The New York Times reports this morning on the front of its "C" section, "News shows should probably come with a spoiler alert: the following program contains images and language that seem to jump to a foregone conclusion. ... One week away from the election news anchors and commentators have the taut, self-conscious demeanor they don on election nights when the exit polls are in, but when they are duty-bound not to declare a winner." In the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz writes that "if, as a former McCain strategist put it to Politico, 'the cake is baked' for his man's defeat, it's fair to ask whether the media have provided the flour, the frosting and the candles."
NBC Nightly News reported Sen. Barack Obama "started the final push to Election Day with a big speech in Canton, Ohio, today. It was what he called...his 'closing argument,' where he returned to a lot of the very familiar themes we heard during the primaries of unity and hope. They're oldies but goodies say his campaign -- ones that they credit for getting him this far in the process." The Wall Street Journal reports from Canton, Ohio, Obama's "speech contained little that was new, instead serving as a summary of his 21-month campaign." ABC World News said "officials for the Obama campaign say they feel that consistency serves Senator Obama well, especially in contrast they say with Senator McCain, who's been jumping around from theme to theme, hoping for something to stick." According to the CBS Evening News, Obama "rallied his supporters with his call to champion the middle-class, do away with Wall Street greed and end the politics of division. It's a call he hopes will drown out increasingly negative Republican 'robo-calls' and other attacks."
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ABC World News reported that Sen. John McCain yesterday "blasted" Sen. Barack Obama "for, he said, having once advocated the redistribution of wealth." Fox News' Special Report reported McCain "seized on 7-year-old radio Obama comment about using the courts to redistribute the wealth." Fox played the 2001 audio recording of Obama saying, "One of the, I think, the tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think, that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that." The Washington Times notes that clips of the 2001 interview with Chicago Public Radio "were posted to YouTube and linked Monday morning by the Drudge Report. Mr. McCain said it was another of the 'unscripted moments' that are piling up and giving voters a glimpse of an Obama administration."
According to the New York Times (10/28, A15, Falcone, 1.12M), Obama, at the time a state senator and professor at the University of Chicago Law School, "did not express regret that the courts did not take steps to spread wealth, as Republicans contended. But neither did he speak dismissively in the interview about the concept, according to the edited tape."
NBC Nightly News reported Sen. John McCain "continued his efforts to separate himself from the two men who could deny him the White House -- Barack Obama and George Bush." McCain: "We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is [Obama] thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high." The AP reports, "Fading in the polls, John McCain fought Barack Obama for support in economically hard-hit Ohio." McClatchy reports that in Cleveland, McCain said, "With one week left in this campaign, the choice facing Americans is stark. Our plan will create jobs. His plan to raise taxes...will cut jobs. It's a difference of millions of jobs...and Americans are beginning to figure that out." The New York Times reports McCain "was surrounded by advisors and supporters with economic credentials. They included John Taylor, a Stanford University economist and former Under Secretary of the Treasury, and Mitt Romney...as well as business leaders like Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay and David Farr, the chief executive of Emerson, the electronics manufacturer."
USA Today reports Sen. Barack Obama "will punctuate his broadcast strategy Wednesday with prime-time commercials on CBS, NBC and Fox. The three 30-minute ads, which cost Obama nearly $1 million apiece, mark the first time in 16 years that a White House hopeful has aired commercials of that length on broadcast networks. Billionaire Ross Perot paid for 11 half-hour ads during his unsuccessful 1992 bid as an independent." In the Washington Post, TV columnist Lisa de Moraes writes, "ABC finally offered Barack Obama's camp the 8 p.m. half-hour in its Wednesday lineup for his campaign-related program," but "in an ironic twist," Obama's campaign "passed on ABC's offer, saying it has allocated the funds elsewhere."
ABC World News reported, "Federal authorities say they have broken up an improbable plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads in Tennessee to assassinate Barack Obama after they had shot or beheaded 102 black Americans. They two men apparently planned to go on a nation-wide killing spree before shooting at Obama from a speeding car. ... It's the second white supremacist assassination plot targeting Obama we have learned about in the last three months." NBC Nightly News reported that "investigators are very skeptical they had the wherewithal to carry it out."
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National polls continue to show Barack Obama leading John McCain in the race for the White House. However, the size of that lead varies widely.
The GWU/Battleground poll of 1,000 likely voters taken October 20-23 and October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-46%.
The IBD /TIPP daily presidential tracking poll of 874 likely voters taken October 22-26 shows Obama leading McCain 47%-44%.
The Gallup daily presidential tracking poll of 2,797 registered voters taken October 24-26 has two likely voter models â one (based on past voting behavior and current intention to vote) shows Obama leading McCain 50%-45%, while the second (based on current intention to vote) shows Obama up 53%-43%.
The C-Span/Zogby daily presidential tracking poll of 1,204 likely voters taken October 25-27 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-45%.
The Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll for October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-46%, the same as the previous day.
The ABC News /Washington Post daily presidential tracking poll of 1,314 likely voters taken October 23-26 shows Obama leading McCain 52%-45%.
