Today’s Election News Roundup

Ill. Sen. Barack Obama and Ariz. Sen. John McCain both attended the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City. The candidates exchanged jokes and banter at the white-tie charity event. According to The New York Times, "[the roast] has long served as a light-hearted rest stop on the road to the White House.”

Before Sen. McCain attended the Alfred E. Smith dinner, he honored a scheduled appearance on David Letterman’s “The Late Show.” McCain canceled the appearance on Sept. 24 due to the financial crisis. Throughout last night’s program he repeatedly told Letterman, “I screwed up.” Letterman has made McCain the butt of many jokes since the candidate's cancellation.

New reports on the identity of Joe the Plumber have surfaced, illustrating that he may not be the middle-class hero he was portrayed as during Wednesday night’s debate. According to Bloomberg, Joe “owes back taxes, isn't licensed or registered in Ohio and would fare little better under McCain's tax agenda than under Obama's even if his income soared.” Bloomberg also asserts that Joe's financial situation would not differ significantly under either Obama or McCain’s tax plans. 

USA Today provides a breakdown of how different Americans would fare under the candidates’ proposed tax cuts.

Philip Klein of the American Spectator questioned David Axelrod and David Plouffe, heads of Obama’s campaign, on where the senator’s proposed 95 percent tax cuts would be drawn from. Klein concludes, “If Barack Obama can effectively claim that his plan cuts taxes on 95 percent of Americans, then the term 'tax cut' has no meaning.”

Sen. Obama is aggressively moving his campaign into traditionally Republican states, spending money and time in West Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, North Dakota and Virginia. Obama said at a recent breakfast, "two words for you: New Hampshire. I've been in these positions before where we were favoured and the press starts getting carried away, and we end up getting spanked."

The findingDulcinea 2008 Election Web Guide highlights the best online resources relating to the candidates and the election.

Project Vote Smart describes the process of nominating a presidential candidate, with concise descriptions of the convention, caucuses, primaries and the process of awarding delegates.

An overview of the role of delegates and superdelegates is presented by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Daily coverage of the 2008 Election is gathered from media sources across the political spectrum and presented by Real Clear Politics to provide up-to-the-minute coverage. The site publishes daily political transcripts, including addresses on the campaign trail and withdrawal speeches. It also constantly updates and compares polling reports from Rasmussen, Gallup, CNN, Pew Research, and other major media sources. Additionally, the site provides a 2008 Primary Delegate Count, which presents the delegate counts of each candidate.

NPR provides an interactive calendar of past primaries. Headline stories that detail the events of the primaries and campaigns accompany the primary map. In addition, NPR hosts a “National Delegates Total,” with an ongoing count of delegates won by each candidate.

Minnesota Public Radio’s online “President Survey” matches the political convictions of respondents with the candidates’ policies in order to help voters make an informed choice come election day.

The New York Times publishes a constant stream of articles from the Associated Press. These concise AP stories cover new developments on the campaign trail.

As election momentum picks up, the Times of London offers British readers a glossary of campaign jargon that will be of use to many Americans as well.

OpenSecrets.org compares the total campaign donations for each candidate and looks into the war chests to see where the money comes from.