More than 40 million people tuned in last week to listen to the speech from Palin, the 44-year-old first-term governor whom McCain announced as his surprise vice presidential pick just days before. Since then, that basic script is all anyone has heard from her publicly, and her only interaction with the media was a brief conversation with a small group of reporters on her plane Monday -- off the record at her handlers' insistence.
Associated Press reporters were not on the plane, but an aide told the journalists on board that all Palin flights would be off the record unless the media were told otherwise. At least one reporter objected. Two people on the flight said the Palins greeted the media and they chatted about who had been to Alaska, but little else was said.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will hold a press conference in Washington Wednesday to announce his plans for the election.
The release announcing the event doesn't give much away, and it is unlikely the he will endorse one of the third party candidates, though some are wondering if he plans to endorse John McCain.
Paul was last seen at his three-day "Rally for the Republic," a 12,000 member convention rivaling the GOP's in Minneapolis.
To help protect Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) image, John McCain's campaign announced Tuesday a "truth squad" of mostly female lawmakers who will push back against attacks on Republican veep nominee.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift (R) said in a statement that the group won't "allow those on the left and in the media to smear a woman who has always served her constituents with honor."
The campaign did not specify which attacks Palin has received.
The campaign suggested that the group is partly a response to efforts by Democrats to research Palin's past in Alaska. Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund wrote Tuesday that "a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers" have landed in Anchorage.
Below is the list of national members of "The Palin Truth Squad." Only one man -- Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell (R) -- is on the list, a fact that underscores Republicans' effort to reach out to female voters through Palin.
A new Rasmussen poll released Tuesday shows the stark contrast between supporters of Barack Obama and John McCain on the issue of judges.
83 percent of McCain's supporters believe the justices "should rule on what is in the Constitution," while just 29 percent of Obama's supporters said the same.
Meanwhile, nearly half of Obama backers said each justice should rule based on their own personal sense of fairness, versus 11 percent for McCain.
60 percent of those polled believe the Constitution should be the main factor in Supreme Court rulings while 30 percent said rulings should be guided by each justice's sense of fairness and justice.
Ed Koch, New York City's former mayor, endorsed Barack Obama Tuesday and voiced concern over Republican veep nominee Sarah Palin's social views, reports the Associated Press.
"It's Palin primarily," he said in an interview about his endorsement. "She scares the hell out of me."
Koch backed President Bush when he ran for re-election in 2004, saying that he was better equipped to handle terrorism than his opponent, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
But Koch, Gotham's mayor during the 1980s, said Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), would do a better job of keeping the country safe.
"Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks," Koch told the wire service. He noted that he also takes into account civil liberties, abortion rights, gay rights and healthcare coverage.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will appear on Montana's presidential ballot as the Constitution Party's candidate, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
The libertarian-minded Paul, who campaigned the GOP nomination, said that he wouldn't play an active role in Montana but also wouldn't object to the Constitution Party of Montana tapping him as its nominee.
Paul received more than a fifth of the support of Republicans in Montana's June primary, which was won by John McCain.
The state Republican Party also held a caucus in February. Paul came in second place, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R). McCain placed third.
McCain was tied with Democrat Barack Obama in the latest Rasmussen poll of the state, which was conducted in late July.
John McCain's daughter Meghan said Tuesday that her family has a special understanding of the military, claiming that "no one knows what war is like other than my family."
McCain, appearing on NBC's "Today Show" to promote her recently released children's book on her father, said the experience of having the country at war is "just different when you have someone in the military," adding that "obviously, I think my father gets it more than anyone."
"I mean, my family -- I have two brothers serving in the military. One is about to redeploy to Iraq," McCain said. "My father is obviously a famous war hero. No one knows what war is like other than my family, period."
McCain added that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has a similar understanding because her son Track is slated to deploy to Iraq on September 11.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on Tuesday wrote federal officials to urge against any generous financial package for the outgoing chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, calling any bonus pay "out of line" in light of the taxpayer costs for the U.S. government's takeover of the companies.
Schumer and Reed sent the letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart to call attention to a combined $24 million in severance pay due to be paid to the two CEOs, according to the senators. Fannie Mae is led by Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac is led by Richard Syron.
Schumer announced the letters at a noon news conference in the Senate.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan Sunday to place both companies into conservatorship. Paulson also plans to replace both executives, which Schumer and Reed say would trigger the severance awards under their contracts.
Schumer and Reed said Lockhart could adjust the executives' severance packages under a provision in the housing legislation passed by Congress earlier this year.
"We find it way out of line that these two executives will be rewarded with millions of dollars in bonus compensation at a time when taxpayer dollars may have to be deployed to cover any financial losses caused by errors in management," Schumer and Reed wrote Lockhart. "It has been reported that Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron stand to make more than $24 million in severance payments as a result of your actions over the weekend to place the companies in conservatorship."
Barack Obama downplayed the recent uptick in the polls for his opponent, John McCain, when asked about them in a news conference Tuesday.
"I think that what we're going to have to do is to see how things settle out over the next few weeks when people start examining who's actually going to deliver on the issues that people care about," he said in Riverside, Ohio. "You know, who's got an education plan that is going to improve the prospects for our children? Who's got a health care plan that is going to help a whole bunch of women out there who don't have health insurance? Who is better equipped to change the economy so that the average person who is working hard feels like they can get ahead and see their incomes rise?"
He added: "I mean, ultimately, those are the issues that I think are going to make the biggest difference in this race."
McCain is ahead of Obama in Gallup's tracking poll, which Obama had led throughout the summer. McCain's poll standing has improved ever since he announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate.
Obama acknowledged the excitement over her veep candidacy during the conference. He suggested that the buzz over Palin, the GOP's first female veep nominee, is due not to her gender but to her conservative ideology.
"But you know, there's no doubt that, you know, the Republicans are excited, particularly the right wing of the Republican Party is excited by Senator -- or Gov. Palin's choice," he said. "I think that has less to do with gender than it has to do with her ideological predispositions which are closely aligned to theirs."
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