of Field & Stream's readers, those people in deer-hunting country clinging to their guns and religion, would tend towards. It'd be the one who picked a running mate who knows how to field dress a moose, but again that's only an educated guess.

I love the cover's main headline, "Find Your Bull." It obviously isn't meant to apply to the 2008 presidential campaign but could. And on a few different levels.

by Jill Zuckman

Detroit - What a change a few months, a drop of hundreds of points on the Dow Jones Stock Exchange, and a bunch of Wall Street collapses and bailouts have wrought.

Sen. John McCain, who once staunchly maintained that autoworkers' jobs just weren't coming back, offered a far more populist tone today as he toured the GM plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, telling workers there that the economic problems weren't their fault.

"I'm here to send a message to Washington and to Wall Street," McCain told the autoworkers. "We're not going to leave the workers here in Michigan hung out to dry while we give billions in taxpayers' dollars to Wall Street. We're going to take care of the workers - the workers. They're the ones that deserve our help."

The auto plant was visibly divided between workers who support McCain and those who favor Sen. Barack Obama. Many of the Democrats' supporters wore Obama t-shirts and hats and broke out into chants of "Obama-oh-eight" at the conclusion of McCain's remarks.

McCain told the employees that it is time to get the auto industry on its feet.

"And it's time for a new generation of cars and for loans to build the facilities to make them," he said. "These workers here are the best in the world. They're the best and most productive and most innovative and the finest and are the backbone and foundation of our economy. And anybody that tells you they aren't hasn't had the opportunity to know them and their product like I have."

McCain even invoked an icon of Democratic politics to make his point.

"One of our great presidents, Franklin Roosevelt, expressed this optimism even at the height of the Great Depression. He said, and I quote, 'plenty is at our doorstop but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.' "

"My friends, that's true again today. I reject the gloom and doom that says our nation is in decline," McCain said. "America's best days are ahead of us."

McCain told the workers, "It's not your problem, fault. I'll tell you whose fault it is. Corruption in Washington and corruption on Wall Street and as president I'm going to clean it up and I'm going to fix it and return you back to the strength of our economy that you have earned and deserve."

by Frank James

We knew Sen. John McCain was going to be in a tough spot this morning when it came to talking about the AIG bailout.

When the feds declined to bailout Lehman Brothers earlier in the week, the Republican presidential nominee said he welcomed that news, that he was against taxpayer money being used to save the hides of Wall Street types who had turned the financial markets into "casinos."

Then the Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve had to go and pull the rug out from under him with an $85 billion bridge loan to AIG. Not making the loan, federal officials have said, would have potentially had a catastrophic effect on real people. So they had to act.

This put McCain in an uneasy place. Stick to your principles and oppose the AIG bailout and you're sure to be accused again by Sen. Barack Obama of being out of touch on the economy and uncaring about the people on Main Street who stood to get hurt, even according to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

But fully embrace the AIG bailout and you appear to be contradicting your words of just days before.

In Gustavus, Ohio this morning where he was campaigning, McCain appeared on "Good Morning America." He seemed to be trying to walk a tightrope with an "on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand" kind of comment.

MS. ROBERTS: Just so happens. I know.

We've got to fix it. We've got to say that it'll never happen again. As president, I will make sure that it never happens again..

by Jill Zuckman

Vienna, Ohio - Sen. John McCain offered his harshest assessment yet of rival Barack Obama, saying the Democratic nominee "is not interested in the politics of hope, he's interested in his political future and that's why he's hurling in insults and making up facts about his record."

At a joint rally here in the Mahoning Valley, where tough economic times are not a new phenomenon, McCain and running mate Sarah Palin took after Obama during another day of turmoil on Wall Street.

McCain got support from Jack O'Connell, former AFL-CIO president of the Greater Youngstown Area, who called himself "a lifelong, intelligent, registered Democrat" and vouched for McCain and Palin's commitment to working people despite the fact that the national AFL-CIO has endorsed Obama.

"Senator McCain and Governor Palin understand that our economy is struggling and that people in the Mahoning Valley and around the country are hurting," O'Connell said. "They'll fight every day to help you keep your job, job retention. And they will not leave any American worker behind."

O'Connell said he has talked with McCain and that they agreed that "organized labor will have a seat at the table when John McCain becomes president."

But AFL-CIO president John Sweeney released a statement today calling McCain's record "one of the most anti-worker in Washington."

Meanwhile, McCain, who sounded hoarse, trained his remarks on Obama.

"Today, he claimed that the Congressional stimulus package was his idea. That's news to those of us in Congress who supported it. Senator Obama didn't even show up to vote," McCain said.

"He talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story. Senator Obama took more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than anyone but the chairman of the committee they answer to," McCain said. "And he put Fannie Mae's CEO, who helped create this problem in charge of finding his Vice President. That's not change, that's what's broken in Washington."

"He talked about siding with the people, siding with the people, just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there is no place I'd rather be, than here, with the working men and women of Ohio. I'm going to fight for you and together we're going to win in November."

by Frank James

Feisty back-and-forth today between Senators John McCain, Barack Obama and the Republican National Committee. It came after the Republican presidential nominee suggested that a commission be set up to study how the Great Wall Street Meltdown happened.

