Anchorage Daily News

Michael Carey on Sarah Palin on NPR today. Alaska political commentator Michael Carey says his sole topic is Sarah Palin, from her days as governor, at the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minn., and now on the campaign trail. Listen in on KSKA, 91.1 where you can live-stream it. The program airs at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. You can also download the current Fresh Air podcast at NPR, available at approximately 11 a.m.

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McCain-Palin camp takes criticism from all sides over attack campaign. Dipping poll numbers and pundits on the right and left are assailing the attack strategy that Sarah Palin launched in the last days of the campaign linking Barack Obama to Bill Ayers as "palling around with terrorists." Here's a look at news reports and analysis from across the political spectrum, with special attention to whether McCain will raise what had been a Palin line at tonight's final debate.

> McCain and civility (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune)

Leading the charge as McCain's attack puppy, Palin has answered McCain's question, "Who is Barack Obama?" as though Obama were a subversive and threatening force. "This is not a man," Palin said of Obama at a Denver fundraiser, "who sees America as you see it and how I see America."

Sure, one might just as easily ask, "Who is Sarah Palin?" Obama has been campaigning and submitting to interviews for almost two years. Palin has been a vice presidential candidate for a little more than a month, during which she usually has treated reporters as if they were carrying the Ebola virus.

Yet, she smiles, winks and scapegoats the "liberal media establishment" for trying to make her look bad.

> Palin, McCain stir up story of ugly racism (Andrew Greeley, Chicago Sun-Times)

"South Pacific" is a morality play for our time. Sarah Palin is the Ensign Nellie Forbush -- an All-American girl as racist, this time a racist with her eye on the White House. She can stir up crowds to shout "Kill him!" at the mention of the presidential candidate of the other party a couple of weeks before the national election.

Ensign Nellie Forbush (the incomparable Kelli O'Hara) finds redemption at the end of "South Pacific." She turns to her true love and escapes the obligation to wait for the enchanted evening on which he might suddenly appear across a crowded room. For Sarah Palin, such an easy escape hardly seems possible. How can she ever justify silence when she heard a cry for lynching?

> The last debate (Bill Ayers edition?) (Tuscaloosa News)

Speaking to a St. Louis radio station earlier this week, McCain said that Obama's recent suggestion that McCain did not have the temerity to raise the Ayers issue to his face "probably ensured" that the former Weather Underground leader will come up in tonight's debate.

"You have another debate coming up," the radio host said. "The final debate. Many of your supporters are eager for you to confront Sen. Obama on the Bill Ayers relationship in particular. Hillary Clinton even brought this up during the primary. Sen. Obama says you should have the guts to do it in person. So will you?"

"Oh yeah," McCain answered. "You know, I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised for me to have the guts to do that. Because the fact is that the question did not come up in that fashion so, you know, I think he's probably ensured that it will come up this time."

> Polls show attacks hurt the McCain-Palin bid (The New York Times)

The top reasons cited by those who said they thought less of Mr. McCain were his recent attacks and his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. (The vast majority said their opinions of Mr. Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee, and Mr. McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, had remained unchanged in recent weeks.) But in recent days, Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin have scaled back their attacks on Mr. Obama, although Mr. McCain suggested he might aggressively take on Mr. Obama in Wednesday's debate.

After several weeks in which the McCain campaign sought to tie Mr. Obama to William Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground terrorism group, 64 percent of voters said that they had either read or heard something about the subject. But a majority said they were not bothered by Mr. Obama's background or past associations. Several people said in follow-up interviews that they felt that Mr. McCain's attacks on Mr. Obama were too rooted in the past or too unconnected to the nation's major problems.

Points from the CBS/NYT poll mentioned above:

> Over all, the poll found that if the election were held today, 53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain.

> More than 8 in 10 Americans do not trust the government to do what is right, the highest ever recorded in a Times/CBS News poll.

> 52 percent of those polled said that they held a favorable view of the Democratic Party, compared with 37 percent who said they held a favorable view of the Republican Party.

From the Rasmussen Reports presidential tracking poll:

> As the candidates prepare for their final debate, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday once again shows Barack Obama attracting 50% of the vote while John McCain earns 45%. That's the fourth straight day with identical numbers and the twentieth straight day that Obama's support has stayed in the narrow range from 50% to 52% while McCain has been at 44% of 45%

> Foreign media reject campaign's ugly tactics (San Francisco Chronicle)

From Le Monde:

In its editorial, headlined "Dangerous America," Le Monde expresses special concern about the ugly race-baiting that has characterized the campaign of Sen. John McCain, the fumbling Bush clone who has become the Republicans' presidential candidate, and his sidekick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

By contrast, the French daily points out, so far the Republicans have "spoken little" about Obama's proposals in such areas as energy or finance. Instead, they are "tolerating and often encouraging racist slander, xenophobic hate and venomous rumors" of the kind that feed the "bigoted and 'suprematist' extreme right." If McCain should win the contest for the presidency "in such conditions," Le Monde cautions, "violence will threaten America."

