Today in the Senate, Senate Hillary Clinton said:

. . . I think we all recognize that this is not the end but the beginning of what we must do. And I believe there are three big goals that we will have to address even after we pass the Rescue Package tonight here in the Senate and send it over to the House.

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Despite the McCain campaign's assertion that it did not know Gwen Ifill, moderator of tomorrow's VP debate, was writing a book on politics, race and Sen. Barack Obama, as Judd Legum points out, it was in the Washington Times two weeks before McCain agreed on August 6 to Ifill as a moderator. A simple Lexis search would have found it.

"We have an awkward history about how to talk about race in the nation and in newsrooms," says Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and author of "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," slated for publication early next year.

The takeaway here is only the incompetence of the McCain campaign to do its homework. More...

The country's largest union of Registered Nurses with 85,000 members released this ad today in six battleground states -- Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri.

The ad focuses on the possibility of a Sarah Palin presidency due to John McCain's health issues. From the e-mail I received from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee:

Fostered by the growing concern among healthcare professionals over the health status of Sen. John McCain, the ad also provides a reminder of some of the controversial moments of Palin's record as governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

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Time Magazine released a poll today. It has Obama ahead of McCain, 50% to 43%. And Gov. Sarah Palin is not bringing women to McCain's side. Obama leads among women by 17%:

Among the poll's most dramatic findings: McCain is losing female voters faster than Sarah Palin attracted them after the Republican National Convention. Obama leads McCain by 17 points with women, 55%-38%. Before the conventions, women preferred Obama by a margin of 10 points, 49%-39%. After McCain picked Palin as his running mate, the gap narrowed to a virtual tie, with Obama holding a 1-point margin, 48%-47%.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari in ten cases today. Among the seven criminal cases, via Scotus Blog:

Among the new criminal cases is a test of the scope of the right to a speedy trial for a poor individual who is being represented by a public defender (Vermont v. Brillon, 08-88), a plea for the Court to clarify how federal appeals courts are to handle prosecutors’ violations of plea bargains when the violation was not challenged at the trial (the Court limited the grant in Puckett v. U.S., 07-9712, to one of two issues raised), and a claim that a voluntary confession made after a suspect’s arrest on federal charges but before he appears before a magistrate must be suppressed when there was a delay before that appearance occurs (Corley v. U.S., 07-10441).

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Good news today from the Supreme Court. Its decision in June in Kennedy v. Louisiana invalidating state laws that allow execution of those convicted of child rape that did not result in death will stand, despite complaints about a factual inaccuracy in the opinion.

In its 5-to-4 decision in June, the court reasoned that, because so few states allowed the execution of child rapists, there was a national consensus against applying the ultimate punishment to such criminals. Not long afterward, it was disclosed that the lawyers arguing the case, and the justices themselves, had been unaware of a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically making child rape committed by service members a capital crime.

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Matt Yglesias catches George Will blaming LBJ (for privatizing Fannie and Freddie in 1968(!!)) for the Wall Street credit crisis actually caused by the reckless, feckless, rampant Republicanism of the Bush years (the same philosophy McCain promises for the next 4 years.) I was struck by this bit of mendaciousness from Will:

The rising generation of thoughtful Republicans was represented on both sides of Monday's vote. Virginia's Eric Cantor, 45, and Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, 38, supported the legislation because they had helped to achieve substantial improvements in it, such as requiring financial institutions to help finance their bailout, giving the Treasury potentially valuable equity in firms revived by public funds . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) To put it bluntly, Will is lying. That was a Democratic initiative contained in the Dodd bill. The "thoughtful Republican idea" that Cantor wanted and got was the ludicrous government insurance plan that is simply a joke. No reasonable premium could be charged that would make sense or help in this crisis. The "thoughtful" Republicans OPPOSE the government equity plan and wanted the equity plan out. George Will is either ill informed or lying or both.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Busy day. Hope J and TChris can come along soon. In any event, your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

DKos/R2000 (9/28-30) has Obama up 10, 51-41. Ras (9/28-30) has up Obama up 6, 51-45. The new WaPo poll (9/27-29) has Obama up 4. Battleground (9/25, 28-30) has Obama up 2, 48-46. Gallup (9/27-29) has Obama up 6, 49-43. Hotline (9/27-29) has Obama up 6, 47-41.

Another day and McCain still needs a game changer.

By Big Tent Democrat

As someone who supported the defeated House mortgage/credit crisis Wall Street Bailout, this may come as a surprise, but I oppose the Senate Bailout bill to be voted on today. Why? Because it includes irresponsible sops to the Republicans, corporate tax breaks:

Top lawmakers said the Senate proposal, worked out after a day of behind the scenes maneuvering, would include tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy and higher government insurance for bank deposits.

(Emphasis supplied.) The silly Obama/McCain proposal to raise the FDIC insurance limits does nothing to address this crisis. It is a silly stupid gimmick. And the idea of giving more corporate tax breaks and suspending the Alternative Minimum Tax in the face of record deficits is absolutely outrageous. Harry Reid has produced a travesty. It shocks me to say this, but Steny Hoyer is absolutely right:

The last full month of the campaign and I'll start looking at state polls more closely now. Today we'll look at the latest Q polls for Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania:

FLORIDA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 51 - McCain 43 post-debate; OHIO: Obama 49 - McCain 42 pre-debate; Obama 50 - McCain 42 post-debate; PENNSYLVANIA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 54 - McCain 39 post-debate

"It is difficult to find a modern competitive presidential race that has swung so dramatically, so quickly and so sharply this late in the campaign. In the last 20 days, Sen. Barack Obama has gone from seven points down to eight points up in Florida, while widening his leads to eight points in Ohio and 15 points in Pennsylvania," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

(Emphasis mine.) The economic news has destroyed any chance McCain had in this election, which was slim in the first place imo. I said yesterday this election is over unless McCain changes the game somehow. I stand by that assessment.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Complaints of racial profiling are multiplying in Seattle, according to the president of the Seattle-King County branch of the NAACP.

"This is a pervasive problem," [James Bible] said, adding that the message to youth has become "you're all perceived as gang members until you prove differently."

A news conference yesterday cited instances of unequal and disrespectful law enforcement targeting black youth. One example:

[Marcus] Whitehurst, who is black, was pushed up against the patrol car, told he was nothing but "garbage" and advised that he was "not welcome in this neighborhood." His white friends were allowed to stand there, untouched.