The New York Times reports that at the insistence of the McCain campaign, the debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden will have different rules than those for the Obama-McCain debate:

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

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How big a role will race play in the presidential election? Via an AP poll out today:

According to the poll released Saturday, a little over one-third of white Democrats and independents agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, and they are less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't hold such views.

....statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama's support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice.

Full poll results are here (pdf.) AP analysis is here. [More..]

The editorial today in the Anchorage Daily News is Abidcation by Palin, criticizing her for allowing John McCain and his operatives speak for her on TrooperGate.

The governor who said, "Hold me accountable," is hiding behind the hired guns of the McCain campaign to avoid accountability. Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?

....Is the McCain campaign telling Alaskans that Alaska's governor can't handle her own defense in front of her own Alaska constituents?

The calls the takeover "offensive": [More...]

Big Tent Democrat is working on a brief this weekend. I'm heading out for the afternoon, here's an open thread for you. Please be civil.

For those of you who are new readers, keep in mind TalkLeft is not a neutral site. It is an advocacy site. With less than 45 days to the election, we will do our part to promote the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama and Joe Biden as well as Democrats running down-ticket.

I'm not interested in fostering debate on the candidates. We oppose McCain-Palin. That doesn't mean we won't have criticism or suggestions for Obama-Biden or the media. We will. We'll call the polls, news events and upcoming debates as we see them. [More...]

Here is the text of the bailout proposal President Bush has sent to Congress.

Sent overnight to Congress, President Bush says the risk of doing nothing is greater than the risk posed by the bailout.

The plan would allow the Treasury to buy up mortgage-related assets. The aim is for the government to buy the securities at a discount, hold onto them and then sell them for a profit.

Is he right? According to the experts quoted in the article:

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin filed her request earlier this week to stop the Personnel Board investigation into TrooperGate that her lawyer had requested just days earlier, she included a new reason for firing former Public Safety Director Walt Monaghan: He was a renegade who took an unauthorized trip to Washington, DC to lobby for money for a program to investigate and prosecute rape.

The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape.

The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated.

But, ABC News has obtained the travel authorization document (pdf). The trip was authorized by Palin's office. [More...]

I received this by e-mail last week from a lawyer. Feel free to check its accuracy, but it sounds legit to me and I'm passing it on.

1. Palin has attacked Alaska Native Subsistence Fishing

Perhaps no issue is of greater importance to Alaska Native peoples as the right to hunt and fish according to ancient customary and traditional practices, and to carry on the subsistence way of life for future generations. Governor Sarah Palin has consistently opposed those rights.

Once in office, Governor Palin decided to continue litigation that seeks to overturn every subsistence fishing determination the federal government has ever made in Alaska. (State of Alaska v. Norton, 3:05-cv-0158-HRH (D. Ak).) In pressing this case, Palin decided against using the Attorney General (which usually handles State litigation) and instead continued contracting with Senator Ted Stevens’ brother-in-law’s law firm (Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot).

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Johnnie Earl Lindsey, age 56, became the 20th Dallas, TX inmate to be cleared by DNA testing and today was freed from prison.

Lindsay served 25 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. His letters over the years requesting DNA testing were ignored.

Then District Attorney Craig Watkins was elected.

Lindsey, his lawyers and the judge repeatedly praised Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who since taking office in January 2007 has examined wrongful convictions and not opposed attempts by prisoners seeking DNA testing. Mitchell said the job of a prosecutor is "not to convict but to see justice is done. We're fortunate to have a district attorney with the courage, dignity and honor to fulfill this duty."

Lindsey was at work when the crime was committed. At his trial, he produced his time cards and his employer testified for him. How did he get convicted? Erroneous eye-witness identification and faulty police lineup procedures. [More...]

The St. Petersburg Times has been conducting focus group testing on undecided voters.

Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.

Among the comments: [More...]

Big Tent Democrat has a brief due and will be off-line most (if not all) weekend.

Crooks and Liars has Jon Stewart's take on the Hannity-Palin interview, it's great.

Also: Markos' take on how Sarah Palin is going to drag down the Republican ticket and law prof Patricia Williams comparing the Palin effect to an Andy Warhol soup can project.

Here's an open thread to get you started on the weekend. Keep it civil please, and I'll check back in later.

The report in TrooperGate will be out Oct. 10 as scheduled.

The Alaska lawmaker directing an abuse-of-power investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin promised Friday the probe will be finished before the election, despite refusals by key witnesses to testify, including the governor's husband.

After waiting 35 minutes for Todd Palin and two state administrative employees to appear under subpoena before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Hollis French condemned their refusal to testify and the attorney general's broken promise that seven other witnesses would testify who were not subpoenaed.

Prediction: It will be critical of Palin, and Palin will complain it's one-sided, making no reference to her and her husband and staff's refusal to cooperate.

Palinspeak: The only probe I'll cooperate with is one in which those making the decisions are under my direction and control (like the state personnel board.)

Palin's already peaked. It's almost crash and burn time. [More...]

I was one of a few bloggers and reporters on a Hillary Clinton conference call this afternoon. Also on the call were Ann Lewis and NH Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen. Listeners included Hillary delegates, supporters and state volunteers, among others.

The purpose of the call: to announce the formation of Hillary's new grass roots action program, Hillary Sent Me. Starting tomorrow, you can read all about it at Hillary's HillPac website.

Hillary was totally excited about this, you could hear it in her voice. It's a program to get out the vote both for Barack Obama and congressional candidates (particularly in the Senate) in the battleground states.

The program kicks off in New Hampshire Sept. 27/28, and Hillary is asking people to travel there to campaign for Obama and Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen.[More...]