Video: Palin Booed at Flyers Game? You Decide

Some bloggers and media outlets say Gov. Sarah Palin was booed at the the Philadelphia Flyers game today, others say she was cheered as she dropped the ceremonial puck. It seems that the world's most famous hockey mom got a mixed reception. Certainly the City of Brotherly Love gave her a better reception than it did for Santa Claus!

Lewis: McCain Campaign Incites Atmosphere of Hate

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) threw his own bomb into the presidential race today by comparing Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin to George Wallace.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb," Lewis noted. "He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all," Lewis said today. "They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

McCain, who once lavished praises for Lewis and someone he would consult as president, responded by saying, "Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Gov. Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign."

Obama officials responded by noting some McCain supporters and Gov. Sarah Palin are hateful: “Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’ "

Not stopping there, Lewis kept up the pace today by alleging the GOP of voter frauds in Georgia.

Here is Lewis' statement on his website:

I was deeply disturbed when I heard about the allegations made in the case of Mr. Jose Morales, as well as the Justice Department’s valid inquiry into violations of the Voting Rights Act in Georgia. Georgia is not the only state where questions are mounting. In Ohio and in Florida and other states around the country it seems that obstacles are being created to keep citizens from participating in this election.

"I think there is a deliberate, systematic effort to depress the turn out of African American, Latino and other minority voters on November 4th. This is harassment. It is intimidation, and it places an undue burden on some citizens. Who decides, based on what standards which 2 million voters deserve greater scrutiny than any others? I think these actions violate both the letter and the spirit of the Voting Rights Act. They should be pursued by voting rights groups and the Department of Justice with all deliberate speed so we can make the way clear for registered voters to freely exercise their constitutional rights.

"I urge all the register voters of Georgia to become informed and know your rights so that no one can discourage you from casting your vote on Election Day. I can assure you I will be in touch with the Justice Department officials about this matter and will be monitoring the developments in the Morales case very closely."

McCain Defends Obama to Angry Supporters and Gets Booed

It's a bad sign for your presidential aspirations when you are forced repeatedly to defend your opponent at your own rallies.



Sen. John McCain faced a booing crowd today for rebuking a man who said he would be "scared ... to bring a child up" if Sen. Barack Obama was elected president. "I have to tell you he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States," McCain said.

McCain supporters have become increasingly vocal during the past two days, voicing their concerns about Obama, but using the long discredited rhetoric that he is Muslim, a terrorist or an Arab. When McCain has come to Obama's defends, the crowds have booed him.

One woman at a town-hall meeting in Minnesota told McCain, "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not he's not uh—he's an Arab. He's not—" before McCain reached out for the microphone and told the rally: "No, ma'am, he's a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not an Arab."

Jonathan Martin and Amiee Parnes of Politico pick up the story:

In addition to the man who said he feared Obama as president, another predicted the Democrat would “lead the country to socialism.”

“The time has come and the Bible tells us you speak the truth and that the truth sets you free,” the man added.

Yet another voter implored McCain in plain terms: "The people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight."

McCain promised the audience he wouldn’t back down—but again sought to tamp down emotions.

"We want to fight, and I will fight," McCain said. "But I will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments and I will respect him."

At which point he was booed again.

"I don't mean that has to reduce your ferocity," he added over the jeers. "I just mean to say you have to be respectful."

The anger is plainly worrying McCain and his campaign. Already viewed with skepticism by the conservative base, they don’t want to throw a proverbial wet blanket over the enthusiasm of the worker bees of the party. But they also fear a backlash from less partisan—and still undecided—voters seeing clips of the angry activists on TV and online.

“He’s not going to stand there while somebody says something he disagrees with and not make his view known,” said Brian Rogers, a McCain spokesman after the Minnesota event. “He’s never been afraid to get boos from his own audience. That’s always been John McCain’s thing.”

But Rogers said the campaign would continue its own increasingly character-based line of assault.

“There are legitimate questions about Barack Obama. We’re going to raise them and do that compellingly. But when people go over the line in John McCain’s opinion he’ll be open and honest about it.”

