Smoke-Filled Room, v.1

● National interest in the presidential campaign is up at 63 percent, from a pre-convention 52 percent. That's also up from 52 percent in September '04. [via NY Times, The 2008 Campaign, Now Even More Interesting]

● Palin plays it safe on the campaign trail. After her Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac taxpayer gaffe and her televised ignorance of the Bush doctrine, is she better off not taking questions? Yeah, probably. And is it just me or does it sound like she's describing a Shake 'n Bake solution to our economic crisis? [via NY Times, On the Road: Palin Plays It Safe]

● A sign of the impending apocalypse? You decide. [via Salon's Broadsheet]

● "Voting machines in several critical swing states are causing major problems for voters. A Government Accountability Office report and Common Cause election study [PDF] has concluded that major issues identified in the last presidential election have not been corrected, nor have election officials been notified of the problems. How long can we afford to trust our elections to black box voting practices? From the article: 'In Colorado, 20,000 left polling places without voting in 2006 because of crashed computer registration machines and long lines. And this election day, Colorado will have another new registration system.'" [via Slashdot, Voting Machines Routinely Failing Nationwide]

● It's the end of the financial market as we know it. And I feel fine... Well, actually, I'm understandably freaked, but that doesn't have that R.E.M. sound. [via NY Times, Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings]

● McCain Camp takes Rovian advice on new ad; HuffPost's Sam Stein reports: "On Thursday evening, the Senator's campaign released an advertisement declaring that [former Fannie Mae executive] Frank Raines was an Obama economic adviser. 'Shocking,' declared the ad, citing the mismanagement that occurred under Raines' reign, as well as his large compensation package. Shocking, indeed. The Associated Press and other news outlets reported hours later that the claim was not honest. Raines had even told a senior McCain aide, in a private email, that he was not an Obama adviser." [via Huffington Post, New McCain Attacks Echo Rove Advice]
"Advice":