larger version here.

Joe Biden channeling Hunter at a rally in Florida:

"You know, the idea here that somehow these guys are once again injecting fear and loathing into this campaign is ... I think it's mildly dangerous," Biden said. "Here you have out there these kinds of, you know, incitements out there -- guy introducing Barack using his middle name as if it's some [epithet] or something,"

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The latest Ipsos/McClatchy poll has Sen. Barack Obama 7 points ahead of John McCain. Why? The economy and Sarah Palin.

First, voters are ever more anxious about the faltering economy and trust Obama by a 15-point margin over McCain to steer it. Second, their confidence that McCain's running mate Sarah Palin is qualified to step into the presidency if necessary has fallen sharply.

...Palin's sunk since her debate last week with Joe Biden. Before the debate, voters thought her qualified to be president by a margin of 48 percent to 44 percent. After the debate, she was seen as qualified by 43 percent, while those saying she's not qualified rose to 51 percent.

The Alaska Legislature's TrooperGate report will be out Friday.

In lieu of testimony, seven employees, after Republicans lost their lawsuit to have the probe declared invalid, answered written questions under oath.

First Dude Todd Palin had until today to get his answers in.

A legislative panel has scheduled a meeting for 9 a.m. Friday to receive Branchflower's report on Monegan's firing and whether Palin or members of her administration abused their powers in pushing for the dismissal of a state trooper involved in a child-custody fight with the governor's sister.

Who didn't cooperate? Gov. Sarah Palin. [More...]

The Sheriff of Cook County (Chicago) today announced his office will no longer evict people from homes under foreclosure.

many people his office has helped throw out on the street are renters who did nothing wrong.
“We will no longer be a party to something that's so unjust,” a visibly angry Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said at a news conference.

“We have to be sure that when we are doing this – and we are destroying some people's lives – we better be darned sure we're talking about the right people,” Dart said.

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Michelle Obama is on Larry King Live tonight. She seems very relaxed and conversational. I'm starting to picture her as our First Lady. I think she'll be a terrific role model. She has so much more to offer, and is so much more interesting, than Cindy McCain.

Did any of you see it? Here are the clips:

Not offended by 'that one'

Michelle Obama says she was not offended by John McCain's "that one" comment during the debate.

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President Bush says the U.S. does not torture. That's not the truth according to new documents obtained by the Associated Press.

The 91 pages of new documents detail concerns raised by military officials over the treatment of Yasier Hamdi and Jose Padilla, both U.S. citizens, and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident. The documents were provided by the U.S. Fleet Forces Command which is in charge of the military brigs in Norfolk, Va., and Charleston, S.C where the three were held.

The officials said the conditions of confinement had driven the three to the brink of insanity.

"These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States," Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU's National Security Project in New York said, using the slang word for the U.S. naval facility in Cuba.

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It isn't news every time a political candidate misspeaks. But when John McCain makes an unintended funny, it's worth a blog post.

In a campaign with plenty of gaffes to go around, John McCain added one to the mix Wednesday. The Republican vice-presidential candidate addressed a crowd in Pennsylvania as “my fellow prisoners.”

He meant to say "my fellow citizens." Freudian slip? Is the senator feeling a bit confined as the race draws to a close? Let's hope he's not having P.O.W. flashbacks.

While keeping in mind today's critique of the government's various data-mining programs by the National Research Council, see if you can contain your outrage (no need to bother, really) as you read this:

The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Activists were classified as terrorists in Maryland because they publicly opposed the death penalty or the Iraq war. They were identified by law enforcement officers who spied on them as they engaged in constitutionally protected protest.

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Ah, I should have known there would be a catch in McCain's endorsement of HOLC and Brad DeLong spots it:

[McCain advisor] Douglas Holtz-Eakin says, this morning:

[W]e would in fact be taking the negative equity position and putting it on the taxpayers books instead of putting it on the private lenders books [BTD's emphasis] or the homeowners books. We think the balance of risk has shifted to the point where this is the way to go...

What does this mean? It means that John McCain wants to give $100 billion of taxpayers' money to America's worst-behaving mortgage financiers.

So McCain's idea is to give money to the mortgage lenders, not help the homeowners. No way, no how, no more corporate giveaways McCain. HOLC is this - the government buys the loan at market value, the mortgage lender takes its hit and the homeowner keeps his/her house on new affordable credit terms. That is HOLC. McCain's plan is nonsense.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Joe Biden is pushing back against the McCain-Palin claim that Barack Obama is a mysterious figure who "pals around with terrorists."

“The one they have chosen is to appeal to fear with a veiled question: ‘Who is the real Barack Obama?’ Ladies and gentlemen, to have a vice presidential candidate raise the most outrageous inferences, the ones that John McCain’s campaign is condoning is simply wrong,” said Biden, who blamed McCain’s Republican strategists - the ones that successfully deflated McCain’s chances against George W. Bush in 2000 with sensational rumors and attacks.

“These same people, they’re attacking Barack Obama in the ugliest of ways,” said Biden. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is beyond disappointing, this is beyond disappointing. This is wrong.”

Ugly is all the McCain campaign has left. As Biden said, the attacks on Obama’s character are "an attempt to get you to stop paying attention to what’s going on in this country." It won't work. This year, voters couldn't stop paying attention to reality if they tried.

Ipsos/McClatchy (10/2-6) has Obama up 7, 47-40.

Gallup has Obama up 11, 52-41, the biggest lead he has had in the entire campaign in the Gallup poll.

I'll say it, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

it turns out it is in the crazy talk about Russia:

Brokaw: How can we apply pressure to Russia for humanitarian issues in an effective manner without starting another Cold War?

More....