McCain hints he may raise Obama-Ayers ties in tonight's debate
John McCain will apparently take the dare in tonight's final presidential debate.
After his campaign began attacking Democratic rival Barack Obama over his ties to 1960s radical William Ayers, McCain did not raise the issue during last week's debate.
Afterward, Obama told ABC News that he was surprised McCain didn't bring it up face to face. Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, was more direct, telling a campaign crowd: "In my neighborhood, you got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him."
McCain appeared to take the bait yesterday. "I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised I didn't have the guts to do that, because the fact is the question didn't come up in that fashion," McCain told a St. Louis radio station. "I think he's probably ensured it will come up this time."
FOON RHEE
Poll shows large expansion in Obama's lead in a week
Thanks to a huge swing among independent voters, Democrat Barack Obama has built a double-digit lead over Republican John McCain just in the last week, according to a new poll released last night.
The New York Times/CBS News poll gives Obama a 53 percent to 39 percent lead, compared with a much narrower 48 percent to 45 percent edge in the same poll last week. Among independent voters, the change is even larger. Obama now leads 51 percent to 33 percent, when McCain had led 49 percent to 39 percent a week ago.
A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg national poll, also released last evening, gives Obama a 50 percent to 41 percent lead among likely voters. He led 49 percent to 45 percent in the same poll last month.
FOON RHEE
Clinton says she's unlikely to seek White House again
Hillary Clinton tried yesterday to put to rest some of the speculation surrounding her political future.
Conspiracy theorists are convinced - despite Clinton's now-enthusiastic backing of onetime rival Barack Obama - that she wants him to lose in November so she can run again in 2012, when she would also be on the ballot if she seeks reelection to her US Senate seat.
But in an interview aired yesterday on Fox News Channel, Clinton said the chances of her running for president again are "probably close to zero." Also asked on a scale of 1 to 10 about the chances of her taking a seat on the US Supreme Court, she replied, "Zero. I have no interest in doing that."
And of the odds that she will become the next Senate majority leader? "Oh probably zero. I'm not seeking any other position except for being the best senator for New York that I can be."
FOON RHEE
Obama to campaign in N.H. tomorrow; Palins today
Showing the potential importance of New Hampshire on Nov. 4, Barack Obama plans to make his first stop in the Granite State after tonight's presidential debate.
His campaign said that he plans to hold a rally tomorrow at Mack's Apples in Londonderry, a favorite apple-picking spot.
Meanwhile, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska and her husband, Todd, will be tag-teaming New Hampshire today.
Sarah Palin had already announced three events - in Dover, Laconia, and Salem - and her husband will have two of his own: a factory tour and employee gathering at Isaacson Structural Steel in Berlin and a meet-and-greet with voters at the Littleton Diner in Littleton.
FOON RHEE
Obama campaign buys ads in video games
WASHINGTON - Too busy playing video games to watch presidential ads on television? Barack Obama has found you, too, by becoming the first presidential candidate to buy ad space inside a game.
Nine video games from
The ads - they appear on billboards and other signage - remind players that early voting has begun and plug a campaign website.
Obama campaign officials said the video game ads target 10 states that allow early voting, including several battleground states: Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
No offense taken, Iran says of 'bomb Iran' reference
GENEVA - Bomb-bomb Iran? Iran says no offense taken.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain jokingly altered the lyrics of the Beach Boys classic "Barbara Ann" last year to refer to an attack on Iran, which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program. Barack Obama has mentioned it as a sign of McCain's recklessness on foreign policy.
But is Iran mad about it? Not a bit, Ali Larijani, Iran's parliamentary speaker and former chief nuclear negotiator, said yesterday. "We don't have any objection to them singing a song," Larijani said.
But a real bomb, he said, would be no laughing matter. "We are confident that if they make that mistake they will be awakened from their sleep and they will face a nightmare," Larijani said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Amid fraud claims, ACORN defends its voting efforts
WASHINGTON - An activist organization defended its voter registration practices yesterday amid new allegations of voter fraud and a call from Republican lawmakers to investigate irregularities.
Democrat Barack Obama told reporters yesterday that the group's registration problems should not be used by the GOP as an excuse to keep voters from turning out on Election Day. Republican John McCain's campaign said yesterday that Obama should rein in ACORN's efforts in order to fight voter fraud.
Six GOP leaders wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week to urge him to make sure ballots by ineligible or fraudulent voters are not counted on Nov. 4.
ACORN has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities, and poor and working-class voters, the group says. Some of those registration cards have become the focus of fraud investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri, and at least five other states.
ASSOCIATED PRESS 