Third-party candidates to debate on Sunday (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Third-party presidential candidates finally will have their own debate: at 8 p.m. Sunday at Columbia University in New York.
For REAL change.—Caro

Gaming A New Platform For Political Ads; Obama Ad Shows Up On Xbox (Paid Content)

We’re being bombarded with political ads on TV and radio, but now, video games? Ads for presidential hopeful Barack Obama have turned up in the Xbox Live racing game, Burnout Paradise, GamePolitics.com first reported and GigaOm confirmed. The in-game ad takes its form as a billboard—complete with Obama’s photo and a plug for VoteForChange.com—featured in the backdrop of one of the levels, and GameSpot confirms it will appear in 10 states: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin.  Read more 

“Let me make it clear at the outset that I have no intention of following instructions.”
– Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, thanks to Economist’s View
Ditto. It’s the story of my life, and my ongoing commitment to myself and to you, my readers. I absolutely will not follow instructions.—Caro

U.S. Investing $250 Billion in Banks (New York Times)
The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan on Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in banks… The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for three years — a measure meant to encourage the banks to resume lending to one another and to customers… And the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will offer an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits in accounts that do not bear interest — typically those of businesses.

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Wrapped in the Flag

Prime Minister Proposes $500 Billion European Bank Bailout (Wall Street Journal)
U.K. to Rescue RBS, HBOS, as Germany Plans Up to €400 Billion to Aid its Institutions; U.S. Is Considering Similar Moves  Read more 

Matt Davies

THE FALL OF AMERICA, INC. (by Francis Fukuyama, writing in Newsweek)
The implosion of America’s most storied investment banks. The vanishing of more than a trillion dollars in stock-market wealth in a day. A $700 billion tab for U.S. taxpayers. The scale of the Wall Street crackup could scarcely be more gargantuan. Yet even as Americans ask why they’re having to pay such mind-bending sums to prevent the economy from imploding, few are discussing a more intangible, yet potentially much greater cost to the United States—the damage that the financial meltdown is doing to America’s “brand.”  Read more 

From the debate: A ’look’ at the candidates’ words (On Politics, USA Today)
Courtesy of Janet Harris at Upstream Analysis, here are tag clouds that take the words used by the candidates at last night’s debate in Nashville and “show” which ones they emphasized most:

Janet looks at the clouds and says McCain’s “is full of nationalist/patriotic terms” while Obama’s “seems mild by comparison, reflecting its mild-mannered speaker.”  Read more 

Why does MSNBC call Bill Ayers “Willie”? (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Earlier today, MSNBC ran this chyron:

“Race gets personal: Willie Ayers & Keating 5 are latest topics on trail.” But Ayers’ name isn’t “Willie” Ayers, it’s “William” Ayers. Or “Bill” Ayers. Nobody calls him “Willie.” So what’s with MSNBC’s chyron? Maybe they were just trying to save space? No, that can’t be it - “Willie Ayers” takes up more screen real estate than “Bill Ayers.” Strange. Strange enough that we can’t help recall another “William” who became “Willie” during an election year: William J. Horton.  Read more 

Amazon.com

Halloween masks, a barometer of election? (AP)
NEW YORK - The method is far from scientific, but Halloween stores are predicting the winner in the presidential election, and there’s no exit polling needed — only political mask sales. Halloween suppliers say sales of masks of presidential candidates have predicted the winner in the last several campaigns. So far, that’s good news for Barack Obama, whose mask was outselling John McCain’s in Spirit Halloween and iParty stores and online at Amazon and BuyCostumes.com. But this year’s Halloween campaign has a dark horse: Sarah Palin. Because of her relatively late announcement as a vice presidential candidate, costume suppliers were unprepared.  Read more 

McCain’s Anger (Political Wire)
David Nather reports on Sen. Barack Obama’s attempt [Wednesday] night to greet Sen. John McCain on the Senate floor by offering his hand. “McCain shook it, but with a ’go away’ look that no one could miss. He tried his best not to even look at Obama. Finally, with a tight smile, McCain managed a greeting: ’Good to see you.’”
Yes, we should really be outraged about that! Obama has NEVER been rude to anybody on the Senate floor.—Caro

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Open Thread (by bluegal at Crooks and Liars)

This is your liberal blogosphere at work, my friends. Any woman who dares to run for high office is SCARY, SCARY, SCARY. The so-called progressives are PROUD of the fact that they’ve made Sarah Palin such an object of scorn that her approval rating has plummeted and her disapproval rating has skyrocketed. How many times have we fought George Bush for pushing the fear buttons of our citizens with his lies? So why, in goddess’ name, would we want to BECOME George Bush? And don’t try to tell me Obama isn’t responsible for some of the trashing of Sarah Palin.—Caro  Read more 

Now THAT’s bipartisanship:
New York Times (click through to see the map and the roll call list)

