Today’s Election News Roundup

A bipartisan group believes that both Ill. Sen. Barack Obama and Ariz. Sen. John McCain’s economic plans would add to the growing deficit. According to J.D. Foster, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington (a conservative think tank), "Both candidates have a deficit problem that neither of them wants to admit. They're relying on an awful lot of hand-waving to get budget-neutral, but I think it's pretty clear that either of them will be constrained at least over the next two years by pressure to fix the economy."

The Project for Excellence in Journalism published a report confirming that media coverage is biased against Sen. McCain. According to the report, “Fifty-seven percent of the print and broadcast stories about the Republican nominee were decidedly negative, while 14 were positive.” Meanwhile, “Obama’s coverage has been more balanced in the last six weeks, with 36 percent of the stories positive, 35 percent neutral or mixed and 29 percent negative,” The Washington Post explains.

Footage of Sen. McCain being interviewed as a bedridden POW has been released by a French archive. In the interview, McCain explains how his plane went down and he was taken captive. 

Forbes examines the income of many middle and upper-middle class professionals who might be affected by Sen. Obama’s plan to tax only those who earn more than $250,000 a year. According to Forbes, Joe the Plumber’s salary would fall well below the mark—even if his business were successful. Other jobs that pay less than $250,000 on average include “corporate attorneys ($141,000), pediatricians ($151,000) and chief financial officers of companies with about 500 employees ($167,000).”

Vice presidential pick Joe Biden has increasingly proved to be an asset to the Obama campaign, Bloomberg reports. In an Oct. 15 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll, “76 percent of registered voters said they believed Biden was prepared to be president, compared with 43 percent who said the same about Palin,” the publication explains.

Campaign finance reports by the Republican National Committee indicate that the GOP spent more than $150,000 on clothes (“campaign accessories”) for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family. According to The New York Times, Palin’s advisers said that the vice-presidential candidate, “needed new clothes to match climates across the 50 states. They emphasized, too, that Ms. Palin did not spend time on the shopping, and that other people made the decision to buy such an array of clothes.” Political analysts point out that the costly wardrobe could tarnish Palin’s hockey-mom image.

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.