McCain brings sharper notes to Music City -- but will audience tune it out?

Financial stress in Ohio helps put Obama ahead of McCain, 51-45 percent.

With 27 days to go, anything can happen, even at tonight's debate.

Accusations and negative attacks fly as candidates look for edge in election.

Republicans prep attack on Obama's character and preparedness to be president.

McCain/Palin Step Up Attacks, Obama leads in OH

The first stop in Politics -- It's what you need to know

VP pick Palin praises Hillary; says "the women of America aren't done yet."

With just four weeks left until Election Day, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are preparing to face off in Tuesday night's high-stakes presidential debate.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the road for the U.S. in Iraq has been "harder, longer, and more difficult that I personally imagined" and warned that despite some recent progress, success in Iraq is "not a sure thing."

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has agreed to answer written questions in the state Legislature's investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner, campaign officials said Monday.

By now you've probably heard about how ugly things have gotten out there on the campaign trail in the last 48 hours.

Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and President Bush's current Chief of Staff Josh Bolten do not have to cooperate -- at least this year -- with a congressional committee investigating the firings of U.S. Attorneys, a three-judge federal appeals panel in Washington ruled Monday.

Thomas Frank says he's fascinated by contradiction and irony. So it seems cosmically appropriate that he arrives at CNN Center the day headlines are screaming about the market meltdown, prompting the free-market Bush administration to call for a massive bailout package. (The package was passed by Congress and signed by the president last week.)

With four weeks to go till Election Day, the road ahead for John McCain is straight up the side of an ice-covered mountain.

Prosecutors trying to persuade a judge not to throw out the criminal case against Sen. Ted Stevens expect the Justice Department to investigate them for their failure to disclose evidence that might help clear the 84-year-old GOP lawmaker.

Republican Sen. John McCain likes fellow conservative justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama does not think much of Clarence Thomas.

The Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., yesterday said Republicans are misplacing blame when they target Democrats' efforts to expand affordable housing -- and Frank alleged there was a racial component to the criticism. "They...

Coming on the heels of Doug Kmiec's new book "Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Questions about Barack Obama," Duquesne University School of Law dean Nick Cafardi has written an essay titled, "I'm Catholic, Staunchly Anti-Abortion, and Support...

"Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness," writes the Washington Post's Dana Milbank. "In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame...

"Who is Barack Obama?" asks the narrator in Sen. John McCain's latest attack ad. A TV within the ad then shows a local Missouri TV report, that the reporter has since backed away from (more on that HERE), in which...

It's called "Subject" and it's all the stronger for that ill-conceived quote an unnamed McCain senior adviser gave the New York Daily News. The script reads: ANNOUNCER: He’s out of ideas. Out of touch. And running out of time. But...

From some outfit call "RightChange.com" ... heard of it? The ad can be watched HERE. The script: "Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac. Dodd. Frank. Raines. Johnson. Pelosi. Barack Obama. They defended Fannie and Freddie. AWOL on reform. "Raines and Johnson ran...

Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman in the New York Times said the following: "If John McCain had a long association with a guy who'd bombed abortion clinics, I don't think people would say, 'That's ancient history.' " Another jump ball...

The liberal blogosphere is atwitter with a 1998 Mother Jones Magazine interview -- first seemingly unearthed by Talking Points Memo -- with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that includes the following curious exchange about Osama bin Laden. MJ: You not only...

At the Atlantic, Marc Ambinder says that when McCain asks the above question, someone in the audience yells "terrorist!" In Estero, Florida, today, Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, speaking before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at a rally, said the world...

In Albuquerque, NM, this afternoon, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, delivered his harshest attacks yet against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., painting his Democratic rival as a mysterious, risky unknown. "Who is the real Barack Obama?" McCain asked. “Even at this late...

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Tuesday's Note: NASHVILLE -- Now that the race is suddenly less about what you know than it is about who you once knew, the real question is not -- as Sen. John McCain would...

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a clear lead in every state Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., won in 2004, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New...

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala Reports: Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin invoked fear for the first time when discussing Sen. Barack Obama’s connection to former 60’s radical William Ayers. “I am just so fearful that this is not a...

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Monday's Note: Four weeks out, what does it say that . . . Team McCain is hoping that Bill Ayers has one last bomb in him -- just enough to blow up the presidential...

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden today canceled two days of events after the death of his mother-in-law. "The Obama-Biden campaign today canceled Sen. Biden's schedule Monday and Tuesday because of the passing of Jill Biden's...

ABC News' Imtiaz Delawala Report: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin defended her charge that Sen. Barack Obama has been "palling around with terrorists," and disputed a characterization by the Associated Press that her remarks connecting Obama to former 60's...

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: Sen. Barack Obama –- settling in for an anticipated two days of debate prep in North Carolina -- told the N.C. Democratic State Party dinner that he has high hopes for flipping the state blue....

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala reports: Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin unleashed a new attack on Sen. Barack Obama, accusing him of "palling around with terrorists" for his association with former 1960s radical William Ayers. The Obama campaign immediately...

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden Saturday cancelled two days of campaign events to remain at his Wilmington home due to the illness of his mother-in-law. "The campaign has cancelled Sen. Biden's schedule today and tomorrow...

ABC News' John Berman, Sunlen Miller, Ursula Fahy and David Chalian report: After days of focusing on the financial crisis facing the country, Barack Obama gave a fresh speech for the first time in a week, trying to open up...