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With a month to go until Election Day, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told an enthusiastic crowd Saturday afternoon that it was time to "put on the heels and take off the gloves." And while she credited the line to a campaign worker, it and the rest of her 24-minute speech at the Home Depot Center rally was delivered with her trademark panache. The Republican hit the familiar topics of the economy, energy and defense, but offered a few surprises as well.

Again this weekend, Office Depot is selling the movie biography of John McCain, in their discount bin for only $5.00. Actually, it's two for one. So for $10 you get two movies. Among the choices are a range of Tom Sellick Louis Amour's, a lot of spooky Halloween stuff. And a treasure, "Why We Fight"...Winner of the Sundance Film Festival. I'VE SEEN "FAITH OF OUR FATHERS". I WAS RIVETED. EVERYONE KNOWS ME ON THIS FORUM, AND THEY KNOW, THAT I WASN'T FOUR SQUARE FOR MAC. BUT AFTER SEEING THAT MOVIE, I AM. I AM FOUR SQUARE BEHIND HIM. I'M RECOMMENDING...

Rezko, who was a key adviser in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration, also raised money for Obama's Illinois state campaigns and [bought an adjacent property near the senator's Chicago mansion]. Since Rezko's criminal case, Obama has donated $159,000 of Rezko-connected contributions to charity. Rezko's cooperation in the ongoing case against Blagojevich and his wife would give investigators access to someone the Tribune described as the "ultimate political insider at the center of a pervasive pay-to-play scheme." In court filings, Rezko said he had been approached by prosecutors several times before his trial and was asked repeatedly about Blagojevich and Obama. Later,...

MCCAIN: I've been involved, as I mentioned to you before, in virtually every major national security challenge we've faced in the last 20-some years. There are some advantages to experience, and knowledge, and judgment. MCCAIN: Well -- well, let me give you an example of what Senator Obama finds objectionable, the business tax. Right now, the United States of American business pays the second-highest business taxes in the world, 35 percent. Ireland pays 11 percent. MCCAIN: Senator Obama is the chairperson of a committee that oversights NATO that's in Afghanistan. To this day, he has never had a hearing. MCCAIN:...

Former President Clinton continues to provide lukewarm support for Sen. Barack Obama. In television appearances this week, Mr. Clinton endorsed Mr. Obama but made favorable statements regarding Sen. John McCain, and Gov. Sarah Paline and her husband, Todd. This contrasts with the criticism other Democrats have leveled against their Republican opponents. On "The View," Mr. Clinton said it is not necessary to demonize an opponent in an election campaign. When asked if it made sense for former Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters to vote for Mrs. Palin, Mr. Clinton said: "Voting is a complicated process." He praised Mr. McCain for helping...

Who do you think won Friday night's presidential debate? John McCain Barack Obama Neither I do not know, I did not watch the debate

Although oil prices have dropped by nearly 30% since mid-July, those prices are not always reflected in the price of gasoline at the pump. Retail gas prices are driven by refinement costs and production and thus disruptions to refinement, switchover to seasonal fuel blends and routine refinery inspections can influence prices dramatically. This week wholesale gas prices have risen dramatically throughout the Midwest, and that rise is expected to ripple throughout the nation. In Texas, wholesale prices are nearly $5 per gallon, meaning of course retail prices are much higher. As far north as Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin the prices...

The sudden polling surge, representing as much as a 17 point bump, for John McCain has exposed the shady underbelly of the Obama Campaign. Senator Obama did not rise to power as a change candidate; he has never won an election in which his opponent has not suffered being personally destroyed and forced from the race; and it seems in the past two weeks that Obama is returning to his Chicago Political Machine roots. Let me take you back to Senator Obama's first campaign, for the State Senate in Illinois. Obama was approached by ...

Anyone on Facebook there is now a McCain/Palin Group......Obama's Group is huge....lets bump up the numbers.

I have two tickets for tomorrow's rally in Lancaster, PA at Franklin and Marshall. I don't want them to go to waste.

Readers who complain to the McClatchy Company’s Raleigh News & Observer about the paper’s blatant liberal/leftist Anything for Obama bias usually get a quick dismissal. The staff's default response to criticism is "The N&O's fair and accurate.” (That’s also the promotional slogans the N&O uses when drumming up advertising contracts.) Sometimes an editor or reporter will go so far as to tell readers, “It’s you who have the bias.” I know that first hand. With that as background, let’s turn to G. D. Gearino’s eponymous blog. Gearino’s a career journalists and prize-winning author who some years back worked at the...

The Republican presidential candidate will make his running mate the public face of the country's drive for energy independence, according to a McCain campaign official. Mr McCain, whose selection of Mrs Palin has electrified Republican supporters, wants to capitalise on her expertise in the oil and gas sector while governor of Alaska. He believes that her record of taking on oil company chiefs will help convince the public that his government would not be in the pocket of energy fat cats, a perception that has damaged George W.Bush's poll ratings. The move would give Mr McCain political cover to resume...

