Daily Brief-49 Days until Election '08

Here's a new feature we're starting on Notepad, a daily brief of the news of the day in the 2008 Campaign; we'll be doing it now until Election day:

After a Dow drop of 500 points, including its first trip under 11,000 points since 2002, the worst day the Dow and the S&P 500’s worst day since 9/11, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the buyout of AIG by the Federal Reserve, and the impending sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the 2008 campaign has swiftly changed to the economy. And Senator John McCain (R-AZ), has the same plan he has for the last two years. Siding with his former economic policy adviser, Senator Phil Gramm, who put us where we are in the first place by allowing deregulation and the entrance of speculators (the so-called “Enron loophole” of 1999), he has repeatedly stated that he is for deregulation and decreases in taxes on capital gains, windfall profits, and other business-related items in an attempt to maintain the practice of Reaganomics. Completely disregarding his other adviser, Robert Rubin, a senior adviser at Citigroup, which went down almost 3 bucks yesterday alone, and has been one of many companies who have suffered from the sub-prime mortgage crisis. However, while Sen. McCain has shown that he is more of the same, Senators Barack Obama(D-IL) and Joe Biden(D-DE) have actually put out a plan that will work, including real economic stimulus, the creation of a windfall profits tax, and raising taxes on the wealthy to give the common worker a fair shake with a tax cut. So when John McCain is attacked in two new ads put out by the Obama campaign yesterday evening, or how yesterday Sen. Biden attacked McCain as “Bush 44”, then you know why.

New Electoral map polls show McCain leading, but not with a majority. McCain leads Obama 257-247, with 34 electoral votes-in Pennsylvania and Virginia-tied, although Virginia is blue in a SurveyUSA poll, with Obama up by 4%.

New polls show Obama leading McCain by only 5% in New York(a lead that will strengthen since yesterday’s problems on Wall St.), McCain leading Ohio by 3-4 points in three different polls, Colorado by 2, and Florida with a 5 point lead(putting the state and its 27 electoral votes squarely in the red).

The prospective Senate, as per the polls, is 56-44 Democrats, with (in the closest races): Norm Coleman(R) leading Al Franken(D) by 2%, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage leading Sen. Ted Stevens by 2% in Alaska, and former Governor Ronnie Musgrove(D) behind to Sen. Roger Wicker in Trent Lott’s former seat in Mississippi.

Check in tomorrow for the news of the day, appearance information from the two campaigns (maybe in your area), and the Top 5 reasons not to vote for John McCain(and it ain't got a thing to do with Sarah Palin).