That brought this dismissive response from Obama:

"This morning, instead of offering up concrete plans to solve these issues, Senator McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book -- you pass the buck to a commission to study the problem. (cheers, applause.) But here's the thing: This isn't 9/11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out. I'll provide it; John McCain won't. And that's the choice for Americans in this election." (Cheers, applause.)

That apparently drew blood because the RNC didn't let that one go. They issued the following statement:

"Obama has supported creating several commissions and applauded their results during his short career political career. Yet even on an issue as important as the country's economy, Obama is now putting politics first. In typical Washington fashion, Obama would rather attack John McCain than welcome a good bipartisan idea. Obama's attack is another example of his 'I-know-best' attitude that rejects the sort of consensus-building, open-minded leadership Washington needs." - Alex Conant, RNC spokesman

In 2006, Obama Supported An Ethics Commission. "Obama's plan also proposes a new ethics monitoring system, with an independent commission staffed with former judges and former members of Congress." (Marianne Means, "Congress Must Take Down 'For Sale' Sign," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/5/06)

by Frank James

New Jersey has been reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections. But the latest polling suggests it may not be so safely blue this time around.

Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute has a new poll that indicates that Sen. Barack Obama is essentially tied with Sen. John McCain right now, with Obama at 48 percent and McCain at 45 percent of likely voters in New Jersey.

The Quinnipiac pollsters write:

Fueled by a surge of support from white voters, Republican Sen. John McCain has narrowed a 10-point gap and now trails Democratic Sen. Barack Obama 48 - 45 percent among New Jersey likely voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

But white women back McCain 50 - 42 percent, compared to 46 - 44 percent for Obama Aug. 13. Independent voters shift from 45 - 42 percent for Obama to 47 - 43 percent for McCain.

So it's white flight from the African-American guy, according to this poll. That's so New Jersey.

by Frank James

Among the comments Sen. John McCain has been making in response to the Wall Street carnage has been a curious line that leaves the impression that Americans with plain-vanilla bank deposits are at risk.

On CBS's "Early Show" this morning, McCain said: "We need to make sure that every person whose bank deposit--has made a bank--a deposit in a bank is insured."

On ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning, McCain told Chis Cuomo: "...And we're going to fix -- make sure that every American who has a deposit in the bank that they are -- that they're deposit-insured."

McCain may be leaving the impression with some voters that their deposits in commercial banks aren't insured.

But bank deposits are insured, of course. An individual saver can have up to $100,000 in a single institution and it's insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. This was one of the most important New Deal initiatives. The savings of those with money in commercial banks aren't at risk.

McCain obviously knows all this. So what exactly is the Republican presidential nominee talking about?

Maybe the answer is to be found in what he told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show: "But the point is that we need to fix the broken system. We need to have an FDIC that will insure every American's bank deposit. That may need more funds."

So is he saying that $100,000 insurance per bank isn't enough, that the limit should be higher?

Isn't there a simpler solution however? Anyone with $1 million they want to put into savings accounts merely needs to spread there savings over ten banks. A paperwork hassle, yes, but certainly doable.

by Frank James

Karl Rove was asked this morning on Fox New Sunday about truth in advertising, specifically campaign advertising and he had something unexpected to say.

He said Obama's campaign had ranged too far from the truth in at least one of its TV ads, the one in which it accused Sen. John McCain of being out of touch because he admitted to not knowing how to use e-mail. That was predictably Rovian.

But here was the surprise. Rove went on to say McCain's campaign had veered too far from the truth as well in attacking Obama.

According to Rove:

McCain has gone, in some of his ads, similarly gone one step too far in sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100% truth test.

This prompted a response from Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera:

"When Karl Rove says your campaign is dishonest, maybe its time to reevaluate."

Rove won't be written out of the Republican Party, however, for what he said. Far from it.

He still managed to stick the knife in Obama. And, here's what's really weird--he did it by doing the very thing he was decrying generally, by not telling the truth.

Rove continued the crocodile-tear outrage over Obama's "lipstick-in-a-pig" comment.

Then, in trying to make lemons out of lemonade, the architect of President Bush's two successful White House runs said the reason McCain doesn't use e-mail is because of his prisoner-of-war injuries. What?

This is a creative excuse not even McCain has offered. Instead, the senator from Arizona has indicated using e-mails or the Internet was something he just hadn't gotten around to.

Here's a large excerpt from a July 18, 2008 story from the Telegraph, a British newspaper:

...In facing Barack Obama, an opponent who is 25 years his junior and has made powerful use of the internet in his campaign, he is battling against claims he is stuck in the past.

Todd Palin, center, drives his wife, Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin, to the starting line of the Iron Dog snowmobile race in Big Lake, Alaska. Gov. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)

by Andrew Zajac

One of the curious bits of information from a scrub of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's background is the existence of the oddly-named Rouge Cou Co., a would-have-been marketing and consulting company.

On her 2005 financial disclosure form, Palin reports setting up the firm but never transacting business with it. It may be that Rouge Cou would have been Plan B had her run for governor in 2006 failed to pan out.

The Republican vice presidential hopeful looks to be having fun with the name, which translates literally from French as "red neck", but it's not clear on what level.