Andrew Cohen of CBS writes of two criminal cases that begin this week. One, the Las Vegas trial of O.J. Simpson, is high profile and will garner the attention, while the other, the scheduled Texecution of Charles Dean Hood, has far more national significance.

TChris and my earlier coverage of Charles Dean Hood is here, here and here.

Via Mahablog, the Wall St. Journal reports on one of Gov. Sarah Palin's projects as Mayor of Wasilia, Alaska.

The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin’s legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla. (my emphasis.)

On a lighter note, check out the Facebook groups against Sarah Palin. The group called "I Have More Foreign Policy Experience Than Sarah Palin" has over 41,000 members. (You have to be a Facebook member to view it.)

Also check out Alaska Blogger Mudflats who is writing a lot on Palin.

Newsweek has a five page online article examining Sarah Palin's life and career. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but this paragraph on the front page caught my attention and gets it quite right in my view:

A reformer, she faces allegations of exerting improper influence in city and state government. A self-styled regular Red State gal, she is relentlessly driven, a politician of epic ambition who is running against a Washington establishment that, if elected, she will inevitably join, and even rule over.

The election is six weeks away. For those of you who are tired of discussion of Sarah Palin, while we will continue to write about other matters during this period, the election will be the focus. It's that important to our country. Keep in mind there are more than 20 posts a day on TalkLeft. You can either use an rss feeder to spot the non-election coverage and not have to scroll through the election posts or return after the election.

The LA Times reports today that McCain's blatant attempt to target working class women voters with his choice of Sarah Palin to be vice president isn't convincing many of them.

For many of these critical swing voters, economic interests trump any admiration of the Alaska governor's maternal grit, and some are repelled by her sarcastic jabs at Obama.

As one woman put it:

"I wanted Hillary to win so bad, but I saw Sarah, and it just didn't work for me," said Heckman, taking a break in the empty courtyard of J. Paul's restaurant in a downtown struggling to revive. "I have no retirement. Obama understands it's the economy. He knows how we live."

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Time to panic!! Just kidding, but McCain has jumped ahead in the Gallup tracker with his convention bounce:

The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48% to 45%, when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the presidential election were held today. These results are based on Sept. 4-6 interviewing, and include two full days of polling after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention last Thursday night. McCain has outpolled Obama on both Friday and Saturday, and is receiving a convention bounce just as Obama did last week.

Personally, I think the Media and Democratic surrogates have done McCain a great favor by aiming all their fire on Sarah Palin. Time to get back to the McCain/Palin = Bush's Third Term message. It's been lost for more than a week.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

As I've mentioned, I covered the McCain/Palin rally in Colorado Springs yesterday for Salon.com. My report is now up on their site, McCain and Palin Go to Dobsonville. The gist:

Fresh from the GOP convention, John McCain brings his Christian fundamentalist running mate to Christian fundamentalist headquarters –- but doesn't mention abortion or gay marriage.

Not surprisingly, it focuses on aspects much of the mainstream media coverage missed or ignored. Until I saw this CBS report, I was beginning to wonder whether I had attended a different event.

ABC has an article about rock stars telling McCain/Palin to stop using their music at campaign events. Jackson Browne and Heart are among them.

I heard another group yesterday blaring from the speakers at one point during the Colorado Springs event, held in a jet aviation hangar and on the tarmac: The B-52's.

Today is the first NFL Sunday of the year. In college football last night, the Florida Gators held off a gutsy Miami Hurricane team 26-3 (it was 9-3 into the fourth quarter.) I watched the game with the sound turned down because I can not stand Brent Musberger. I hope that is the last Gator game on ESPN. What happened to Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried? Are you ready for some football?

And TChris, how does Bret Favre look in J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! green?

Finally, believe it or not, the baseball season is still ongoing. Not that anybody cares (bitter Yankee fan here.) This is an Open Thread.

A little late, but better late than never, 538 gets it:

She can make game-changing agitation plays that rouse her home team and provoke the other side into counterattacks that – 100% of the time – end up punishing the team who hits back. Democrats would be smart to understand her as such, and I see a lot of reaction that doesn't seem to grasp what Palin is doing and the value she's providing. I see a lot of Democrats taking a lot of bait.

This applies more to Democratic surrogates than it does to the top-ticket duo. Joe Biden had the smart response yesterday – naming the behavior – expecting it, and then riding through without taking the bait . . . And that’s all he says of Palin’s antics. Name the behavior, even praising the skill with which the agitation was attempted, and then back to focus. It's "the economy, stupid."

Yep. McCain/Palin represents Bush's Third Term. It represents, as the Obama ads constantly refrain, more of the same. Good to see some of the folks on the Left blogs are beginning to get it.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Josh Marshall whines that CNN is not following his histrionic lead on Troopergate. CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin writes:

The Alaska state trooper at the center of a probe into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power says he has “made mistakes, and I’ve learned from those mistakes.” But in an exclusive interview with us, Mike Wooten, Palin’s former brother-in-law, also denies some of the biggest allegations against him.

In our interview, Wooten rattled off a disturbing number of “mistakes” he’s made in his career. He admits tasering his stepson, illegally killing a moose and admits to multiple reprimands in his file. A state trooper investigation even found credible evidence he was drinking in his patrol car. But please tell me if you think his tale — dubbed Troopergate by Gov. Palin’s political enemies — is really the scandal that will bring down the newest star on the political scene.

(Emphasis supplied.) Simple answers to simple questions - no, it won't. Making a victim of Wooten is impossible. He clearly is unfit to be a law enforcement officer. Josh Marshall and Co. won't be able to make a scandal of trying to get him off the Alaska state trooper force.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

From today's Chicago Tribune:

Just as McCain's politics are largely shaped by his experience as a prisoner of war and Obama's by his embrace of his racial identity, Palin's approach has been shaped by her relationship with God. Palin sees her government work as paling in comparison to a greater mission.

Her pastor thinks her religion would shape her views on foreign policy: [more...]

Saving social security was the issue du jour on the campaign trail. John McCain, speaking to an AARP conference, did his best to frighten the audience.

"Social Security is going broke. Social Security is going broke. Hello?!"

McCain's plan to address the projected insolvency [his word] of the Social Security Trust Fund is to "reach across the aisle" and "change Washington." He also promises "the creation of a bipartisan commission to propose solutions." Hey, while we're at it, let's get a bipartisan commission to tell us how to get out of Iraq. Oh, we did?

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