Cindy McCain's half sister is planning on voting for Barack Obama, she tells Usmagazine.com. "I'm not voting for McCain," Kathleen Hensley Portalski tells Us. "I have a different political standpoint. "I'm voting for Obama," the Phoenix resident says. "I think his proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer." Portalski, 65, and the potential first lady, 54, have the same father: Jim Hensley, the founder of the beer distributor Hensley and Co. that Cindy McCain now chairs. In an interview with NPR News' All Things Considered last week, Portalski said she felt "like...

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is in the Mile High City making stops on behalf of his friend and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. But most of the questions from the media involved what he's heard from Senator John McCain on whether he'll be joining the Republican ticket. The speculation reached a fevered pitch Thursday afternoon when Pawlenty cancelled all of his afternoon appearances in Denver, including an interview with KARE's sister station KUSA which had been slated for 4pm. Not Ready talking points He appeared at a news conference called by "Citizens for McCain" at a TV studio in an...

Hat tip to Mark Belling, late afternoon host on WISN radio in Milwaukee and part-time fill in for Rush Limbaugh.

Russia's assertions that it was provoked into war by "genocide" in South Ossetia and that it is observing a cease-fire in Georgia came under new challenge Thursday, as the U.S. stepped up diplomatic pressure on Moscow. Washington agreed to base missile interceptors on Polish soil, in a new sign of how Russia's invasion of Georgia is redrawing the geopolitical map. On the ground in South Ossetia -- the contested region where fighting broke out last week between Georgia and Russia -- there was little evidence that Georgian attacks killed thousands of civilians, as Russia has said. Doctors said they had...

LAKE FOREST – As Senators John McCain and Barack Obama make their way to Saddleback Church Saturday evening, thousands of spectators and demonstrators are expected to be on hand, as well as officials from four law enforcement agencies who will maintain order.

Mideast edition, Thursday, August 14, 2008 ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin a humanitarian mission in Georgia. "This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said Wednesday at the White House, adding that a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies was on its way to Georgia. Russian troops and tanks invaded the country last week in response to a Georgian offensive intended to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The Russian president later ordered Russian forces to halt their drive into Georgia, but it was unclear Wednesday whether Russian troops had moved further...

In late 2006, China for the first time in its history became a net coal importer. This changed the dyanmics of the world's energy market. Korea and Japan, previously importers of Chinese coal, were sent scrambling for alternative sources of energy. What they found in the winter of 2007 was LNG for $18-$20/BTU. China too was a willing buyer. The coal scramble was also felt in Europe. Australian coal was bottlenecked and/or kept in the Asian region. Power outages in South African coal mines made the situation worse for Europeans as they lost out on significant supply. What followed was...

Russian jets targeted a key oil pipeline with over 50 missiles in a weekend bombing raid in Georgia that raised fears the conflict will tighten Moscow's stranglehold on Europe's energy supplies. Deep craters pockmark the landscape south of the Georgian capital Tblisi in a Y-shaped pattern straddling the British-operated pipeline. The attack left two deep holes less than 100 yards either side of a pressure vent on the pipeline. Shrapnel of highly engineered munitions litters the area. There was no visible damage to the pipeline. Its vulnerability is summed up by a yellow hazard sign next to the vent warning...

In spite of being dubbed as a "wrinkly white-haired guy" by Paris Hilton, Senator John McCain's provocative "celebrity" campaign ad has given a boost to his online presence, especially on YouTube, the popular video sharing website. McCain released a chain of blunt yet entertaining attack ads and Web videos which mock rival candidate, Senator Barack Obama, along with the press. Such videos have pushed his YouTube channel to the fifth most watched on the site this week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to extend the temporary rules it put in place to restrict short-selling of a handful of financial stocks. The SEC commissioners didn't take additional steps opposed by Wall Street to expand the number of stocks affected by the rules or make them permanent. The temporary rules were set to expire Tuesday, and the SEC extended the order on the 19 stocks until Aug. 12. It won't be extended beyond then. In a short sale, a trader sells borrowed stock in a bet the price will decline and the stock can be profitably repurchased at...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released its latest television ad entitled "Troops." The ad highlights Barack Obama's record of not calling a single oversight hearing on NATO's mission in Afghanistan, not visiting in Iraq for over 900 days, not supporting our troops when he voted against critical funding in 2007 and not visiting our wounded troops in Germany when he made time to go to the gym but cancelled trips to Ramstein and Landstuhl. The ad will air in key states. VIEW THE AD HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49hC9TpP_rY Script For "Troops" (TV :30) Anncr: Barack Obama never...

