Men charged with plotting to kill Obama

(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors charged two men with plotting a "killing spree" against African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Sen. Barack Obama while they wore white tuxedos, federal officials said Monday.

The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.

Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.

The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.

"We take this very, very seriously but we see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what they say they wanted to do," one law enforcement source said.

Read the rest of the story at cnn.com

'Obama Wins!,' newspaper declares

From CNN Chief National Correspondent John King

SANTA FE, New Mexico (CNN) – For The New Mexico Sun News it is either a major scoop or “Dewey Beats Truman” déjà vu 60 years later.

“Obama Wins!” is the headline of the edition on newsstands now, complete with “special collector’s edition” in red bold typeface.

The Sun News is a bi-monthly newspaper and its Oct 26-Nov 8 issue had to hit the streets, and the newsstands, before the election. So the editors decided to make a leap of faith and declare Democrat Barack Obama the winner.

In an article explaining their choice, the editors unabashedly wrote, “When it comes to calling the winner of a presidential election, everyone wants to be first. The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement.”

Read the rest of the article at cnn.com

Religious Group Puts Up Radio Ads for Obama

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

The Matthew 25 Network, a relatively new political action group aimed at Christian voters, is beginning to air two new radio commercials http://matthew25.org/ourads.htm today on behalf of Senator Barack Obama.

The spots are to run on Christian music stations in several battleground states, including Colorado, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina.

One, called “Source of Hope,” replays Mr. Obama’s words as he describes his faith as a source of hope. He refers to “kneeling beneath a cross” and embracing “Christ,” an implicit declaration of his Christianity at a time when false rumors persist in suggesting he is Muslim.

Read the rest of the article at nytimes.com

Obama Shatters Yet Another Record

DENVER - Less than ten days after Barack Obama held the biggest political rally in U.S. history in St. Louis, he surpassed his own record in the Mile High City.

“Well over 100,000″ showed up to his rally near the state capitol, according to the Denver Police Department.

Looking out at the crowd, Obama said, “Do you ever have small crowds in Denver? Goodness gracious!”

Obama has yet to break his all time record set in Berlin, Germany, when more than 200,000 came to hear the senator from Illinois.

From foxnews.com

WTF: Voter Suppresion is REAL

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet.

But about two weeks ago, Berry got disturbing news from local election officials.

"This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote," a letter from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections said.

But Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a passport and a birth certificate to prove it.  Watch some of the concerns of voting experts »

The letter, which was dated October 2, gave her a week from the time it was dated to prove her citizenship. There was a problem, though -- the letter was postmarked October 9.

"It was the most bizarre thing. I immediately called my mother and asked her to send me my birth certificate, and then I was like, 'It's too late, apparently,' " Berry said.

Berry is one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters who have been "flagged" because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned and the burden is on them to prove eligibility to vote.

Experts say lists of people with mismatches are often systematically cut, or "purged," from voter rolls.

String of polls shows uphill climb for McCain

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) — Barack Obama is hanging onto leads in several battleground states as well as a handful of traditionally red states won by President Bush in 2004, CNN's average of several recent state polls shows.

According to a string of new polls of polls from CNN, Obama holds narrow leads in Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Nevada, and Virginia. John McCain meanwhile is hanging onto his lead in Indiana and West Virginia. CNN's polls of polls are statistical averages of several recent surveys from each state. They do not carry margins of error.

CNN Election Center: Check out the latest state polls

Read the rest of the article at cnn.com

The Only Poll that Counts Is The Last One

Obama to deliver 'closing argument

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Monday is delivering what his campaign is calling a "closing argument" speech that focuses on the differences between him and Sen. John McCain.

"In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need," Obama will tell voters at a rally in Canton, Ohio, according to speech excerpts released by his campaign.

Obama will try to make the case that McCain is too similar to President Bush to bring about change.

"Sen. McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years," Obama will say.

The senator from Illinois will argue that he is the candidate who can restore "our sense of common purpose, of higher purpose."

  Watch more on Obama's final push »

Read the rest of the article at cnn.com

Obama promises to restore 'higher purpose'

By MIKE ALLEN | 10/27/08 6:33 AM EDT

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is returning to his promise of “a new politics” as he delivers what his campaign calls his “Closing Argument Speech On The Change We Need” in Canton, Ohio, a lunchtime on Monday.

“In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope," he says.

Read the rest of the article at politico.com

Big crowds for Obama's 'red-state tour'

Barack Obama will conclude what aides referred to as a 10-day "red state tour" Monday, a trip that culminated in a two-day swing through three key Western states.

With just over a week remaining in the contest, Obama's goal has as much to do with encouraging supporters to vote as with communicating his message. And his target has been states that George W. Bush won in 2004 — states where he has held every campaign event since Oct. 16.

The tour was timed to drive up the numbers of early voters in a rolling series of states that allow early voting: North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Indiana and then Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado over the weekend. He will touch down in Pennsylvania on Monday and spend the night in Philadelphia before returning to the red state battlegrounds, including a Wednesday rally in Orlando, Fla., with former President Bill Clinton.

Read the rest of the article at politico.com