First American CoreLogic, a data supplier, says that in the July-September period, 18% of all properties with a mortgage were underwater - that is, worth less than the outstanding debt. The company's data includes over 80% of all mortgages. Here are some points from the press release: [...]
John McCain closes with a biographical ad that mention his service to country and time as a POW."Don't hope for a stronger America," McCain says in a voiceover, "vote for one."** Note that at the end of the 30-second spot, running in key states, the narrator says [...]
Just don't say I didn't warn you. It ain't pretty.Consumer cutbacks could lead to falling prices, suffocating fresh investment and worsening joblessness for months or even years, economists say [...]
Somehow, in Sarah Palin's brain, it's a threat to the First Amendment when newspapers criticize her negative attacks on Barack Obama. This is actually so dumb that it hurts: [...]
Remember last week when I warned that 2008's version of Katherine Harris - Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman - was using his power to try to throw the election here in this swing state? Four days before the election, he's gone into overdrive. According to a breaking news story just off the wire, he has been violating federal law with his voter purges, which [...]
Our model does not make any specific adjustments for early voting, but it is presenting a major problem for John McCain in three states in the Mountain West region, where Barack Obama has a huge fraction of his vote locked in. In the wee hours of this morning, Public Policy Polling released data from Colorado New Mexico. The toplines are [...]
A former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain's most prominent supporters offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of Sarah Palin's capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise.Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush and whose endorsement is often trumpeted by McCain, said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to [...]UPDATE: Can you say "backpeddle"?
Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger dissed Sarah Palin on NPR yesterday: “I can’t say that she would be a genius in the job, but I think she would be enough to get us through a four-year — well, I hope not. [...] Read the rest » [...]
"The best-kept secret in Washington is that Barack Obama has the largest and most disciplined presidential transition team anyone can recall," the Financial Times reports. "Transition insiders, who are under strict orders from the Obama campaign not to talk to the media to avoid giving the impression Mr Obama thinks he has won already, contrast it [...]
Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has been a treasure trove of highlights. Charges of Socialism, Communism and terrorism on the campaign trail have transformed her into the walking, talking poster child for failed Republican policies and talking points -- not to mention one of the biggest jokes in [...]
The University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato, who had an excellent record of predicting the past several elections and issues solid predictions in general, has now released a map showing his electoral college prediction for campaign 2008. Is this the map we’ll see after the early and election day votes are all counted? Given Sabato’s track record, it is worth a close look: [...]
Multiple senior government officials tell ABC News the intelligence community is anticipating a message from Osama bin Laden before or just after the presidential election. As we race toward [...]
...But that rally featured another embarrassing moment, one that illustrates a far more troubling dynamic for the Republican ticket. The McCain campaign actually had to bus in school kids from the surrounding area in order to fill the event. As reported by MSNBC: "A local school district official confirmed[...]
Broacasting & Cable's Glen Dickson previews the new technology being used by CNN for Election Night, including a system to "teleport" correspondents from around the country into the CNN newsroom. Another change will be with exit polling. "The states are [...]
A county clerk in Colorado has finally done the right thing for the voters by removing a touch-screen voting machine from service, and quarantining it, after it was discvoered to be flipping votes from one candidate to another. The failed machine in this case was a Diebold Accu-Vote, a frequent [...]
On FBC's Cavuto show, Neil Cavuto lambasted John McCain over his economic policies, or lack thereof. It's a searing commentary on McCain's nonsensical approach and the shifting positions he has taken during his campaign."Cavuto: Frankly, neither of your numbers adds up. But [...]
At a rally today in Ohio, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) of wanting to “spread the wealth.” McCain then summoned Joe the Plumber, who wasn’t even in the audience: McCAIN: That’s only because Joe the Plumber asked [Obama] the right questions right here in Ohio. … Joe’s with us today. [...]
A new poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project finds that nearly a quarter of Texans erroneously believe that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is a Muslim: When asked to identify Obama’s religion, 45 percent of respondents accurately identified him as Protestant, however 23 percent erroneously identified him as Muslim. Another 28 percent [...]
You want pork, let's talk pork. This is John McCain's good buddy, George Bush's pork. And it's sickening.Much of the University of Texas medical school on this island suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ike, except for one gleaming new building, a national biological defense laboratory that will soon house some of the most deadly diseases in the world. How a laboratory where [...]