The Hotline/Diageo tracking poll of 879 likely voters taken October 24-26 shows Obama up 50%-42%.
Obama Up 4 In Ohio A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Ohio voters taken October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-45%.
Obama Up 4 In Florida A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Florida voters taken October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-47%.
Obama Up In Pair Of Virginia Surveys A SurveyUSA automated poll of 671 likely Virginia voters taken October 25-26 shows Obama leading McCain 52%-43%. A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Virginia voters taken October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-47%.
Obama Up 4 In Colorado A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Colorado voters taken October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-46%.
Polls Show Tight Race In Missouri A SurveyUSA automated poll of 672 likely Missouri voters taken October 25-26 shows McCain and Obama tied at 48% apiece. A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Missouri voters taken October 26 shows Obama leading McCain 48%-47%.
Obama Up 1 In Two North Carolina Polls A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely North Carolina voters taken October 26 shows McCain leading Obama 49%-48%. A Public Policy Polling (D) survey of 1,038 likely North Carolina voters taken October 25-26 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-48%.
Obama Up 5 In New Hampshire A Marist poll of 655 likely New Hampshire voters taken October 22-23 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-45%.
Obama Up 10 In Iowa A Marist poll of 645 likely Iowa voters taken October 23-24 shows Obama leading McCain 52%-42%.
Obama Up Big In Oregon A SurveyUSA automated poll of 672 likely Oregon voters taken October 25-26 shows Obama leading McCain 57%-38%.
McCain Up 13 In Louisiana The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that a Southeastern Louisiana University poll of 503 registered Louisiana voters taken October 20-23 shows McCain leading Obama 51%-38%.
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Anonymous "officials" confirmed yesterday that on Sunday, a US strike killed a "senior" al Qaeda leader across the border in Syria. The CBS Evening News reported the insurgent's "death is described as 'significant.' He was believed to be a key smuggler of foreign fighters into Iraq." ABC World News said there was "no comment from the White House, but US officials tell ABC News that the target was a young Iraqi man by the name of Abu Ghadiyah." The AP also reports that "an American counterterrorism official" in Washington said the raid killed Abu Ghadiyah, who "the US Treasury Department has named...as one of four major figures in al-Qaeda's Iraq wing." Fox News' Special Report also reported "a US official confirms to Fox at least one of the four military helicopters landed five miles inside Syrian territory...in the town of Abu Kamal, which straddles the border with Iraq." Referring to a "CIA-led raid," McClatchy says the "body of Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih, an Iraqi national who used the nom de guerre Abu Ghadiya, was flown out of Syria on a US helicopter."
Media reports this morning are casting Sunday's raid as a message to Syria from the US that it needs to do more to crack down on the flow of foreign fighters and financial support to insurgents in Iraq. ABC World News, for example, said the strike sent "a rather blunt message to Syria" that "if you don't control the border with Iraq, we will." AFP also says the action "signalled that Washington is moving to the kind of aggressive tactics against insurgent sanctuaries along Iraq's borders that it has been using with increasing intensity in Pakistan's tribal border areas." The Washington Post reports on its front page that one "senior US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity," said, "You have to clean up the global threat that is in your back yard, and if you won't do that, we are left with no choice but to take these matters into our hands." In an analysis piece, the AP writes that "bold US raids into Pakistan and Syria show the stark choice the Bush administration is putting to both friends and adversaries in its final weeks: Clamp down on militants and terrorists or we'll do it for you."
The New York Times reports Administration officials "declined to say whether the emerging application of self-defense could lead to strikes against camps inside Iran that have been used to train Shiite 'special groups' that have fought with the American military and Iraqi security forces." The Los Angeles Times, Financial Times and Christian Science Monitor run similar stories.
The diplomatic fallout from the raid was swift. The Wall Street Journal says the Syrian government "largely froze high-level diplomatic efforts with the US," a move "that threatens support for broader peace initiatives in the Middle East." The Syrian government "said it was largely freezing high-level diplomatic engagement with the Bush administration for its remaining three months in office." The Washington Times reports, "State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Syrian government called in the senior US diplomat in Damascus, Maura Connelly, to complain about the violation of Syrian territory."
WSJournal And WPost Hail Strike, LATimes Pans It The Wall Street Journal editorializes, "The Syrians interpreted diplomatic accommodation in the face of their anti-American acts as a sign of weakness to exploit. Mr. Obama has promised he'll engage Syria diplomatically as part of an overall effort to end the conflict in Iraq. If he really wants to end the war faster, he'll pick up on Syria where the Bush Administration has now ended."
The Washington Post editorializes, "It was interesting to observe the wails of outrage from Syrian officials." This "from a regime whose most notable activities of the past few years have been the serial assassination of senior Lebanese politicians, including former prime minister Rafik Hariri; the continuous and illegal supplying of weapons to the Hezbollah militia for use against Israel and Lebanon's democratic government; the harboring in Damascus of senior leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups; and -- most relevant -- the sheltering of an al-Qaeda network that dispatches 90 percent of the foreign fighters who wage war against US troops and the Iraqi government."
