CQ Politics' Web Picks

Huffington Post: More Bizarre GOP Purchases - Chocolate Elephants, Art Restoration, Rove's Lunches

The revelation that the RNC spent tens of thousands on clothing for Gov. Sarah Palin has roiled the race in recent days. A more comprehensive review of expenditures by the RNC and the McCain campaign finds more instances of questionable spending, including elephant-shaped shrubbery, baseball tickets, a yacht rental, and lunches for Karl Rove.

New Yorker: Like, Socialism

Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. What was left? The anticlimactic answer came as the long Presidential march of 2008 staggered toward its final week: Senator Obama is a socialist.

New York Times: Long by Obama's Side, an Adviser Fills a Role That Exceeds His Title

As Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, heads into the final days of his race for the White House, an ever-widening sphere of aides surrounds him. But almost none is as responsible for his current station as David Axelrod, whose title of chief strategist only hints at the extensive role he has played in the senator's evolution: friend, adviser and confidant, always at the elbow of this candidate.

Washington Post: GOP Senate Minority Leader Fights for Survival

The architect of the revival of the Republican Party in this state, Sen. Mitch McConnell is fighting for his political survival and to avoid the fate of former senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who was ousted in 2004 by voters who rejected the argument that his position as his party's leader in the Senate gave him an unparalleled ability to deliver for his state.

Slate: Obama and McCain Lawyer Up for the Election

Each camp has amassed small battalions of lawyers--and the private jets necessary--to parachute into local disputes at contested polling places. Forget what the opinion polls say going into Nov. 4. To paraphrase Boss Tweed, when it comes right down to it, it's not the votes that count, but the vote counters. And it's the armies of lawyers who will be on guard to ensure the votes get counted.

Wall Street Journal: Obama vs. McCain - It's About Your Money

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, the Journal takes a look at the candidates' positions on the issues that will most affect your family's finances. We culled information from party position papers on Web sites, speeches and nonpartisan third-party reports.

San Francisco Chronicle: Obama's Family in Kenya Weary, Wary of Media

Said Obama, 52, works at a factory in western Kenya and attends night classes in business management. In between, he takes about 20 calls a day from foreign reporters seeking details about an American nephew he hardly knows. It used to be that you could just roll up, and have tea and chat with Barack Obama's 87-year-old step-grandmother, Sarah Anyango Obama. But after initially welcoming reporters, the family now shuns media attention, wary that their words and actions could be misconstrued and used against them.

Mother Jones: Praying for Palin

In Colorado Springs (a.k.a. the "Evangelical Vatican"), people still flock to megachurches and Sarah Palin rallies--but the power of the Christian right is fading.

Reason: The Secret of Obama's Success

Wait long enough during an Obama speech, and you hear the indispensable passage, the one that transcends everything else he says. "There are no real and fake parts of this country," Obama declares. "We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this nation--we all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from."

Weekly Standard: Why Undecided Voters Will Swing to McCain

With Obama outspending McCain by upwards of 4 to 1, getting enormous traction with newspaper editorial boards, generating the enthusiasm to bring out crowds measured in the tens of thousands, and with Palin treated as more of a punch line than a candidate by the press--it seems likely that if voters are not ready to tell a pollster that they are with Obama, they are unlikely to get there.