The McCain campaign has spent the last weeks of the campaign repeatedly accusing Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) of being an advocate of “socialism.” But the New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch revealed this week that Palin said earlier this year that her state’s oil tax was a mechanism “so we share in the wealth when the development [...]
...After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated [...]
In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams last week, Palin said — apparently to the surprise of her staff — that she would release her full medical records soon. On Sunday, the campaign told ABC News the release would happen “early this week.” Noting that “today is Wednesday,” ABC is wondering, “What’s the hold up?” ABC [...]
UPDATE: Thursday morning: Looks like ABC might have gone a bit overboard in how it previewed this interview.Wow. This is pretty stunning. Sarah Palin just threw McCain under the Straight Talk Express. Palin told ABC News that she is indeed already thinking about 2012:Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that if the Republican ticket is defeated on Tuesday she expects to be [...]
Move over, Sanjaya, and tell William Hung the news: Joe the Plumber is being pursued for a major record deal and could come out with a country album as early as [...]All I can do is shake my head. I'm baffled and confused. At least it proves the American Dream is alive and kicking, despite the economy.
...Olbermann and Maddow have both beaten their Fox News counterparts three of the five shows this past week -- a remarkable achievement given how dominant Fox's lead once was. And don't forget that O'Reilly once had a commanding lead as the most-watched cable news host. So when [...]
Wow, Sheppard Smith goes after Joe the Plumber for the insane statements he made at an RNC event today about Obama. Will John McCain still be using Joe the Plumber in all his new ads since he's saying Obama will destroy Israel? [...]
And, Brad's hits just keep on comin'--We've been reporting for the last week or so on the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen voting machines which are flipping votes from Democratic candidates to others in, so far, at least four states. We've showed you actual footage of it and how even after being "recalibrated" these machines still continue to [...]
This just in from Pennsylvania... a federal court has found in favor of the NAACP and the 866-MYVOTE1 Election Reform Network who were forced to sue the state's Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pedro A. Cortes, after his recent directive that emergency paper ballots only need to be given to [...]
Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Helena-West Helena is one of the two men arrested by federal agents as neo-nazi skinhead conspirators in an alleged (and ridiculous) plot to assassinate Barack Obama as the final act in a massive murder spree. Today, his younger sister tells the AP’s Andrew Demillo that her brother is really, really sorry: “He [...]
The John McCain campaign is demanding that the Los Angeles Times release the videotape of Barack Obama toasting former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi, at a party attended by radical Palestinian activists and former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.The Los Angeles Times has pulled [...]
There are so many people voting early in Florida that Governor Charlie Crist has flip flopped and declared a state of emergency in Florida to extend voting hours. From the Miami Herald: "Declaring a state of emergency in Florida because of long voting lines, Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday extended early voting hours across the state to 12 hours a day. The executive order comes [...]
Since I evidently can't post anything but pictures today, below are some snaps from a rally at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, yesterday, which Shaker Nik E Poo mentioned in comments: "Speaking of blub—did anyone else feel tears jerking at the pics of the rally in PA yesterday? The idea of [...]
You know something's screwy when Fox News is defending Barack Obama against smears by "Joe" the "plumber."At an RNC event for John McCain in Ohio earlier today, Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher was confronted by a man in the crowd who asserted that "a vote for Obama would be a vote for the death to Israel." Joe's response:[...]
Benedict Arnold Lieberman is now saying that he's "talked to doctors," and their conclusion is that John McCain will live to 85, at least. Huh? That's absurd. I've read a lot about this issue, and I've seen no one - NO ONE - willing [...]
On another matter - it's COLD around here today. What happened to fall?The infighting within the McCain campaign has become increasingly public, with growing frustrating directed at Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). Last week, CNN reported that one McCain source called Palin “a diva” who “takes no advice from anyone.” Politico’s Mike Allen reports another McCain adviser’s criticism of Palin: ***In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups [...]
Brian Williams couldn't do it. Neither could Joe Scarborough, Rita Cosby, Dan Abrams, Ashleigh Banfield, Deborah Norville or Alan Keyes . But MSNBC's new 9pmET show did. The [...]
The Virginia Pilot reports today that a phony Virginia Board of Elections flier is being distributed in Hamption Roads, VA telling Democrats that they are now scheduled to vote on November 5. The flier falsely claims that “an emergency session of the General Assembly” adopted a new voting schedule to “ease the load” at polling [...]
