SPB News for Sunday.

White House Asks for Scrutiny of 200,000 Ohio Voter Registrations The White House has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether 200,000 new Ohio voters must reconfirm their registration information before Nov. 4. The action comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the Ohio Republican Party over the same issue. President [sic] Bush yesterday asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to review concerns over the voters raised by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). Boehner wrote to Bush yesterday, saying, "I strongly urge you to direct Attorney General Mukasey and the Department of Justice to act."

Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say. Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue." A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

Foreign companies' U.S. subsidiaries competing for bailout billions Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history. The Financial Services Roundtable wrote Treasury officials on Friday requesting that the initiative to buy $250 billion in bank stock grow to cover insurers, auto companies, securities dealers and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, including banks.

U.S. Mulls Widening Bailout to Insurers The Treasury Department is considering buying equity stakes in insurance companies, a sign of how the government's $700 billion rescue program could turn into a piggy bank for a range of beleaguered industries. The availability of U.S. government cash in the middle of a global credit squeeze is drawing requests from insurance firms, auto makers, state governments and transit agencies.

McCain got $7 million in excess donations: DNC John McCain received nearly $7 million in 6,652 donations that exceeded contribution limits while seeking the Republican presidential nomination, the Democratic National Committee said on Saturday. The DNC listed the figure in a complaint it said it will file on Monday with the Federal Election Commission.

AP: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment -- a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 -- emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows. Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp. And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

Palin wrongly suggests Congress bans oil exports On Thursday, a questioner at a town hall-style meeting in Wisconsin said he had heard that at least 75 percent of the oil drilled in Alaska was being sold to China and said, if true, he would like to know why. "No. It's not 75 percent of our oil being exported," Sarah Palin said, suggesting some of Alaska's oil, in fact, may be going abroad but not that much. "In fact," she added, "Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially." No. Alaska oil has been exported since 2004, and little if any since 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Congressional Research Service.

Bill Clinton and Obama plan joint appearance Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Missouri for events (the public ones, with reporters), not counting all of the fundraisers he's done around the country. Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will appear together "within the week," a source close to one of the men said.

Judge rejects Montco lawyer's bid to have Obama removed from ballot A federal judge in Philadelphia last night threw out a complaint by a Montgomery County lawyer who claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was not qualified to be president and that his name should be removed from the Nov. 4 ballot. Philip J. Berg alleged in a complaint filed in federal district court on Aug. 21 against Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission, that Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya.

Hedges Moderates Third-Party Presidential Debate Between Nader and Baldwin
Award-winning journalist and Truthdig contributor Chris Hedges does his part to give third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin a (televised) forum to debate each other and to describe what they stand for and what they believe would constitute “change” for the country.
CONTINUE

Campaign trail for Sunday

Obama-Biden team

10/26 Barack in Denver, CO (LIVE) @ 1:30pm EST

10/26 Barack in Fort Collins, CO (LIVE) @ 5:30pm EST

McCain-Palin team

10/26/2008
Road to Victory Rally: Sunday October 26th in Tampa, FL

10/26/2008
Road to Victory Rally: Sunday October 26th in Cedar Falls, IA