Wisconsin's Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen, is a dutiful Republican who wants to be noticed. In a blatant attempt to suppress newly registered voters, Van Hollen sued the state to force local clerks to perform laborious cross-checks of new voter registrations and drivers license records. Fortunately, he isn't very good at what he does.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled Thursday that Van Hollen had not shown any laws had been broken. She further ruled that Van Hollen didn't have the power to bring the lawsuit even if he'd identified violations of the law.

Despite Van Hollen's pleas for an expedited judgment, Judge Sumi took her time and reasoned her way to a sound decision. Van Hollen says he'll appeal, but at this point he's just making unnecessary noise.

Coming soon to a law enforcement agency near you: robotic bloodhounds.

[The Pentagon is] looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human".

The Pentagon gets it first. Eventually the tech works its way down to law enforcement. The U.S. Marshals would love to have packs of robots chasing down "non-cooperative humans."

Hillary made her 65th campaign appearance for Sen. Barack Obama in Aurora, Colorado today. Also on hand: Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar and Reps. Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter.

More here at the Denver Post.

McCain campaigned in Denver today as well, along with former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway.

Sen. Barack Obama will be in Denver on Sunday for a rally in Civic Center Park downtown. My prediction: The Obama crowd will dwarf the 4,000 that showed up for McCain today.

Susan Smith redux. John McCain supporter Ashley Todd admits she made up the attack story.'

A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B" scratched on her face in what she had said was a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.

....Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank branch ATM on Wednesday night when a 6-foot-4 black man approached her from behind, put a knife blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.

Todd has mental issues and will be housed in the mental health unit of the jail on the misdemeanor charge.

Obama's lead is holding steady according to the latest Newsweek poll. Poll data is here.

Obama's lead in the NEWSWEEK Poll is consistent with other recent national polls, including soundings taken by CBS News and The New York Times, The Washington Post and ABC News, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal and by Pew Research, all of which measured Obama's lead over McCain as somewhere between 10 and 14 points. In the NEWSWEEK Poll, Obama's lead stayed virtually unchanged from two weeks ago, when he led McCain 52 to 41 among registered voters.

Obama leads in almost every demographic. [More...]

A new Washington Post/ABC News Poll finds Sarah Palin's disapproval ratings have grown and 58% say she is insufficiently experienced to be President.

A majority of likely voters in a new Washington Post-ABC News national poll now have unfavorable views of the Alaska governor, most still doubt her presidential qualifications and there is an even split on whether she "gets it," a perception that had been a key component of her initial appeal.

...The percentage of white women viewing her favorably dropped 21 points since early September, among independent women it fell 24 points.

More....

You'll be pleased to know that the Pennsylvania Republican Party agrees (when confronted) that it has no reason to believe Barack Obama "taught members of Acorn to commit voter fraud." The Party also admits it has no evidence that "known terrorist William Ayers ... thought the terrorists didn’t do enough on 9/11." Forced to make those concessions, the Party blamed and "fired the strategist who helped draft" an email containing those assertions that was "making the rounds among Jewish voters in Pennsylvania this week."

The email also

equated a vote for Senator Barack Obama with the “tragic mistake” of their Jewish ancestors, who “ignored the warning signs in the 1930’s and 1940’s.”

Because of the two factual errors (lies) in the "unauthorized" email, the Party plans to send a correction to the 75,000 recipients of the original. Whether that will happen before or after the election is unclear.

Ron Howard channels Andy Griffith. This is an open thread.

At this rate, Ted Stevens' jury may still be deliberating on Election Day.

The father of a female juror, identified only as juror No. 4, died suddenly and she is on her way to California to be with family. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan delayed the trial until at least Tuesday to accommodate the missing juror and to allow time to determine the next step in the case.

Juror 4 may be understandably distracted and in no shape to deliberate next week. Deliberations must start anew if an alternate steps in to fill the missing juror's spot. But as more time passes, there's greater reason to worry that the alternates will watch a news story or read TalkLeft commentary or talk to a friend or otherwise become contaminated by facts they encounter outside the courtroom. Of course, that risk exists even with deliberating jurors, but it's especially difficult for alternates to stay away from the news if they think their role in the trial has probably ended.

Good news out of Georgia:

A federal appeals court gave a last-minute reprieve Friday to a Georgia man set to be executed for the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer even though several witnesses have changed their accounts of the crime.

Troy Davis, 40, was scheduled to be executed Monday. But the three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered defense attorneys and prosecutors to draft briefs that address whether Davis can meet "stringent requirements" to pursue the next round of appeals.

Amnesty International has background and in a press release today (no link yet) says: [More...]

Wall Street took a steep fall this morning.

For the superstitious among you, October 24, 1929 was the day the Great Depression started.

The crash of 1929, like the current global economic crisis, came after a prolonged period of economic growth.

October 24, 1929, known as Black Thursday, marked the first day of the crash with panic selling ensuing on the Dow Jones. This was triggered by predictions of an impending market crash, leading to a record 13m shares being traded.

In case you missed the Thursday edition of Saturday Night live last night, it was pretty funny.