Ronald Brownstein, fearful that Democrats will emerge from the November elections with a president and large Democratic margins in the House and Senate, urges Democrats to abide by their duty to govern as if they were Reagan Republicans. This is because Americans are faithful to the ideology of Reagan and recognize that the New Deal represented a failure of ideas. Voters who send Obama to the White House are rejecting George Bush, not Reagan's belief that government is the problem.

The evidence in support of this fever dream goes unstated. Is it not more likely that the public supports Obama because he argues that a responsible government can act to improve the lives of its citizens? Isn't it possible that voters are tired of waiting for wealth to "trickle down" as Reagan-era economic theories (revived on steroids by Bush) promised? It is Reaganomics, not the New Deal, that represents a failure of ideology.

Add the Philadelphia Inquirer to the list of papers endorsing Barack Obama.

While John McCain also promises "change," it's hard to believe that's possible from someone who, by his own admission, has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time. On key issues such as campaign finance, pork-barrel spending, and humane interrogation of terrorism suspects, McCain has indeed been a "maverick." But mostly, he and Bush have been on the same page.

More troubling was McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. This blatant overture to women voters and evangelical Christians who share her views on abortion backfired when Palin in interviews proved she is not prepared to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Over the past four months, this Editorial Board has compared the candidates' positions. In almost every case, Obama has a superior proposal for this nation. (emphasis supplied)

New York City has agreed to pay $3.5 million to Shih-Wei Su. That will make his life better, but it won't give him back 12 years of lost freedom.

Shih-Wei Su, was convicted by a jury in 1992 after Queens prosecutors knowingly presented false testimony from the star witness, according to a ruling in 2003 by the United States Court of Appeals, which overturned Mr. Su’s conviction and condemned the Queens district attorney’s office. ...

“The settlement doesn’t buy back the time I lost and doesn’t do real justice, but the amount shows the public something is very wrong here,” said Mr. Su, now 35 and a financial consultant in Manhattan. “I did 12 years on a wrongful conviction, and no one was punished for it.”

Misconduct by police and prosecutors that leads to wrongful convictions is rarely punished. [more ...]

The World Medical Association's General Assembly met Friday and Saturday in Seoul, South Korea. It passed the following resolution, expanding those of prior years prohibiting physcian participation in executions:

RESOLVED, that it is unethical for physicians to participate in capital punishment, in any way, or during any step of the execution process, including its planning and the instruction and/or training of persons to perform executions, The World Medical Association REQUESTS firmly its constituent members to advise all physicians that any participation in capital punishment as stated above is unethical. URGES its constituent members to lobby actively national governments and legislators against any participation of physicians in capital punishment.

More...

Calling Barack Obama a liberal did not advance John McCain's cause, so he's trying out a more sinister word: socialist. Never mind that McCain voted for a bailout plan that creates a degree of government ownership of private financial institutions. That's socialism we can believe in. It's Obama's offhand remark to Joe the Plumber that a tax increase on upper incomes will "spread the wealth" that marks the socialistic tendency McCain has seized upon as the distraction of the day.

As always, Obama responded quickly, calmly, and forcefully.

"John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people ‘welfare,’” Obama told a massive crowd under the infamous St. Louis arch. “The only ‘welfare’ in this campaign is John McCain’s plan to give another $200 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations in America.”

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Citizen Cope, "Pablo Picasso"

This is an open thread.

Crowd counts are often exaggerated (particularly by the McCain-Palin campaign), but the picture accompanying this story tends to confirm the support Barack Obama has generated in Missouri.

Barack Obama attracted 100,000 people at a Saturday rally here, his biggest crowd ever at a U.S. event. The crowd assembled under the Gateway Arch on a sunny Saturday afternoon to hear Obama speak about taxes and slam the Republicans on economic issues. ...

To be sure, big crowds don’t always signal a big turnout on Election Day. But Obama’s ability to draw his largest audience yet in a typically red state that just weeks ago looked out of reach, could signal a changing electoral map. ... A Rasmussen poll released on Friday shows Obama leading in Missouri 52% to 46% for McCain.

Does this mean that in Sarah Palin's world, Missouri is no longer a pro-America state?

Tightening from double digit leads, Barack Obama still holds significant leads in most tracking polls. This could be a function of the volatility of these polls or a genuine (and predictable) tightening of the race.

DKos/R2000 has Obama by 7, 50-43. This is down significantly from Obama's consistent double digit leads in this poll. Rasmussen has Obama steady - with a 5 point 50-45 lead for the fourth consecutive day. Hotline actually trends towards Obama, up 2 for a 10 point 50-40 lead, UPDATE - Hotline today - narrows to 7. IBD/TIPP has Obama by 5, 46-41. Battleground has Obama by 4.

The question is the spread now. Obama will win. The last debate did nothing significant for McCain. Downticket should be our focus now.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops died today at age 72. They were my favorite Motown group (along with the Shirelles and the Supremes.) I still remember when they played at my high school and I jumped onstage to hug him at the end.

Formed while its original members were in high school, the Four Tops were one of the most successful groups of the 20th century. They had more than 40 hits on the Billboard pop charts, including their first No. 1 single, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” in 1964.

Here's 1966 and Baby I Need Your Loving: [More..]

Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will campaign together in Orlando, Florida on Monday as early voting opens in the state. Earlier in the day Obama will be in Tampa while Hillary will be campaigning for him in Broward (Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami.)

Where's McCain/Palin? Palin will be in Colorado shoring up the Republican base in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Loveland (Larimer County) -- all of which are locks for their ticket.

McCain was in Miami today with Joe Lieberman, courting the Cuban vote, but has nothing scheduled in the state through next week. Obama on the other hand is putting serious energy into Florida, and Miami in particular, for the duration of the campaign.

Hillary campaigned in Youngstown, Ohio today.

Add the Chicago Sun Times to the list of papers endorsing Sen. Barack Obama. Why won't it support McCain?

[S]omewhere along the line, McCain stopped being McCain. The maverick who always thought for himself turned his thinking over to others. He became too driven to win.

He reversed his position on major social issues to curry favor with the Republican base. He pulled silly surprises from a hat, such as “suspending” his campaign. Most egregiously for a man of advanced age who knew how important this decision could be, he chose the unqualified Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice president. (emphasis supplied.)

On Obama: [More...]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has just released its Sunday endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.

Columnist William Kristol, a longtime McCain backer, calls the McCain campaign “close to being out–and–out dysfunctional,” concluding that “its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”

And of course, the most unfortunate evidence of that “strategic incoherence and operational incompetence” was McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a person utterly unprepared for the high post in question.

Not just unprepared, but "utterly unprepared." The paper's primary reason: McCain is Bush III. [More....]