The Los Angeles Times says in an editorial, "Although both the outcome and the purpose of this raid remain vague, what's certain is that the next president is going to pay a heavy diplomatic price for it." The raid "comes when Syria has been showing unusual cooperation and willingness to negotiate with the West." The Times concludes, "Bush, it appears, is conducting yet another experiment in Middle Eastern cowboy diplomacy, with the advantage (for him) that if it all blows up, someone else will have to pick up the pieces."
The Bush Administration is considering several options to boost the troubled US auto industry. The New York Times reports in a front page story that "sources" said among the options under consideration by the Administration was "using the Treasury Department's wide-ranging authority under the $700 billion bailout program that Congress approved this month." Another option "is to tap a $25 billion loan program that Congress just created to help the auto companies modernize their plants," and a third option "would involve going back to Congress." The Washington Post says Detroit's Big Three "are eligible for aid under a broad interpretation of the law that authorized the $700 billion financial rescue, Treasury Department officials said yesterday." Ford and General Motors "are eligible because they are both chartered as thrift holding companies, so they can establish banks to make car loans nationwide."
Fox News' Special Report noted White House spokeswoman Dana Perino "suggested struggling US auto companies might qualify for help through their finance companies," and the Wall Street Journal reports the Bush Administration is "working to release to General Motors Corp. a portion of the loans Congress approved for the auto industry, according to a person familiar with the matter, a move that could help ease the way for the company's discussed merger with Chrysler LLC."
The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, reports the story under the headline, "The End Of The Road For U.S. Carmakers?" The Times says, "Some argue that, in the long term, the US economy would be better off moving past automobile making."
The US Treasury formally began the transfer of $125 billion in bailout funds to large banking institutions in exchange for equity stakes. The AP reports Assistant Treasury Secretary David Nason said "the infusion would go to the largest banks in the nation, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo." Meanwhile, USA Today says that in a "bid to jump-start lending and get credit flowing from banks to every corner of the nation, more than a dozen regional banks on Monday said they will soon get billions of dollars from the Treasury Department as part of the financial bailout plan." The Washington Times reports the Treasury's capitalization of regional banks comes "amid growing complaints that the recipients of the taxpayer bailout are using the money not to lend to customers but to buy their competitors."
The Federal Reserve Board is expected to cut its target Federal Funds rate by one half of one percent to one percent in another effort to thaw the credit markets. The AP investors "are worried it won't be enough to quickly revive the economy." The moves taken by the Fed "have helped ease lending rates at the margins." The Financial Times reports the Federal Reserve "will probably end up cutting interest rates," but "it will do so without any great conviction." The Washington Post reports central banks "around the world are moving to further slash interest rates as they seek to contain the damage from the bursting of the biggest credit bubble in history."
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Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly last month as the median house price fell. But analysts cautioned the increase likely reflected bargain hunting rather than the beginning of a rebound in the housing market. The AP reports sales of new single-family homes "rose by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 homes." The median price of a new home "sold in September declined by 9.1 percent from a year ago to $218,400, the lowest price level since September 2004." The Wall Street Journal reports economists "had forecast a September sales rate of 455,000. Sales in most regions of the country declined or remained virtually flat, while the West saw a 22.7% increase in new home sales."
Fox News' Special Report reported White House spokeswoman Dana Perino "was asked if the housing market has bottomed out." Perino said, "If it is a trend we certainly will welcome it but we are not going to rest and hope."
By the end of another volatile trading day, the major stock indices dropped precipitously shortly before the closing bell. The AP reports Wall Street "has ended another highly volatile session with a big last-minute loss as the market's stubborn worries about a protracted economic downturn and tight credit erased budding optimism about a housing sector recovery." The Dow "fell 203.18, or 2.42 percent, to 8,175.77 after earlier rising by as many as 220 points."
The Washington Post reports the "burst of selling in the final minutes of a volatile day of trading left stocks sharply lower yesterday as investors focused more on the deep strains in the economy than on a glimmer of optimism in a surprise gain in new-home sales." The Wall Street Journal reports the "blue-chip measure slid about 423 points from its daily high, set around 1:45 p.m. Eastern, with more than a third of its decline coming in just the last 10 minutes of trading." The S&P 500 "was off 3.2% to 848.92," while the "technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3% to 1505.90."
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Jay Leno: "Well, folks, it's hard to believe. Just one week left to go" before the presidential "election. It's amazing, isn't it?" Do "you realize that when this whole thing started, John McCain was just 47 years old?"
Jay Leno: "And after his big speech in North Carolina today, Senator Joe Biden said he was experiencing a sore throat, lost his voice. ... Boy, the good news doesn't stop for Barack Obama. Just one lucky break after another. It's unbelievable!"
Conan O'Brien: "The other day, a guy who played a game of basketball against Barack Obama said that Obama spent the whole game trash talking. ... He also said Obama's trash talking is 'eloquent, high-minded, and inspirational.'"
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