Neil Cavuto, the "managing editor of business news" at the Fox News Channel, at the Fox Business Network and presumably at FoxBusiness.com, has been pushing the notion for three or four weeks now that the stock market crash is due to fear of the economic and tax policies Barack Obama would implement if elected. Today, for example, he again showed a graphic [...]
But, it's not just West Virginia. Not at all.The Charleston Gazette reports still more ES&S iVotronic touch-screen vote flipping in WV, including reports now from Jackson, Putnam, Berkeley, Ohio, Monongalia, and Greenbrier Counties. Add those to the reports of vote-flipping on ES&S machines in at least four different states. We're also trying to find a moment to report on [...]
UPDATE: Oh, by the way, BRING ON THE LAWYERS!If so, then we know why John McCain is spending so much time and money in Pennsylvania when it would seem to be futile. In June of this year, [...]
The Virginia NAACP sued Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday, arguing that the state failed to prepare for an unprecedented turnout of voters in next week's presidential election. The complaint, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, [...]
A plot by two Neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and kill dozens of other African Americans has been foiled, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Monday. Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Ark., were charged Friday with making threats against [...]Smoking Gun has the full affidavit online:
Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of corruption charges Monday in a trial that threatened to end the 40-year career of Alaska's political patriarch.Stevens, 84, was found guilty of all seven felony charges he faced of [...]And, it's not even 5:00 pm yet!
And, from the other side..Joe Biden sat down for an interview with Florida television anchor Barbara West Thursday and got hit by a barrage of Sean Hannity's talking points, prompting him to ask at one point, "Are you joking? Is this a joke? Is that a real question?" [...]
It’s been linked elsewhere, but if you haven’t seen it yet this video is a real hoot, as Joe Biden is asked some very tough questions by WFTV reporter Barbara West—and proceeds to get angry and condescending: [...]
9 days until Election Day. In a stunning admission Sequoia Voting Systems has admitted to not printing and mailing over 11,000 absentee ballots to Denver, Colorado voters. Their spokeswoman claimed they “made an unfortunate mistake”. In fact, the company had failed to notify the city of this “mistake” and [...]
Another gift to McCain and Palin as they campaign in Iowa from one of that state's top political reporters, David Yepsen: "That popping sound you hear is the sound of the rural Republican base cracking under John McCain. A Center for Rural Strategies poll released last week found [...]
Just 0.7 miles long, Crow Creek Road isn't a road to nowhere. It runs straight to the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun bistro owned by a Bob Persons, a close friend of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.It cost taxpayers $2.7 million to widen and pave that road, and Alaska had higher priorities. But an [...]
The following is the spin of military spokespeople in response to questions about the deployment of the First Brigade on US soil for the first time in over 200 years. The Army Times initially reported that the First Brigade would handle domestic crowd control and subduing 'unruly individuals' and that they had 'lethal and nonlethal technologies' to do so. Then it issued a correction declaring [...]
Let the fireworks begin, baby. You betcha. "With 10 days to go until election day, long brewing tension between Sarah Palin and key aides to John McCain has become so intense, it is [...]
McCain's out there, pounding the pavement, too:Obama mocks McCain for his new criticism of President Bush, bashes the candidate for going negative in his Reno, Nevada rally. "He's even called me a socialist for suggesting that we focus on tax cuts, not for corporations and the wealthy, but for the middle class." "Then, the other day, he took it to a whole new [...]
"I'm gonna test them.' Republican John McCain said at a campaign rally in New Mexico this morning. "They're not gonna test me.''The comment followed McCain's warning that[...]
Three state polls find Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama increasing his margins in swing states — the important states of Ohio, Colorado and Florida. And the economy and independent voters moving towards Obama have a lot to do with it.In Colorado, which once seemed as if it would be [...]
Dave dropped a line the other day to share a video he discovered. He writes: “This little movie clip explains how 25 divided by 5 equals 14. I think it kind of sums up how we as a nation got into our current crisis.” YouTube calls this “Kentucky Math” (whatever that means), but lately it’s more [...]
Just four weeks ago, John McCain was a good bet here. Now, in a state built on rebound and luck, he will need both to succeed. The oddsmakers would say it shouldn't be this way. Nevada has been as red politically as its [...]
