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....]

The Denver Post editorial board has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President. Mostly, it's the economy:

Obama's plan, while not perfect, is far superior to McCain's catastrophic ideas.

It criticizes McCain's health care tax. But the best quote is the paper's praise for Obama's community organizing work: [More...]

Shameless voter suppression and intimidation efforts by Republicans might finally gain widespread public notice -- further cementing the view that John McCain will do anything to win. The Obama campaign aggressively called out the McCain campaign and the Bush administration today.

The Obama campaign charged Friday that John McCain, in concert with the Bush administration, has embarked on a studied effort to disrupt Election Day in many states and suppress the vote. In a conference call with reporters Friday, Robert Bauer, chief counsel for the Obama campaign, suggested that a flurry of fraudulent registration complaints recently, and a subsequent leak by FBI officials that the agency was investigating the incidents, were part of a coordinated attempt by McCain and the administration of President Bush to intimidate voters.

Bauer said the timing of the comments and the leak suggested a “partisan plot” to suppress the vote on Election Day.

[more ...]

Individuals with serious wealth can have an impact on local ballot measures. Sometimes they put their money to good use.

Billionaire George Soros spent $1.4 million to support California’s Proposition 5, which would expand drug-treatment programs and apply new restrictions on sending paroled drug offenders back to prison for parole violations.

Sometimes they don't.

Nevada millionaire Loren Parks has spent $3 million on this year’s state election–partly to fund ballot measures designed to get tougher on criminals and to shift a portion of the state’s lottery proceeds to law enforcement.

This Wall Street Journal story examines multimillionaire spending on ballot issues and asks: "Is all this billionaire-backed politics democratic?" What do you think?

The Chicago Tribune joins the LA Times in making its first endorsement of a Democrat for President.

Many Americans say they're uneasy about Obama. He's pretty new to them.

We can provide some assurance. We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

On McCain, the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is a factor and the paper says it shows McCain "failed in his most important executive decision." : [More...]

Senator Ted Stevens took the stand today in his criminal trial. He testified that he pays his bills when he knows about them, that he intended to pay for his home renovations, and that if he neglected to pay it's only because he's a busy senator working a long distance from his Alaskan home. And besides, he left it to his wife to handle the project, so blame her if something got screwed up. He didn't disclose gifts, including the renovations, that were paid for by his friend Bill Allen because he didn't think Allen had given him any gifts.

"What goes on in the house is Catherine's business. What goes on outside is my business," Stevens testified. He told jurors he never asked for some of the key features of the renovation project, such as a balcony and steel staircase. He said he didn't know anything about them until he saw the completed project.

As for Allen, who "testified that Stevens knew he wasn't getting billed for everything and just wanted invoices to protect himself," Stevens claims Allen told "an absolute lie." Stevens will be cross-examined this afternoon.