John McCain has made a political gambit today, asking for a delay for the Friday night Presidential debate, saying he needs to be in Washington to do, no one knows what exactly. Obama is responding in a news conference as we speak.

He mentions his idea of a joint statement of principles with Senator McCain outlining where they stand on the Wall Street bailout, arguing that he and McCain seem to have some agreement on the issue. He lists the agreements, while something must be done, what is done must include the following principles - (1) Accountability; (2) Fairness to taxpayers, meaning they should get their money back; (3) mortgage relief for ordinary citizens, not just a bailout for Wall Street; and (4) no windfall for Wall Street executives and companies.

Asked about the Friday debate, Obama reminds that he initiated the joint statement. He states that McCain agreed but also called for a meeting in Washington, and possibly suspending the debates. Obama said he wanted to have the statement first. Then McCain went on TV, with no warning to Obama, calling for a delay of the debates. [More...]

as John McCain has proposed, why not have a discussion about the Wall Street credit/mortgage crisis instead? John McCain can discuss what he thinks is important about it and what we should do about it and Obama can do the same.

If they happen to agree on the issue, so much for the better. When the two people from which our next President will be chosen agree on a solution, then that will be the plan to follow, since one of them will have to live with it come next January 20.

Let's not run away from the issue Senator McCain, let's discuss it for the sake of the American People. Barack Obama should offer this change to John McCain, for the sake of the country.

Greg Sargent agrees with me: "Obama will make a public statement on this shortly -- it'll be interesting to see if Obama calls on McCain to do the debate on other terms. For instance, he could invite McCain to make the debate about the economy, rather than about national security."

(Emphasis supplied.)

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

This is great news . . . for Obama:

President Bush might make a televised speech to pressure Congress to approve a $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street, a White House spokeswoman said. President Bush may address the nation about the $700 billion bailout package as early as Wednesday night.

The president is trying to decide "whether, how or when" to address the nation, spokeswoman Dana Perino said Wednesday. "The American people have questions and a lot of concerns and the president has been trying to answer them."

(Emphasis supplied.) Please, please, please, let it be true. I want to hear Bush "answer the concerns" of the American People about anything. Let's fire up the pictures of McCain with Bush. Bush could bury the Paulson plan and the McCain campaign all in one fell swoop.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I posted on the WaPo poll that has Obama up 52-43. The trackers also have Obama ahead. Ras has Obama up 2, 49-47. Hotline has Obama up 6. Dkos/R2000 has Obama up 4. Ipsos/McClatchey has Obama up 1. CNN/Opinion Research has Obama up 4. Gallup has Obama by 3. Only Battleground has McCain up 2.

It seems safe to say that Obama has a solid lead and it is because of the economy.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The latest WaPo poll leaves no doubt - "it's the economy, stupid:"

Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Democratic nominee Barack Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over Republican John McCain, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll.

. . . More voters trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans now face. He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support. The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. . . .

More...

Third party candidate Ralph Nader released this ad today showing similarities between McCain and Obama and then laying out his different positions. One big one: Nader is for "Across the board amnesty for all non-violent drug offenders."

Nader's time has passed, and I hope everyone will realize the choice between McCain and Obama is a choice between the failed Republican policies of the last 8 years and a chance to do things differently. I don't care to see either Bob Barr or Ralph Nader in the presidential debates.

That said...[More...]

Gov. Sarah Palin met with her first foreign leader today. Only one press member was allowed to attend -- and only for 29 seconds. Tomorrow she will meet with rock star Bono.

Joe Biden? [More...]

The Public Policy Project poll of Colorado voters I wrote about last night is out. Obama leads McCain, 51% to 44%. Gov. Sarah Palin is tanking his ticket.

Sarah Palin's popularity with Colorado voters over the last couple weeks has plummeted, and as it has Barack Obama has opened up his biggest lead yet in a PPP survey of the state.

Immediately after the Republican convention 41% of Coloradoans said John McCain's choice of Palin to join him on the ticket made them more likely to vote for him while 38% said it made them less likely to do so. Now the number of people saying Palin's selection makes them less likely to vote for McCain has climbed to 47% with the number of people viewing it favorably dropping to 38%.

Full poll results here (pdf). And good news for Rep. Mark Udall in the Senate race: He's leading Bob Shaffer 48 to 40. [More...]

David Talbot in Salon today explores Gov. Sarah Palin's style of politics in Alaska.

According to some political observers in Alaska, this pattern -- exploiting "old-boy" mentors and then turning against them for her own advantage -- defines Sarah Palin's rise to power. Again and again, Palin has charmed powerful political patrons, and then rejected them when it suited her purposes. She has crafted a public image as a clean politics reformer, but in truth, she has only blown the whistle on political corruption when it was expedient for her to do so. Above all, Palin is a dynamo of ambition, shrewdly maneuvering her way through the notoriously compromised world of Alaska politics, making and breaking alliances along the way.

[More...]

Sen. Barack Obama has released a new Spanish language ad on the economy in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. You can view it below the fold. The photo is a screen shot from it.

A companion radio ad (click here for audio) plays the same McCain "fundamentals" clip and later asserts, in the Florida version of the spot: "John McCain and the Republicans have no clue about the struggles of the middle class and working people. We have the highest unemployment in Florida in 13 years. Forty-five million people are without health insurance. Nine thousand five hundred homes are being foreclosed every day. In Florida, 1,400 families lose their homes on a daily basis. But John McCain and Republicans want to continue George Bush's same failed policies that led us to this collapse. How can McCain and the Republicans fix our economy if they don't know it's broken?"

Quinnipiac released new poll results today:

By 19 - 24 point margins, voters in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin say Democrat Barack Obama, not Republican John McCain, is the candidate of change, helping lift Sen. Obama into the lead in these battleground states, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states, conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today.

More...

As Gov. Sarah Palin meets with foreign leaders today and bans the press from attending (Added: and then changes her mind after protests, but only sort-of), here's former US Army Brigadier General (retired) Janis L. Karpinski's op-ed at TruthOut today on how Palin would turn back time:

I know enough about Palin's character to assess her as ill-equipped, clueless and unprepared to take control of our nation in the event of McCain's early demise or incapacitation, much less qualified to serve as the commander in chief of all military forces. Unfortunately for Palin, leadership is not derived by a process of osmosis.

More...