Biden, though, also
, saying “I don’t meet with lobbyists.”

But the
“Lobbyists aren’t bad people. Special interest groups are not bad people. But guess what? They’re corrosive. People who accept money from them aren’t bad people. But it’s human nature.”

Here’s Biden this morning talking about Palin’s speech.

Biden, though, also
, saying “I don’t meet with lobbyists.”

But the
“Lobbyists aren’t bad people. Special interest groups are not bad people. But guess what? They’re corrosive. People who accept money from them aren’t bad people. But it’s human nature.”

Here’s Biden this morning talking about Palin’s speech.

1. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
3. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
4. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
5. Eat, Pray and Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
6. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
7. Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk
8. Dreams of My Fathers by Barack Obama
9. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
10. Hellboy, Vol. 8: Darkness Calls by Mike Mignola, Duncan Fegredo, and Dave Stewart

Two of those are political wankfest autobiographies, one is a comic book and two others are part of a series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire (and later a werewolf). Number 11 is probably a Family Circus anthology or a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

On Tuesday morning the New York Times printed a front page story asserting that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party. On Tuesday evening the New York Times
, saying their source was wrong. I guess that means that the story was insufficiently - um - What’s the word? - “V” something… Oh yeah. The story was insufficiently vetted.

Alaska Party Official Says Palin Was Not a Member
By The New York Times
The chairwoman of an Alaskan political party that advocates a vote on the state’s succession from the union said Tuesday that she had been mistaken when she said Gov. Sarah Palin was a member of the group.
A front-page story in The New York Times on Tuesday and articles in other news media reported that Ms. Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990’s.
The information in the Times article was based on a statement issued Monday night by Lynette Clark, the party’s chairwoman, who said that Ms. Palin joined the party in 1994 and in 1996 changed her registration to Republican.
On Tuesday night, Ms. Clark said that her initial statement was incorrect and had been based on erroneous information provided by another member of the party whom she declined to identify. The McCain campaign also disputed the Times report, saying that Ms. Palin had been registered consistently as a Republican.
After checking the party’s archives, Ms. Clark said that she could find no documentation that Governor Palin had been a member of the party. She said Ms. Palin attended the party’s 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention.

For anyone keeping score:

Troopergate? -
.
Sleazy rumors that her down syndrome child was her daughters? -
.
She is a member of AIP? -

Next.

Lack of such evidence will certainly not stop Barack Obama’s supporters from pushing the story. A complete lack of evidence that Obama shares the belief system of William Ayers hasn’t stopped conservatives from pushing that story. And in today’s political world of “two wrongs make a right” I don’t expect the AIP story to go away.

However, the Ayers controversy brings up an important point. Do Obama supporters really want to get into a “whose anti-American affiliations are worse” debate? After all, I don’t believe the AIP has done anything criminal unlike Mr. Ayers. And, if history is any indicator, the right is proficient at winning any debate about who’s more American. The left should be careful with this AIP story. Rumor and hearsay about Palin’s affiliations are probably not going to be enough to make the story stick in any influential way.

UPDATE: Reports now inidcate that Sarah Palin’s husband
but records indicate Palin herself never was. Spouses are usually fair game in elections. We’ll see how this plays.

Prior to now, no more than 49% of registered voters supported Obama for president in Gallup Poll Daily tracking. Still, Obama’s eight percentage point lead over McCain in the new poll falls one point shy of the lead he attained in late July after returning from a well-publicized trip to Europe and parts of the Middle East. At that time, Obama led by nine points, 49% to 40%.

McCain’s 42% support is well below his 48% top support level, recorded in late April/early May. It is just slightly better than the 40% he received at several points in July, and the 41% favoring him just last week while the Democratic National Convention was underway.

Basically, I think people got a look at Palin and are really afraid. I know many of my counterparts here on Donklephant think the exact opposite is happening, but there’s a big difference between the base and the independent swing voters, and right now I think they’re freaked out by Palin and really can’t see this woman being leader of the free world.

More tomorrow…

One note, this the first time in the Rasmussen poll that Obama has hit the 51% mark. Before that he hit 50% back in early June in a head to head against McCain.

So why the stronger support? Obama is now getting pretty much the same % of Dems supporting him that McCain has, and since more voters than ever before say claim Democrat as their party ID this season it’ll mean a wider margin if he simply reaches parity with McCain

The reorganized convention will include a by-satellite primetime speech by President Bush as well as a previously planned speech by Joe Lieberman and a hastily arranged primetime speech by former Republican Senator Fred Thompson. Rudy Giuliani, who was originally scheduled to give the keynote address tonight, will likely speak Wednesday or Thursday.

Given the complications caused by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the unavoidable distraction of Hurricane Gustav, the Republicans are hardly having the kind of convention for which they’d hoped. They need to run a really tight ship the next couple of days to ensure they communicate a direct and coherent message. I, for one, am very interested in hearing what Palin has to say as well as finding out which John McCain shows up: the maverick or the panderer.

These are three very critical days for Republicans. We’ll see if they pull it off.

None of Ball’s assertions tonight could be verified in time for press time. More on this will be posted here tomorrow, as well as printed in the paper this week. Tomorrow’s paper includes a story updating the
.

So check back here and at lohud.com for updates. And, hang on, because Primary Day (when Ball faces a challenge from Republican John Degnan) is less than a week away.

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Bristol Palin’s boyfriend plans to join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the GOP convention.

Levi Johnston’s mother said her 18-year-old son left Alaska this morning to join the Palin family in St. Paul, Minn.

Sherry Johnston also said there has been no pressure put on her son to marry Bristol Palin, the pregnant daughter of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“Absolutely not,” Sherry Johnston told reporters outside the family’s Wasilla home. Johnston said the two teens already had plans to marry before they knew she was pregnant.

Sarah Palin announced Monday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant. The father was not identified beyond the first name of Levi.