NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - November 03, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Editorial: The Soiled Envelope, Please
There are no awards for the season's slimiest political messages (Swift Boat statuettes?), but two deserve consideration in the character assassination category.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03mon3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

-New Beltway Debate: What to Do About Iran
Americans are largely unaware of the serious discussions among policy experts about a military option to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03mon4.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Columnist: The Republican Rump
Maybe the polls are wrong, and John McCain is about to pull off the biggest election upset in American history. But right now the Democrats seem poised both to win the White House and to greatly expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/opinion/03krugman.html?ref=opinion

-Interactive map - The Electoral Map: Key States
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html

-Even Keel for Obama in Final Turn to Election
A cellphone was pressed to Senator Barack Obama's ear as he slouched down in a black leather chair in the front cabin of his campaign airplane. He leaned away from the headrest, where his name is spelled out in blue stitching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/us/politics/03obama.html?hp


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-The End of the Report Card?
Online grades allow students -- and their parents -- to keep track of their performance in real time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110202054.html?hpid=topnews

-Unstoppable
E. J. Dionne Jr.
Obama is the kind of politician who anticipates openings others don't see and creates possibilities that weren't there before.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110201719.html

-Poll Shows Obama Deflected Recent Attacks
Republicans Challenged Democrat on Taxes, Readiness and Crisis Management
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110202426.html?hpid=topnews

-Last of the Culture Warriors
Why has America turned on Sarah Palin? Obviously, her wobbly television interviews haven't helped. Nor have the drip, drip of scandals from Alaska, which have tarnished her reformist image. But Palin's problems run deeper, and they say something fundamental about the political age being born. Palin's brand is culture war, and in America today culture war no longer sells. The struggle that began in the 1960s -- which put questions of racial, sexual and religious identity at the forefront of American politics -- may be ending. Palin is the end of the line.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110201718.html?hpid=opinionsbox1


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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us

-Poll: Obama Leads In Home Stretch
Obama has a solid, though narrowing, lead over McCain as both men sprint to the finish line. A new WSJ/NBC News poll gives the Democrat a 51% to 43% advantage, down from a 10-point edge last week. Six percent remain undecided.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122567494708692025.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Obama leads McCain in 6 of 8 key states
Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in six of eight key battleground states one day before the U.S. election, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Monday. Obama holds a 7-point edge over McCain among likely U.S. voters in a separate Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby national tracking poll, up 1 percentage point from Sunday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/11/03/obama_leads_mccain_in_6_of_8_key_states/

-Sen. Reid says Stevens cannot stay in Senate
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Sunday that Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska cannot remain a senator even if he's re-elected Tuesday because he's a convicted felon. Stevens, 84, was convicted last week in federal court on seven felony counts of failing to report gifts and services, including renovations that doubled the size of his Alaska home. Since his conviction, Stevens has continued to campaign for re-election, even as he maintains his innocence and says he "has not been convicted of anything." Stevens, who is appealing the jury verdict, has been relying on the technical definition of "conviction," which doesn't take effect until sentencing. His sentencing has been postponed pending his appeal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/story/753486.html


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