Asked if some of the shots McCain and Palin have taken against Obama on the stump and in TV ads may be contributing to the raw emotions, Rogers said such sentiments were “garbage.”

“The idea that we should not question Obama’s record and readiness to be president is offensive to democracy,” he said.

Rasmussen: Obama 300, McCain 174

Rasmussen Reports projection released this afternoon shows Sen. Barack Obama with a lead of 300-174 electoral votes when leaners are included in the count.

This is the first polling that shows Obama earning 300 electoral votes.

New state polling from Oregon has moved that state from "Leans Democratic" to "Likely Democratic" in the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator. With this change, Obama leads in states with 255 Electoral College votes while McCain is ahead in states with 163 Electoral College votes. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 300, McCain 174.

Currently, states with 63 Electoral College votes are leaning slightly in one way or the other. Five states with a total of 64 votes -- North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia -- are pure toss-ups.

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has a bleaker picture for Sen. John McCain.

With 25 days to go until the election, Barack Obama is presently at his all-time highs in four of the six national tracking polls (Research 2000, Battleground, Hotline and Zogby) and is just one point off his high in Gallup. He has emerged with clear leads in both Florida and Ohio, where there are several polls out today. He is blowing McCain out in most polls of Pennsylvania and Michigan, and is making states like West Virgina and Georgia competitive.

There's just nothing in there for McCain to hang his hat on. Even a pollster like Strategic Vision, which has generally had a Republican lean this cycle, now has Florida and Ohio going against them (Florida in a big way). Well, OK, maybe they'll hold on to Indiana, although both campaigns' internals likely have the state closer than Rasmussen does.

McCain is getting some criticism for campaigning in Iowa, and for sending Sarah Palin out to West Virginia, but the truth is that their electoral hand is so poor right now that it doesn't much matter in which states they're deciding to bide their time. Remember, any world in which McCain has a chance to win on Election Day is a world that looks very different from this one -- some significant event will have to have occurred to fundamentally change the momentum of the race. We don't know which states might be affected disproportionately by such an event, and so a lot of states are conceivably worth attacking or defending, any of which could potentially become more important in the face of unknown unknowns.

GOP Makes Its Case on Obama-Ayers Connection

Here is the text of the Republicans argument concerning the relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, according to GOP.com. The GOP says the relationshhip is more extensive than Obama's campaign managers are willing to admit.

Obama's Top Campaign Staff Have Attempted To Downplay The Relationship Between Obama And Bill Ayers:
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Obama and Ayers weren't close and that Obama was only eight years old when Ayers was bombing buildings. Robert Gibbs, on FOX's "FOX & Friends earlier today, said, "If you read the article ... it says these two men weren't close, this man isn't involved in our campaign. Bill Ayers is somebody that Barack Obama said his actions were despicable and these happened when Barack Obama was eight years old."

Gibbs has said the relationship between Obama and Ayers is limited to serving on two boards together. John Roberts of CNN's "American Morning" asked Gibbs this morning: "Barack Obama knew Bill Ayers and had contact with him between 1995 and 2005. Exactly what was the nature of the relationship?" Gibbs responded: "Well, John, as The New York Times reported this weekend, they served on two boards together during that time period."

Obama has previously referred to Ayers as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood" and not someone he exchanges ideas with "on a regular basis." Obama, during a Democrat presidential debate in April, said: "But this is an example of what I'm talking about. This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense."

But the Republican Party contends that Obama's connections with Bill Ayers are more extensive.

In 1995, during Obama's first State Senate campaign, William Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn hosted a meeting of Chicago liberals at their home for Obama, which one attendee said was aimed at launching him.

"In 1995, State Sen. Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement.

Ben Smith of the Politico reported in February this quote: "I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the informational gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. '[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.'

Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. "When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn," Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. "They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'"

The GOP says that from March 1995 until September 1997, Obama and Ayers attended at least seven meetings together relating to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. (The GOP cites Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Board Of Directors Meeting, Minutes Of The Board, 3/15/95, 3/31/95, 4/13/95, 6/5/95, 9/30/97; National Annenberg Challenge Evaluation Meeting, List Of Participants, 5/24/95; Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Chicago School Reform Collaborative Meeting, Minutes, 10/23/96)

The Republican Party also says Bill Ayers was asked to help Obama formulate the Chicago Annenberg Challenge By-Laws, citing the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Board Of Directors Minutes for March 15, 1995.

The GOP says that in 1997 Obama praised Ayers' book on the juvenile justice system. "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers's book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it 'a searing and timely account.'" The GOP is citing an article by Jo Becker and Christopher Drew of The New York Times, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," published on May 11, 2008.

Obama comment on Ayers' "A Kind And Just Parent: The Children Of Juvenile Court": "A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair." (Chicago Tribune, 12/21/97). Obama and Ayers have also appeared jointly on two academic panels, one in 1997 and another in 2001," according to Russell Berman, writing "Obama's Ties To Left Come Under Scrutiny," in The New York Sun on Feb. 2, 2008.

From 1999 To 2002, Obama served with Ayers on the Board Of Directors for Woods Fund of Chicago. "[Ayers] served with [Obama] from 1999 to 2002 on the board of the Woods Fund, an anti-poverty group," according to Timothy J. Burger of Bloomberg, writing "Obama's Chicago Ties Might Fuel 'Republican Attack Machine'," on Feb. 15, 2008.

During the time Obama and Ayers served on the Woods Fund, Ayers was quoted saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. ... I feel we didn't do enough." "'I don't regret setting bombs." Ayers, who spent the 1970s as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was quoted while sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago by Dinitia Smith in "No Regrets For A Love Of Explosives" in The New York Times on, ironically, Sept. 11, 2001. The party notes that Obama was 40 at the time Ayers was quoted for this story.

While Obama and Ayers were serving on the Woods Fund together, Ayers posed standing on an American flag for an article in Chicago Magazine entitled "No Regrets," written by Marcia Froelke Coburn in August 2001.

Obama and Ayers are neighbors in Chicago's Hyde Park. "Twenty-six years later, at a lunchtime meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper, Barack Obama met Mr. Ayers, by then an education professor. Their paths have crossed sporadically since then, at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama's first run for office, on the schools project and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors." This excerpt is quoted by the GOP and comes from Scott Shane's "Obama And '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths," which was published in The New York Times on Oct. 4, 2008.

Obama Spokesman Ben LaBolt told The New York Times that last year Obama and Ayers "bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park." Shane's article said, "[LaBolt] said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park."

Neighbors have said "it's only natural" that Obama would know Ayers, who often opens his home for gatherings, as Obama and his wife "are a part of our neighborhood and part of our social circle."

"Since coming out of hiding in 1980, the couple have raised three boys in Chicago and become part of the fabric of their liberal South Side neighborhood. Neighbors said it's only natural that Obama would know Ayers and Dohrn, who often open their homes for gatherings filled with lively discussions about politics, arts and social issues. Obama and his wife 'are part of our neighborhood and part of our social circle,' said Elizabeth Chandler, a neighbor of Ayers'." (The GOP cites this excerpt from Trevor Jensen, Robert Mitchum and Mary Owen's "Bill Ayers' Turbulent Past Contrasts With Quiet Academic Life" in the Chicago Tribune on April 17, 2008.

Ayers' organization, The Weather Underground, was a violent left-wing activist group, according to the Republican Party.

"William Ayers ... [was] a founding member of the group that bombed the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon during the 1970s," Russell Berman wrote in the New York Sun on Feb. 19, 2008. "Senator Obama's ties to a former leader of the violent left-wing activist group the Weather Underground are drawing new scrutiny as he battles Senator Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination."

The Weather Underground produced a manual that begins: "We are a guerrilla organization. We are communist women and men, underground in the United States for more than four years."