Oil rose towards $130 a barrel on Monday after its biggest one-week slide on record as inconclusive talks between Iran and world powers over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme dimmed prospects of ending the row. Prices were also lifted by worries about Tropical Storm Dolly, the first storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season that could disrupt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. light crude for August delivery was up 91 cents at $129.79 by 2355 GMT, after rising as much as $1.18 earlier, a small bounce from last week's over $16 slump, the biggest decline in dollar terms...

Obama Argues He's More Open-border Than McCain: "The 12 million people living in the shadows, communities taking immigration enforcement into their own hands...they're counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling the airwaves. Yes, they broke the law and we should require them to learn English, pay a fine and go to the back of the line." CIS notes: These oft-repeated "penalties" are not serious. As for the fine, immigrant rights attorneys will cry discrimination and those aliens who don't pay it will never be deported. The English language requirement would be impossible to regulate and likely never enforced....

It's probably no secret to anyone who reads my column regularly that I will not be voting for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president. But I also will not be voting for John McCain. I could tell you all the reasons and have expressed them already in a number of columns in recent months. But this time, I'll let someone with whom I seldom agree express them for me. His name is Jonathan Chait, a senior editor at The New Republic. Here's what he wrote in that magazine: "Even though it is in the public record, McCain's voting...

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Panelists at the third component of the American Enterprise Institute’s Election Watch series agree that Barack Obama and John McCain will likely face one another in the 2008 general election. According to stats by the Hotline and Diageo, 79% of Republican primary voters would be satisfied with McCain as the Republican nominee and a Gallup/USA Today poll showed that 66% of voters believe Barack Obama will do more to unite the country than Hillary Clinton. Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at AEI, said the “context of this election is a very unhappy country” but voters will look at the “comparative ground”...

McCain Gains Louisiana Delegates Saturday, February 16, 2008 4:26 PM A majority of Louisiana's 47 Republican National Convention delegates tell The Associated Press they intend to back for Senator John McCain for president. Louisiana Republicans met Saturday to divvy up 44 of the state's delegates to the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September. Louisiana's Feb. 9 presidential primary would have pledged 20 at-large delegates had a candidate received at least 50 percent of the ballots cast. With Huckabee winning with 43 percent and McCain right behind with 42 percent, no at-large delegates were awarded.

U.S. Rep. John Shadegg said Thursday he will reconsider his decision to retire at the end of his term. He began wavering after learning that more than half of the Republicans in the House have signed a letter asking him to stay. Shadegg, 58, unexpectedly announced his retirement Monday. The letter is the first of kind and scope in recent memory. One of its three authors, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, said he and the others collected 135 signatures in about two hours Thursday afternoon. Pence expected to obtain additional signatures today. Shadegg said he was aware the letter was...

During recent primary campaigning, John McCain came out of the global warming closet, so to speak, into which it seemed he had gone to hide his passion for the Left’s new signature issue. Alert voters must have been wondering, where’s the John McCain who promised to ride this issue to further “maverick” glory, the man who not so long ago whispered in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s ear “Campaign finance reform took us seven years. This may take longer, but we’ll stay at it”? First we restrict speech, then we ration energy. It just makes sense. Whatever the reason for...

U. S. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, has spent the better part of the last decade running for president. He actively sought the office in 2000 and lost handily to George W. Bush. Since that time, he has done everything he could think of to antagonize the base of his own party. Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-TN, acts as if the thought of running for president just occurred to him five minutes ago. Some days he acts as though it still hasn't occurred to him. For very different reasons, these two men, with their totally different approaches to politics, have probably...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – CNN has learned more staff members from Sen. John McCain’s struggling presidential bid are expected to depart the campaign Monday, the latest in a string of setbacks for the Arizona Republican’s once surefire candidacy. A source tells CNN’s Candy Crowley at least one senior staffer is among those who plan to call it quits early next week. The news comes days after McCain’s top two strategists were forced out following bleak second quarter fundraising numbers and excessive spending that left the campaign with a paltry $2 million cash on hand and $1.75 million in debt. The campaign...

Campaign Manager, Chief Strategist for McCain resign Tue Jul 10 2007 11:23:10 ET ARLINGTON, VA - Terry Nelson, Campaign Manager and John Weaver, Chief Strategist for John McCain 2008 issued the following statements: "This morning I informed Senator McCain that I would be resigning from his presidential campaign, effective immediately. It has been a tremendous honor to serve Senator McCain and work on his campaign. I believe John McCain is the most experienced and prepared candidate to represent the Republican Party and defeat the Democratic nominee next year." - Terry Nelson, Campaign Manager "As of today, I have resigned my...