Despite the Wall Street meltdown, the nation's biggest banks are preparing to pay their workers as much as last year or more, including bonuses tied to personal and company performance.So far this year, nine of the largest U.S. banks, including some that have cut thousands of jobs, have seen total costs for salaries, benefits and bonuses grow by [...]
Garages and yards of Manteca, Calif., offer a crash course in kitchen-table economics each weekend.
UPDATE: Okay, it's piling on, but...Now there's a headline that could sink a thousand ships. These stories are devastating to McCain. To his staff. To his voters. To his donors. It's just non-stop bad news, and now "post-mortems" - that's about as bad as it can get. Here is Chris Cillizza's piece about the upcoming, or shall I say impending, New York Times story this [...]
A bad week for John McCain just got considerably worse: "... Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to[...]
The latest NPR Poll shows Sen. Barack Obama holds an 11-point lead across 15 battleground states, 52% to 41%. This represents a 15-point swing since [...]
A new set of polls from Strategic Vision (R) has some good news for John McCain, with him taking back leads in Florida and Ohio, and holding on to his lead Georgia. But all his work in Pennsylvania has only [...]
UPDATE: CNN's Rick Sanchez went for the jugular today:NO quote. But it's worth your time. Click the link. It's 30 seconds worth of reading, but you'll be talking about it!
...It was a hoax. And now, some in the fourth estate are left to explain why they pushed this apparent political ploy. Those in the business who showed some prudence are calling out their competitors for taking the bait.On CNN today, anchor Rick Sanchez did just that, naming the outlets that not only reported but actively pushed the story of Ashley Todd. In addition to explaining why his station [...]
The Republicans themselves seem to think it’s possible: "An internal document circulating among House Republicans warns of an impending congressional bloodbath, listing 58 Republican-held House seats being at risk, and 11 already considered as good as gone. As many as 34 GOP-held seats are in serious jeopardy of swinging to Democrats, the assessment shows. What with the [...]
This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave her first policy speech urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), “a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.” In the speech, Palin cited the need to do more for children with disabilities such as autism: For many [...]
Just follow the link. I'm not pulling a quote because the AmericaBlog gang deserves the link.
UPDATE:Republican John McCain is not going to make his election night remarks in the traditional style - at a podium standing in front of a sea of campaign workers jammed into a hotel ballroom. Oh, the throng of supporters will hold the usual election night party at [...]
That's Markos' headline, and he's right. I posted earlier about McCain announcing that he is not attending his own election night party because of "space limitations" (I guess he can't get a ticket). Markos notes, correctly, that this is basically a concession of defeat. It's also [...]
Before you dismiss Palin Song as a slam against the candidate, listen to it a few times to see how jazz musician Henry Hey stalks her speech with his piano [...]
With just twelve days left until Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama holds a 13-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows. Obama now leads McCain [...]
PACKAGE DEAL: They, too, represent the State of Alaska. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is allowed to charge taxpayers for her children's commercial airline tickets because they represent the state wherever they go with her, [...]
It ain't Elizabeth Hasselback (or whatever her name is) appearing with Sarah Palin, but in my corner of the universe this is news. The dams are breaking [...]
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has developed an intriguing habit amid her efforts to deal with the fallout over her McCarthyesque rant on Hardball last week. In mainstream public forums, she either tries retract the things she said or denies she [...]
UPDATE:A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said. Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near [...]
UPDATE 2: She made it all up!TMZ is reporting that Pittsburgh law enforcement officials are skeptical about the alleged attack on a McCain volunteer. [...]
Presidential candidate John McCain isn't happy about having to explain why the Republican Party has had to buy running mate Sarah Palin $150,000 in clothes, hair styling and accessories.McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree _ and he answered each one more or less the same way: [...]
In a House Oversight Committee hearing today, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan claimed the credit crisis is a “once in a century credit tsunami” that policy makers did not anticipate. Greenspan repeatedly distanced himself from the financial meltdown, however, saying he didn’t foresee the crisis because of a “flaw in the model.” Greenspan claimed was “shocked” [...]
A direct-mail advertisement sent to Virginia voters this week features a picture of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama next to this blow-up quotation from violent Vietnam-era radical William Ayers: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we [...]
