Which of These Two Mama's Boys Are You Going to Vote For? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Writing in the Wall Street Journal [Wednesday], Sue Shellenbarger quotes Doug Wead, author of two books on presidential families, noting that both Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., fit a certain presidential pattern of "Mama's boys with absent fathers who were perceived by the sons as high achievers." Obama's tale is more complicated, because in addition to being abandoned by his father, Barack Obama Sr., at the age of two, his mother also left Obama Jr. in the care of her parents while she went off gallivanting around the world… Do you need to have grown up in a dysfunctional home, without the love of two parents, in order to become a successful presidential candidate?
Come to think of it, the current President Bush is also a mama’s boy with an absent father.—Caro

Obama lead on McCain grows to 12 points (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

AP poll: McCain, Obama all even in homestretch (Baltimore Sun)
Race has tightened since third debate, poll suggests, with McCain gaining among whites, people earnings less than $50,000 The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running even among likely voters in the election.
So which is it? Is Obama ahead by 12 points, or is the race even? Zogby is in the tank for Obama and the AP has given a lot of help to McCain, so we can’t know for sure what’s really happening.—Caro

Obama Tells Virginia Supporters of 'Righteous Wind At Our Backs' (by Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller at Political Punch, ABC News)
LEESBURG, VA -- "I cant imagine a more beautiful setting for us to be thinking about the last 13 days," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., this evening in Northern Virginia… "If you'll stand with me, then I know that we can win Virginia and we can win this election and we can finally bring the change we need to Washington," Obama told the estimated crowd of 35,000. "I feel like we got a righteous wind at our backs here."
So are we to assume that McCain is not righteous? Or Sarah Palin? I HATE this kind of talk. It can lead to people being killed over stupid religious differences.—Caro

Palin Shopping Spree Legal? Yes, but Barely (ABC News)
When news broke that Gov. Sarah Palin and her family managed to spend $150,000 of other people's money on clothes after joining the McCain ticket, many scratched their heads. Is that legal? Thanks to a loophole in federal law the answer, experts say, is yes. Handily, the loophole was codified into law by the landmark campaign finance law passed by her ticketmate, Sen. John McCain. It would be illegal for the McCain-Palin campaign to buy a new wardrobe for Palin and her husband, say campaign finance lawyers contacted by ABCNews.com. But the law is silent on whether such purchases can be made by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
“Barely” legal? Is there such a term? Isn’t there only legal or illegal? Can you be “barely” pregnant or “barely” dead? Honestly, these attempts to sabotage candidates in supposed news articles are just astounding. And notice the blame attributed to McCain through his sponsorship of the campaign finance reform law. As if McCain planned to buy a wardrobe for a future running mate and purposely wrote that ability into the law. As Calculated Risk used to ask, why, oh why, don’t we have a better press corps?—Caro

Commentary: If Palin didn't look good, we'd criticize (by Merlene Davis, Lexington Herald-Leader)
I think Palin looks quite good in her clothing, and her hair and makeup are spot-on all the time. So the investment seems to be paying off. Plus — let's speak frankly, ladies — if Palin appeared at stump location after stump location wearing some of those outfits she was pictured wearing in Alaska, some of us would be talking more about that than about the words coming out of her mouth. You know that.

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com