As the American people, elected officials, and commentators reflect on the heated immigration debate that came to a temporary close in the Senate this week many will ask, and have asked, why U.S. Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) staked out a position that may, in retrospect, be seen as devastating to his presidential ambitions. I hope the American people, at least, step back from the obsessive play-by-play pre-season election analysis and reflect on Senator McCain’s actions for what I believe they were: One of the purest examples of political courage seen in Washington in a very, very long time. Before...

Republican 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain crooned the words "Bomb Iran" to a Beach Boys' tune in joking response to a question about any possible US attack over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. "That old Beach Boys song, bomb Iran...bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb," the Vietnam War veteran warbled softly to the band's Barbara Ann when he was asked when the United States would send an "airmail message" to Iran. The singing performance during a campaign stop on Wednesday in South Carolina drew chuckles from the audience and has already been viewed almost 11,000 times on the internet video sharing site...

McCain starts to feel fallout from Iraq By Philip Sherwell in New York, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:28am GMT 17/12/2006 The popularity of John McCain, the decorated Vietnam veteran and strong contender for the Republican 2008 presidential nomination, is being undermined by his support for the Iraq war. As he took his undeclared White House campaign to Baghdad, among a congressional delegation to Iraq, the Arizona senator called for the deployment of up to 35,000 more US troops and made clear that he opposed a timetable for withdrawal. John McCain with other United States senators as they met Nouri al-Maliki...

Senator McCain occupies an unusual position in American politics. Because of his military service, his unquestioned heroism and the agonizing, extended torture he endured for 5 years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton, he receives deserved acclaim from all sectors. Yet as a supposed Republican, he comes off as a liberal gadfly who will do almost anything to gain press coverage and face time on TV. There are six specific reasons why I oppose him, and certainly could not support him or almost anything he favors: 1. his membership in the Keating Five, 2. his potentially disastrous position on...

A congressman just back for Iraq says that the troops he spoke to overwhelmingly oppose a bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain that would restrict U.S. interrogators in the kind of techniques they can use while grilling terrorist suspects. While visiting with GIs on the frontline this week, Rep. Jack Kingston said he talked to the enlisted men who deal with prisoners of war. The Georgia Republican stressed that soldiers also told him that the U.S. guards who broke the law in the Abu Ghraib scandal last year should be punished. Kingston said that he will report his findings to...

I received the following email tonight. From: Kevin McLaughlin [mailto:ecampaign@gop.com] Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:09 PM To: rwjay@woh.rr.com Subject: Bookcast with Senator John McCain Dear Richard, On this Veterans Day, join us for a conversation with Senator John McCain as he shares the stories of heroes who have devoted their lives to serving others. In the latest BookCast on GOP.com, Senator McCain discusses his newest book, Character is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember. In Character is Destiny, we meet heroes like Pat Tillman, who left the riches and celebrity of the...

October 06, 2005, 1:49 p.m. A liberal minority in the Senate will have the upper hand. I am hearing two primary arguments for Harriet Miers by those who are close to the president: 1. The president knows her, believes she is the best candidate, and we should trust him because his past judicial picks have been excellent; and 2. There are not enough Republican votes in the Senate to win an ideological fight over a nominee like Michael Luttig, Edith Jones, or Janice Rogers Brown. I and others have already addressed the first point at some length over the last...

"Sen. John McCain disagreed Sunday with Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes," and called on the Bush administration to stop telling Americans victory is around the corner." ""First of all, I'd go to the international organizations and try to get some kind of sanctions and condemnation of it," McCain said."

The $50 million Dems The real VIPs in the fight to oust George W. Bush won’t be on the FleetCenter stage next week. They’re the wealthy funders of progressive ‘527’ groups. BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN ONE YEAR AGO, conventional political wisdom held that the Democratic presidential nominee would be in trouble right now. After spending all his cash in a tough primary battle, the thinking went, the candidate would have to spend April through June scrambling to raise money for the general campaign. In the meantime, Bush’s team would be free to use that three-month window to define the Democrats’...

WASHINGTON - Truth be told, John McCain really can't stand George W. Bush, even if he agrees with him on a lot of things, especially Iraq. It's amusing for us political reporters to watch the senator from Arizona struggle with the role fate handed him: riding shotgun on the Bush re-election stagecoach. It's hard to know whether McCain, deep down, wants to protect his passenger or let the Indians have him. As for Bush, he doesn't trust McCain, but needs him. McCain's rhetorical flirtation with the idea of becoming Sen. John Kerry's running mate is just the latest act in...

For employees of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), November 6, 2002, will be a scary day. Parties shed excess staff after virtually every election. But November 6 doesn't just mark the end of an election cycle; it marks the beginning of the McCain-Feingold era. And with the party deprived of the $250 million in soft money it raises every two years, this year's DNC cutbacks could reach "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap proportions. According to one top Democrat, the party's specialists in ethnic outreach and constituent relations will be canned, as will its experts in get-out-the-vote and field organization. In all, party...