"The coalition was said to be a violence-prone faction inspired by the Weather Underground's ''Prairie Fire,'' a guerrilla warfare manual published in 1974. The manual begins, 'We are a guerrilla organization. We are Communist women and men, underground in the United States for more than four years.'" wrote Paul L. Montgomery in "2 Women In Brink's Case Identified With Weathermen From Start In '69," in The New York Times on Oct. 22, 1981.

Asian Markets Fall Sharpely in Trading Tuesday; Nikkei Down 5.3 Percent

Markets across Asia and the western Pacific Rim opened trading Tuesday with stiff declines, continuing the large sellout experienced on Wall Street on Monday.

The Nikkei average in Japan lost 5.3 percent of its value in the first half an hour of trading to drop below 10,000 for the first time since 2003. The Shanghai composite was down by 4.6 percent but has regain ground. Hong Kong markets are closed for a holiday.

The central banks of Japan and Australia together added more than $11 billion to their financial systems to try to ease the tight credit markets. They hoped to move would make it easier for banks to borrow from each other, and at the same time bring money market interest rates down from near record highs.

The yen weakened a little to 102.01 to the dollar. The Australian dollar fell as far as 70.87 cents to the U.S. dollar. Gold was slightly higher at $864.62 a troy ounce and oil was steady at about $88.90 a barrel in Singapore.

Electoral Map Projection: Obama Nearing Victory, But What If There's a Tie?

With just only a little more than four weeks until the election, Sen. Barack Obama has not only opened a significant lead in all the national tracking polls, but more importantly has opened strong leads in battleground states; so much so that the path to victory for Sen. John McCain has become almost nonexistent.

Pollsters show Obama has significant leads in all the states (and the District of Columbia) won by Sen. John Kerry, who earned 251 electoral votes. In addition, polling indicates that Obama has opened up leads in Iowa (seven electoral votes) and New Mexico (five electoral votes), both of which were won by President Bush in 2004. If Obama can hold on to those leads he would have 263 electoral votes.

There are 22 states, totaling 173 electoral votes, that polling indicates are comfortably in McCain's camp.

That leaves seven toss-up states: Florida (27 electoral votes), Ohio (20 electoral votes), North Carolina (15 electoral votes), Virginia (13 electoral votes), Indiana (11 electoral votes), Colorado (nine electoral votes) and Nevada (five electoral votes).

In essence, as the polling indicates the political landscape today, McCain has to run that table of seven states to win. All seven are too close to call right now for pollsters and appear as toss-ups on most sites. By inserting that scenario on the map at 270towin.com, the site gives Obama a greater than 99 percent chance of winning.

So, Obama needs only one of those states to get to at least 269 electoral votes. If, for instance, he only wins Nevada, the Electoral College will be tied at 269. Obama should win in a tie because the next step would be a vote in the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats.

But that's not the only interesting fact concerning a possible tie. The Senate could pick the vice president before the new Congress is sworn in. If Sen. Joe Lieberman decided to vote against his former party, the Senate would be deadlocked 50-50. Vice President Dick Cheney would have to break the tie, potentially ushering in an Obama-Palin administration.

Constitutional experts cannot decide if the new Congress or the sitting Congress has the authority to make the decision.

Joseph Curl of the Washington Times wrote recently about another scenario.

The newly elected House, seated in January, is unable to muster a majority to choose a president after a 269-269 tie, but the Senate, which is expected to be controlled by Democrats, picks Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the Democratic ticket. If the House is still deadlocked at noon on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, Mr. Biden becomes acting president.

Or try this one on for size: Neither the House nor the Senate fulfills its constitutional duty to select the president and the vice president by Jan. 20, so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, becomes acting president until the whole mess is sorted out.

Video: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin at the Debate on SNL

Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate on last night's "Saturday Night Live." That's Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill and Jason Sudeikis as Sen. Joe Biden. Sudeikis had fewer lines in the skit.

At the end of the segment, she asked with flute in hand, "Are we not doing the talent portion?" Palin was runnerup in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest.