The Nightowl Newswrap

When reporters attack WFTV in Orlando has been cut off by the Obama campaign after a reporter interviewing Joe Biden launched an attack, accusing Obama of Marxism and twisting Biden's "we'll be tested" comment, asking him if that meant America's days as the world's leading power were over. The communications director for the Obama campaign in Central Florida fired off a missive canceling all scheduled interviews with campaign surrogates by WFTV. "This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election."

Sprinting to the finish The Democratic ticket isn't taking the lead in the polls for granted - and they are going all out for Florida. Barack and the Big Dawg himself will make a joint appearance in Orlando on Wednesday. We know who won't be getting any interviews.

If course he's going to carry Arizona but the rest of the west is crumbling beneath McCain's feet as he trails by 13 next door in New Mexico, and by five in both Nevada and Colorado.

Democrats to file complaint with FEC against McCain campaign They allege that the McCain campaign has repeatedly violated McCain-Feingold. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

Oy Vey The Pennsylvania state GOP has plumbed a despicable new depth. In one of the most egregious smears of the campaign, the Pennsylvania state party is sending out an email targeting Jewish voters that accuses Barack Obama of personally teaching ACORN how to commit registration fraud (presumably he held a workshop?) and equating a vote for Senator Barack Obama with the “tragic mistake” of their Jewish ancestors, who “ignored the warning signs in the 1930’s and 1940’s.”

Ron Paul bites John McCain in the ass in southwest Missouri In the reddest corner of a purple state, where McCain needs heavy turnout to counter the motivated Democratic areas, the people McCain needs to turn out are not excited about him. They would rather be voting for Ron Paul, who wants to abolish the Fed and get the hell out of Iraq. They aren't thrilled about a candidate who not only voted for a bailout they bitterly opposed, but tried to take credit for it too, and wants to stay in Iraq for a hundred years. Yard signs in Joplin tell the tale - the news isn't that there are a couple of Obama signs, it's that McCain signs aren't outnumbering them by orders of magnitude - and that political signs are far and away outnumbered by For Sale signs - some planted in front lawns as much as a year ago.



The Newsweek interview with Bob Gates is worth a read. Like him or loathe him, you have to admit that replacing Rumsfeld with Gates was the one thing that this administration got right.

They shoot rogue elephants, don't they? With the campaign unraveling, Sarah Palin is ignoring her handlers and doing and saying whatever the hell she pleases. She sees herself as the rightful next leader of the republican party, and she blames the campaign handlers for bungling her roll out and damaging her image. She seems to be going off-message more and more, and like any diva, has reverted to looking-out-for-number-one mode. "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom," a McCain staffer told CNN.

Arkansas anchor dies: An Arkansas television anchorwoman died Saturday, several days after being found beaten in her home when she didn't answer her wake-up call, hospital officials said. Anne Pressly, 26, died at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Preston said. In a statement released by the hospital, Pressly's parents Guy and Patti Cannady asked for privacy as they grieved their daughter's death...Little Rock police have yet to identify a suspect.

The Dalai Lama gives up: The Dalai Lama said Saturday he has given up on efforts to convince Beijing to allow greater autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule. The Tibetan spiritual leader said he would now ask the Tibetan people to decide how to take the dialogue forward. China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split Tibet from the rest of the country. The Dalai Lama has denied the allegations, saying he is only seeking greater autonomy for the Himalayan region to protect its unique Buddhist culture - a policy he calls the "middle way."

Two employees of shipping company DHL killed in Afghanistan by their bodyguard: A private guard working for the international shipping company DHL opened fire and killed the company's country director and his deputy on Saturday before turning the gun on himself, officials said. The shootings took place in front of the DHL office in downtown Kabul. One Briton and one South African were killed in the attack, the British Foreign Office and South African government said. A preliminary investigation found that one of the Afghan security guards protecting the DHL compound opened fire on the car carrying the two victims when it pulled into the company headquarters, said Mirza Mohammad Yarmal, the Interior Ministry official in charge of criminal investigations.

What the hell? [Massachusetts] State police say a 200-pound Russian wild boar was euthanized after being struck by a vehicle on Route 2 in Lancaster this week. That was a big surprise to state wildlife experts. While some wild boars are known to live in northern New England, they say there is and never has been a native population of feral swine in Massachusetts. Chester Hall, a hunter from Royalston, told the Telegram & Gazette that he was offered the carcass to use for coyote bait. He described the animal as having a hump on its back and a long snout, saying it resembled a "werewolf."

Joe McCain quits campaign after creating a firestorm when it got out that he had called 911 to complain about traffic on the I-95, and cursing at the operator before hanging up, John McCain's brother Joe announced he was withdrawing from the campaign and issued an apology for being a self-important jackass.

Randy Scheunemann pitches a hissy-fit The strain of being an architect of the most bumblingly inept campaign in modern history is apparently getting to him. After Marc Ambinder wrote about the infighting in the McCain campaign he fired off an email to Ambinder: Just read your post. This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ. It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists. It was a fact before Governor Palin said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today. It is bullshit to claim or write anything else. Now it's terrorists - plural. And they are sticking with the "palling around" bit, even if it was debunked weeks ago.

Sunday bobbleheads lineup: John McCain will share a tireswing with Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press, and Brokaw will be joined for the roundtable by Charlie Cook, Kelly O'Donnell and Chuck Todd. On This Week Rep. Rahm Emanuel will go head to head with Lindsey Graham, and Jack Welch be interviewed on the economic turmoil of the last week. Face the Nation will have an economic focus with former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin debating McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Fox News Sunday will have a "swing state" theme and feature interviews with Democratic Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and former Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.