By Stacey Patton and TaRessa Stovall

John McCain this week asks conspiratorially, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" at conservative GOP rallies. The candidate is trying to reignite a faux controversy, Obama's service on a non-profit board with a Chicago college professor who was a '60s radical.

By Kourosh Ziabari

Here's my suggestion for next week's debate in Hofstra: No talking points, no stump speeches. Moderator Bob Schieffer should have the option to cut either candidate off if they use any buzz word or phrase from the previous two debates. 

By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young, Special to Stateline.org  

As our financial markets totter, as homes go into foreclosure, as Wall Street executives lose millions, as Americans have more and more difficulty getting loans, can anyone be happy?

Certainly. Those on the left who now, with unbounded glee, pen obituaries for the free market.

One can sense their joy as they have, they think, the last laugh.

Early in Thursday's vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin disrespected the live audience and the millions more watching on television by stating she would not answer questions directly.