House members who voted ‘yes’ on bailout received 54 percent more from banks/securities firms. (Think Progress)
According to research produced by MAPLight.org, House members who voted yes on the proposed bailout package received 54 percent more money from banks and securities than members who voted no… Democrats who voted yes received “an average of $212,700 each, about twice as much as those voting No, $107,993.” Republicans who voted yes “received an average of $273,181 each, 50% more than those voting No, $181,688.”  Read more 

Conflict Of Interest? Report Says Goldman Sachs ‘Among Biggest Beneficiaries’ Of Paulson’s Bailout (Think Progress)

In making his push to administer the largest federal bailout of Wall Street in history, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is seeking unfettered authority. McClatchy poses the question today, “can you trust a Wall Street veteran with a Wall Street bailout?,” referring to Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs: “But the conflicts are also visible. Paulson has surrounded himself with former Goldman executives as he tries to navigate the domino-like collapse of several parts of the global financial market. And others have gone off to lead companies that could be among those that receive a bailout.”  Read more 

Wrapped in the Flag

Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle (by William Greider, The Nation)  Read more 

All Hat No Cattle

Up To $1 Trillion Needed to Prevent Meltdown (Political Wire)
“Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system,” according to Politico. According to Sen. Christopher Dodd, lawmakers were told last night “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our  Read more 

Picking Winners by the Popularity of Paraphernalia (New York Times)
Longtime pollsters will tell you that predicting elections is a complex science built on years of population analysis and heady math. But according to CafePress.com, it is simply a matter of throw pillows.

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Matt Davies

Fed Gives AIG an $85 Billion Loan in Exchange for 80% Stake (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
[T]he Fed is going to give AIG an $85 billion loan in exchange for an 80% stake in the company… So you as a taxpayer now have a large stake in AIG.
Now that we own it, can we turn it into a health insurance company and cover everybody?—Caro  Read more 

Hominid Views, Monte Carlo simulations

Links: 9/15/08, 8/15/08, 7/15/08

Wall Street’s Woes Challenge Candidates (Wall Street Journal)
The meltdown poses problems for both presidential candidates and doesn’t especially play to the strengths of either.  Read more 

Matt Davies

Financial Russian Roulette (by Paul Krugman)  Read more 

If you missed yesterday’s post, please give it a read. I was hoping to get some discussion on it.

McCain is predicted, for the first time, to win the electoral college.
Electoral-Vote.com

Gallup daily: McCain, 48%; Obama 45% (On Politics, USA Today)  Read more 

Campaign Updates and Media Headlines 9/11/08

OINK (The Real Barack Obama—yes, it’s a conservative site, but the cartoon is funny)

New heights of stupidity (by Glenn Greenwald)  Read more 

McCain holds 5-point lead for second day; in past, such advantages have held for a while (On Politics, USA Today)
Two days in a row now, Gallup’s presidential tracking poll has given Republican nominee John McCain a 5 percentage point lead over Democrat Barack Obama. The latest reading, according to Gallup: McCain, 49%; Obama, 44%. That’s the same score as yesterday. And according to Gallup, history suggests McCain’s lead could last for at least a while.

McCain Now Winning Majority of Independents (Gallup)  Read more 

The Palin Phenomenon Drives Campaign Coverage: September 1 - 7, 2008 (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
For the first time in the three months since the general election campaign began, John McCain last week generated more coverage than Barack Obama. But he was still outshone by another newsmaker during the GOP convention—his own running mate. Sarah Palin, the first woman on a Republican ticket, was the focus of feverish attention as the media tried to find out more about her, convey her record and biography, and calculate her impact on the race.

This is what passes for humor among the Obamabots (thanks to HillBuzz)

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Closing in: Real Clear Politics

Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama (USA Today)
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year. McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican’s biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.  Read more 

Buck Fush

McCain vows to fight, fight, fight for better America (McClatchy)
ST. PAUL, Minn. — John McCain cast himself Thursday night as a lifelong fighter for his country who’s ready to lead new battles for dramatic change as he accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

CBS/NYT Poll: McCain Pulls Even With Obama (Political Wire)  Read more 

Denver And Palin Fuel Biggest Campaign Week Yet (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
For much of last week, the Democrats’ effort to make peace and reintroduce Obama to voters were the focal points of campaign coverage. How much success did John McCain have in suddenly stealing the media narrative?

Bag News Notes

Palin touts small-town roots, rips Obama  Read more 

Matt Davies

Palin’s path to the top paved with good luck (McClatchy)
St. PAUL, Minn. — A charmed political career launched Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin from small-town mayor to the Republican National Convention, where she’s set to accept the nomination for vice president Wednesday night.
PALIN’s path is paved with good luck??!! How about being handed a nomination against a formidable opponent?—Caro  Read more