To hear Brian Williams and Chuck Todd talk, as they did last night on Hardball, you'd think things were perhaps not so peachy these days over at Camp McCain, after they spent the afternoon interviewing John McCain and Sarah Palin together: "Well, Chris, and this something that I -- I wouldn't blame Brian for not wanting to say this, but -- there was a tenseness between -- first of all, [...]
Oh, the Matthews hits just keep on coming. There's video on the link.Chris Matthews tries to extract a coherent explanation of Sarah Palin's comment that the vice president of the United States is "in charge of the United States Senate" from McCain aide Nancy Pfotenhauer. Over an eight-minute stretch, she's totally unable to defend Palin's ill-informed claim: [...]
Chuck Todd of NBC News interviewed Sen. John McCain and Sarah Palin today."There was a tenseness," Todd told MSNBC's Chris Matthews. "I couldn't see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. I felt as if we grabbed two people and said 'here, sit next to each other, we are going to conduct an interview.' They are not[...]
I just whipped up my best estimates for current results in seven key states where early voting is well under way: [...]
Shortly after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) chose Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his running mate, Palin said she is not one to attribute global warming to being man-made. Since then, she has walked that statement back slightly, saying that indeed, man’s activities have contributed to climate change but adding the caveat that “weather patterns are [...]
Sarah Palin's support may be dropping quickly among most Americans, but she remains a favorite of the religious right movement. Palin chatted with Focus on the Family's James Dobson, and the two were clearly very much [...]
John McCain has very little time, dwindling resources, and a limited number of options in order to reach 270 electoral votes. As such, he's having to make some tough decisions. Democrats who monitor advertising spending now put at five [...]
One of the most unsettling aspects of this campaign is that for an election cycle so turbulent, with so many surprising twists and turns, over the last few days it suddenly has had the feel of concrete setting. Just seven or eight weeks ago, Sen. Barack Obama had a lead over Sen. John McCain, but it hardly seemed sure; we wondered, is this lead real, is it durable?But today it seems [...]UPDATE: Zogby, too.
Pollster John Zogby reports that Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is now increasing his lead over Republican Sen. John McCain in what could be shaping up as what Zogby calls a “blowout.” Zogby predicts this could be a politically-transformative landslide like[...]
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 [… ]
UPDATE: Strange McCain response:Most of us know this, but hearing it from them ... 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 [...]
Following up on an earlier item, al Qaeda supporters reportedly stated their support for a McCain victory on a password-protected website. The group apparently prefers the candidate who'll keep pursuing Bush administration policies [...]
UPDATE: Republican reaction? Not so good...Sarah Palin spent on clothes in one month, $150,000, what the average American household spends on clothes in
50 years80 years. [...]
Consider all the McCain campaign messages this steps on: "elitist," "small-town values," "big spender," "relating to 'real' America," etc.
...The moving trucks and plywood from the McCain campaign is out and rolling through New Mexico, Colorado, and Iowa and they are bailing out on these states. Fend for yourself, hunt and peck, [...]
I’m reprinting this breaking story from the AP. Having bumped elbows for almost a year with Matt Apuzzon out of Washington DC, I have a tremendous respect for his reporting. I’m working on a thank you note to John McCain for bringing the National Media to the Alaska scene. It is shocking [...]
Oh, what the heck. As long as we're doing "quotable quotes", here's another one:Wow. Probably the biggest gaffe McCain has ever made, saying that he'd refuse to catch Osama bin Laden if he had him in his sights. Specifically, McCain and Palin have said that if they knew where bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, and the [...]
Governor, there's this great document called the Constitution that you should really take a look at [...]
Where is Bill O'Reilly when we need some righteous indignation over Web site comments? Oh, and I have screen captures of everything [...]
The website of the Ohio Secretary of State is being set to "static mode" following a recent series of "security breach" attempts, as well as suspicious packages and a number of death threats sent to the office, according to a press release issued late this afternoon. (Posted in full at [...]
On Sunday, the Washington Times’s Christina Bellantoni stopped by a polling place in North Carolina, where she reported that a “group of loud and angry protestors” — almost all of whom were white — were shouting and mocking voters — nearly all of whom were black. Bellatoni noted that people “were shouting about Obama’s acknowledged [...]
Sigh. This happened yesterday in Fayetteville yesterday. And only a couple of days before, a Greensboro reporter was kicked to the ground by another McCain/Palin patriot at a Bible Spice rally at Elon. Someone slashed the tires of [...]
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