From the Globe and Mail:

"Mean or desperate. It is difficult to find any other adjectives to describe ... McCain's decision to turn much of his campaign into a smear machine. ... More important is what the McCain campaign's late-game turn toward the outright demonization of a genuinely popular and thoughtful opponent could mean for the Republican Party and the United States as a whole. ... (McCain) should also consider the role of angry mobs (at McCain-Palin rallies), particularly those angry at black men, in America's tortured political history. In continuing his current tactics, ... McCain risks creating an enraged constituency of hard-core Obama opponents, convinced that their co-nationals are in the process of handing the keys to the White House over to a dangerous 'other.' ... McCain is opening Pandora's box. For the sake of his country, he should close it tightly and fight out the remainder of the campaign on policy."

> Transcript: Special report on race issues in the campaign (Fox News)

Brit Hume is the moderator, and the panel consists of Mara Liasson, NPR; Charles Krauthammer, columnist; and Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard. They launched their discussion with Georgia Congressman John Lewis' recent remark about the McCain-Palin attack strategy:

"Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

"There was a governor of the state of Alabama, George Wallace. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who only desired to exercise their constitutional rights."

> Ayers likely topic at tonight's debate (Reuters)

Ayers was not discussed in the last debate, although McCain had been talking about him on the campaign trail. After the last debate, Obama noted McCain's reluctance to discuss the issue with him directly.

"I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised that I didn't have the guts to do that," McCain said in an interview with KMOX radio in St. Louis, Mo. "I think he's probably assured that it's going to come up this time."

> Hands off Palin (The NEXT Right blog)

Now, zoom back in on the Palin situation. In the midst of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, conservative establishment pundits appear to blame John McCain's inability to seal the deal not on the misfortune of being the candidate of the in-party or his thin track record on economic matters or his jarring response to the crisis, but on a hockey mom from Alaska. Who just happens to be part of the grassroots conservative- outsider- Mark Levin circle. Who, from a conservative point of view, happens to be the one bit of relief we've gotten from this crap sandwich of a political environment that's been going on for three years now. Who, in a movement and a party bereft of fresh faces, seemed to represent a rising new guard.

Can you see why they we are angry?

Never mind that the political case for Palin decisively hurting the ticket is thin at best.

Never mind that when Palin actually mattered, McCain was ahead.

Never mind that Palin seems to be the only one willing to go on the attack (and I'm not one who believes slash and burn is called for right now, btw).

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What's new in Troopergate? Friday's Legislative Council report continues to reverberate through news cycles across the country and in the Alaska blogosphere.

> Legislative Council considers sharing confidential information with Personnel Board investigator (Associated Press)

The Legislative Council will consider sharing the "confidential component" of its Troopergate report with the State Personnel Board.

State Sen. Kim Elton, a Juneau Democrat, says the panel likely will grant the request by Personnel Board investigator Tim Petumenos.

> Commentary: Time for Palin to answer tough questions (Roland Martin, CNN)

Lastly, don't you think the self-described maverick needs to own up to what really happened with the firing of the commissioner in Alaska? She was declared by a special investigator to have been within her rights in firing the commissioner, but she was blasted for abuse of power and violating the state's ethics act.

So what did she say in a conference call with Alaska reporters, who were not allowed by the McCain camp to ask follow-up questions? That she was cleared of all wrongdoing, legally and ethically.

That's right. She repeated over and over and over an absolute lie, and we are supposed to say, "Hey, it's all fine. She winks at us. We love her hockey mom schtick. Don't worry about that abuse of power thing."

> Todd Palin was warned about Troopergate (London Telegraph)

The report discloses a warning given to Todd Palin by Mr. Glass in the spring that disciplinary action had already been taken against Mr. Wooten and that "we could not fire him".

"I also warned him that it was going to cause some extreme amount of discomfort and embarrassment for the governor if they pursued this and it should never have become public," Mr. Glass told the inquiry. "That it would just be not good for the governor if it continued and that they needed to cease and desist."

> Breaking up bears (Stroller's Weekly blog)

The Stroller noted that before the Friday release of the report, many members of the Legislative Council and the Senate Judiciary Committee had been vocal defenders of the governor and went so far as to file suit to stop the investigation and the release of the report. But, after spending more than five hours in executive session behind closed doors reviewing all the material developed during the investigation, those defenders were strangely muted in their criticism of the report and their defense of the governor. They even went out of their way to compliment Mr. Branchflower on his professionalism and thoroughness.

The Stroller wonders what it was they read in the confidential support documents that weren't publicly released that caused their sudden reticence. What else was included in the un-redacted back-up material that gave pause to the critics of the investigation and the defenders of Gov. Sarah? Do some of the governor's staff or first dude Todd have legal exposure due to the mishandling of Trooper Wooten's personnel file? The answer to those and other questions are now the subject of the Personnel Board's investigation.T

> Let the Troopergate fall out begin (Mudlfats)

The second Troopergate investigation is still under way, but the karmic returns of the events which brought about the whole mess to begin with have started to manifest.

The rumor mill is churning, and the news today is all bad for Gov. Palin.

Trooper Mike Wooten is none too pleased at having his name dragged through the mud by the Palins. What might be on his mind these days, we wonder?

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In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Palin's other personnel issue (Alaska Real)

Alaska Native blogger Writing Raven analyzes Rhonda McBride's letter to Native leaders on why she left the Palin administration.

> Gun rights are big for Alaskans in this election (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> Alaska bankers: No time for stashing cash in coffee cans (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> New study confirms effect of global warming on Alaska glaciers (APRN)

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