Obama: McCain 'running out of time' - From NBC/NJ's Athena JonesASHEVILLE, N.C. -- With just 30 days to go until Election Day, Obama told a crowd of some 28,000 people at a high school football stadium here that his rival was attacking him with smears because he had no ideas and was “running out of time.”The senator said the McCain campaign wanted to "turn the page" on the discussion about the economy and spend the last month of the campaign launching "Swiftboat-style attacks" on him. His comments came as the McCain campaign continued to link him with '60s radical William Ayers. Yesterday, Sarah Palin accused Obama of palling around "with terrorists who target their own country." Rather than responding directly to Palin, Obama tried to appear above what he has called petty distractions and promised to keep his focus on "the issues."”Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance," he said. "They’d rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time."...(read more)

Palin: The Magnificent Seven - The AP on the latest development in the Troopergate scandal: "Seven aides to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have reversed course and agreed to testify in an investigation into whether the Republican vice presidential nominee abused her powers by firing a commissioner who refused to dismiss her former brother-in-law." ...(read more)

McCain vs. Obama: Debate prep - The Washington Post reports McCain is doing far more serious debate prep for Tuesday than he did for the first showdown. “In one of the most beautiful spots on the globe, Sen. John McCain spent much of Saturday holed up in a dark hotel conference room, engaged in intense debate preparation. At the end of it, the GOP nominee told his aides that was crazy, and so Sunday's first round of debate prep was held outside, near the creek by his house in the scenic Arizona desert.”“Other than...(read more)

McCain vs. Obama: Character debate - In her harshest attacks since being selected as McCain’s running mate, Palin sharplycriticized Obama over the weekend for the Illinois senator’s tenuous ties to the ‘60s radical Bill Ayers. “This is not a man who sees America as you and I see America,” she said of Obama. “We see Americas as a force for good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism. Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who target their own country."The AP's Daniel writes on Palin's "palling around" comment, "[T]hough she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret… Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee ‘palling around’ with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?” "In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers' day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate. Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American." "Obama launched a counterattack yesterday, saying his rival was more interested in a smear campaign than fixing the economy," Reuters writes. "But John McCain's supporters said they would continue to push the issue of Obama's character." The Politico writes that the Obama campaign today “will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the “Keating Five” savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain’s public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer. Pushing back against what it calls ‘guilt-by-association’ tactics by McCain, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, that will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.”...(read more)

First thoughts: Obama at 264 - From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann*** Obama at 264: A week after Obama's poll numbers spiked in battleground states and after McCain's campaign announced it was retreating from Michigan, Obama has opened up a nearly 100-point electoral-vote lead, according to NBC’s new map. Obama now has a 264-174 advantage over McCain, up from his 212-174 edge last week. The changes are all in Obama’s direction: We’ve moved Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin...(read more)