Republicans Disgusted By RNC Spending On Palin … There is already an attempt to blame the media — as in, the liberal media would have looked askance at Palin if she wasn't clad in Neiman Marcus, but this won't wash. Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed …

RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion — The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

Dr. Dobson Talks with Gov. Sarah Palin — The Republican vice presidential candidate talks about her family, the sanctity of human life and the pressures of the election season. Dr. Dobson encourages listeners to pray for our country as the election draws near. — Listen to the broadcast:

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA WIDENS LEAD — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann — *** Obama widens his lead: With 13 days to go, Obama has opened up his biggest lead over McCain in the NBC/WSJ poll, 52%-42%, which is up four points from his lead two weeks ago.

Feminists and Sarah Palin — Part of the idea behind picking Sarah Palin was to help broaden the GOP's appeal to women. Instead, Palin is even less popular among women than John McCain. And if this exchange between Rick Davis and Bill Bennett is any guide, conservatives aren't looking …

On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain — Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market's downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America's economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.

Al-Qaida-linked Web site backs McCain as president — Featured Topics: - John McCain - Barack Obama — WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The Making (and Remaking) of McCain — On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 24, John McCain convened a meeting in his suite at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Among the handful of campaign officials in attendance were McCain's chief campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt …

Early Voting Update: North Carolina Gets Big Turnout — Maurice Tamman reports on the 2008 election. — Nearly half a million North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots, either with a mail-in absentee ballot or by casting one in person. — That means nothing Republican …

The ‘Socialist’ Scare — WOODBRIDGE — John McCain should not have to be here, not on a crisp October Saturday scarcely two weeks before the election. Prince William County is the electoral Maginot line between the Washington suburbs and what a McCain spokeswoman has just unhelpfully described as “real Virginia.”

How Anti-Intellectual Is Palin? — Ramesh Ponnuru asks the question. He refers to Noam Scheiber's devastating piece on Palin's Nixonian hatred of educated elites. But Ponnuru wants more evidence. Here's one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids?

As clock ticks, hope dims for McCain savior — For the GOP, the cavalry apparently isn't coming. — Republicans attuned to conservative third-party efforts say that with less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the prospects for any 11th-hour, anti-Obama ad campaign are highly unlikely.

THE END OF JOURNALISM AS WE KNEW IT — I'm not familiar with columnist Orson Scott Card, but his open letter to journalists is must reading. It appeared first in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina. Via InstaPundit: … But the mainstream media—which is to say …

Gallup and New Coke — The polls are wrong this year, very wrong. I have been saying this for months, and I have backed up my claim with both statistical and anecdotal support. The claims I have made have inspired some, caused others to laugh in derision, and brought others to test their assumptions and revisit the hard data.

Police prepare for unrest — Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest. — Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election …

Are the Polls Accurate? — Reading them right is more art than science. — Can we trust the polls this year? That's a question many people have been asking as we approach the end of this long, long presidential campaign. As a recovering pollster and continuing poll consumer, my answer is yes — with qualifications.

O'Reilly: You'll Still Have Me to Kick Around — Bill O'Reilly has signed up for another tour of duty at Fox News, saying that he decided “to put myself through all the attacks and smears” for several more years. — The pugnacious pundit said that he signed the contract despite what he sees as a constant assault on his reputation.

The McCain Pennsylvania Theory — OK, so commenters in the previous swing state thread have laid out what they see as McCain's rationale behind targeting Pennsylvania instead of Colorado, and I can kind of see how it makes sense. In the extended entry, I provide a full explanation.

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