This one, I think, is tougher--and more effective--than the others they've been using.

Not as cheeky as the "Celeb" or "The One" ads, but the tinkly background music makes it pretty wry:

Yes, Ana, it's true. I did spend my Sunday night watching that old Palin gubernatorial debate on C-Span, along with a number of our commenters. And it was impressive. We saw last week that she knows how to wrestle with a TelePrompTer and a prepared text, but Sarah Palin is also very good on her feet.

That's why Joe Biden should be wary, especially since she will have expectations very much in her favor. At Slate today, Dahlia Lithwick has some advice for the Senior Senator from Delaware. The first thing: Don't be Joe Biden. The second: Forget Palin's a woman. Or as Lithwick explains:

There is no easy way to tell you this, Joe Biden, but the surest way for Joe Biden to lose a debate against Sarah Palin is by being Joe Biden. If you are windy, pompous, unctuous, or pushy, you will come across as patronizing and condescending—the guy who puts the "boy" into "old boys' network." If you flirt and smirk and flatter (Did you truly tell an Ohio crowd you thought Palin was "good-looking"? Did you really introduce us to your wife, Jill, by leering that she is "drop-dead gorgeous"?), you're going to sound like the creepy guy in the trench coat at the back of the porn theater. If you can manage to be your warm, amiable self, even if you're going bat[guano] on the inside, you will do fine.

And that's why the best way for you to approach Sarah Palin will be to forget that she is a woman. Tell yourself that she is a machine in 3-inch heels that has been programmed to make you look brutish and aggressive. She will attack, and you will smile. She will make jokes, and you will laugh. Do whatever you need to do—take four Percocet, deploy Zen breathing techniques—to prevent yourself from attacking this woman. And do just as much not to pay attention to her. Even if she pulls out her breast pump during commercials, keep your eyes glazed over on the middle distance. No compliments. Don't say you like her shoes. Just the facts, Joe.

Liberal bloggers are very much up in arms over the replacement of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann as election night anchors by the more "straight" -- or at least taller! -- David Gregory. Glenn posits that it can't be sheer profit motives that prompted the decision, and we'd have to agree: Profit motives would have turned MSNBC into an all-infomercial station at this point. Rather, and of course, it is the REPUBLICANS who have master-minded this coup. Because their instincts are so worth following right now.

Seriously: Either the MSM is mindless in its pursuit of politics, a mere tool of the right, or caught in an unstoppable waning of influence. Can it be all three? Really? I'm serious right now because it's of slight personal interest.

For more, we go to Brian Williams.

Here. A primary debate here (direct Real Video link).

Byron York of the Corner was impressed by the latter. If you've seen other reviews (of either), or have them yourself, please post in the comments. I'll be watching by the pool later...

UPDATE: Sorry, commenters: I saw KT posted a link to the announcement of the Charlie Gibson interview, but didn't see her link to the Alaska gubernatorial debates, at least on the front page.

It's like these people have never heard of a convention bounce before.

Everyone settle. The "poll of polls" is still a more important number. Also, it's Gallup. Incredibly sensitive to enthusiasm , hence the word "tracking.".* Concerned Dems should look at the battleground polls. Which, well, okay, they're kinda split (hence the word "battleground," maybe?)... So look at the electoral map!

Excited Republicans should take heart that it's still pretty much dead even.

*Oops. Still very sensitive to swings of enthusiasm.

The sleep deprivation must have finally gotten to me: I'm watching "Morning Joe" and Jim Kramer seems to be making sense about the mortgage bailout. Specifically, his somewhat rhetorical question:* Why do the CEOs of these organizations still have their jobs? Plus severance!

I'll have to ask Justin to explain further.

You can stop shouting now, Jim. Maybe take a sedative.

*Let's follow the money.