The conservative political group Freedom’s Defense Group (FDF) has begun airing this ad in selected markets nationwide. The ad focuses on Senator Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, a radical 1960s terrorist group responsible for a number of bombing that left six people dead. The ad is a 30 second spot. More on who is affliated with the FDF and their political expenditures, please visit Source Watch.

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Last week’s hiccup for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party seems to be behind them with the results from today’s Harris-Decima poll giving the Tories a ten point edge over Stéphane Dion and the Liberals.

The ruling Conservatives have been widening their lead over the Liberals in the election campaign’s final days, thanks to growing support in Ontario, a new poll suggests.

The latest CP Harris-Decima public opinion survey released yesterday suggests the Tories had drifted back toward majority territory as the Liberal surge lost steam.

The poll had the Conservatives at 35 per cent, 10 points clear of Stephane Dion’s Liberals — a gap that’s more than doubled in the last four days. The NDP had fallen back from their highs and were at 18 per cent.

That’s in stark contrast to a survey released earlier this week by the same pollster that found the Liberals had passed the Tories in riding-rich Ontario, the nation’s key battleground.

The Conservatives have been benefiting from growing support in Ontario and recovering confidence in Harper’s leadership skills, said Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson.

“Momentum decidedly belongs to the Conservatives,” he said. “Ontario is where a lot of the volatility has been over the last few days and it’s clear the Conservatives bottomed out there.”

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The Republican National Committee has released a new ad attacking Senator Obama over his association with William Ayers. The ad is Internet-only and it a 75 second spot.

My own view is that the time for this ad would have been two months ago when people were still forming an opinion about Senator Obama. At this point if Senator McCain is to have any chance of winning, he is going to distinguish himself from Senator Obama on the economy and on the issue of experience.

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A new poll for Nevada published today by the Las Vegas Review Journal shows that Senator Obama is edging Senator McCain slightly. Obama leads 47% to 45% and since that’s within the margin of error the race is effectively a dead heat.

In a presidential race that remains essentially tied in Nevada, Democrat Barack Obama has the slimmest of leads over Republican John McCain, according to a new Review-Journal poll.

Obama had the support of 47 percent of likely Nevada voters in the poll, while McCain had 45 percent. The result was within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points in the poll of 625 likely voters statewide.

Just 2 percent of those surveyed chose a candidate other than Obama or McCain, while 6 percent remained undecided. The poll was conducted by telephone Wednesday and Thursday, after Tuesday’s second debate between the two candidates, by Washington, D.C.-based polling firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

“It’s still really, really close,” Mason-Dixon managing partner Brad Coker said of the race for Nevada’s five electoral votes. “Obama has a little bit of a lead, but it’s not as wide as his lead in most of the national polls. Nevada’s still very much a battleground, very close and very interesting.”

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Here are eight articles from both the US and international media about the US Presidential race. Highlights of each article provided with a link to the full article.

Barack Obama Rides a Wave of Bad Economic News
By Peter Wallsten, David Zucchino and Bob Drogin in the Los Angeles Times.

For months, Mark Wagner stuck by John McCain, even as the economy stalled and other Americans came to blame Republican leadership. Then, about three weeks ago, the deepening economic downturn pushed him to reconsider.

Now, the Florida salesman and staunch Republican has abandoned the GOP ticket. Sarah Palin, he thinks, looks under-equipped to be vice president. And McCain, he says, displayed an unsteady response to what may be a global economic depression.

The financial crisis has turned the last three weeks into a crucial and possibly decisive period in the presidential contest — a time when many Americans have taken a new look at each candidate and then moved toward Democrat Barack Obama.

The polling across the board confirms this. It is my current thesis. The election pivoted beginning on September 15th.

McCain to Unveil More Economic Policies
By Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin writing for Politico.

As part of a plan to reinvigorate his flagging campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is considering additional economic measures aimed directly at the middle class that are likely to be rolled out this week, campaign officials said.

Among the measures being considered are tax cuts – perhaps temporary – for capital gains and dividends, the officials said.

“The market’s the focus,” a McCain adviser said. “You want to stop the fleeing.”

No more bailout money is being contemplated, the adviser said. “We’ve written a check to everyone in sight,” the adviser said. “We’re not in that game.”

McCain advisers hope that by being specific, he can pose a contrast to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who has been benefited from taking a vague but consistent approach to policy during the economic crisis.

He might as well go down swinging. The fact is Obama wins by saying little because his message has been even before the financial meltdown started was the McCain was more of the same. Being vague is clearly Obama’s game plan. McCain can at least force Obama to get more specific. It is my view that if McCain is to even stand a chance, he must articulate a precise vision of his economic policies.

Concern in G.O.P. After Rough Week for McCain
By Adam Nagourney and Elisabeth Bumiller in the New York Times.

After a turbulent week that included disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin and signs that Senator John McCain was struggling to strike the right tone for his campaign, Republican leaders said Saturday that they were worried Mr. McCain was heading for defeat unless he brought stability to his presidential candidacy and settled on a clear message to counter Senator Barack Obama.

Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing with an extraordinarily challenging political battleground and a crisis on Wall Street.

Getting specific on the economy might help. Even then, it is a long shot.

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Al Jazeera’s Inside USA looks at the past year in the United States and examines the causes of the financial crisis.

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Here is the Sunday, October 12th, 2008 edition of what’s making news and interesting reads from around the world. Also please note that off to the left there are two widgets with updates on news from Asia and the world in a separate page: Around Asia & Around the World New Feeds.

Singapore Slips Into a Recession
Singapore on Friday joined other Asian nations in easing monetary policy as the economy slipped into recession for the first time since 2002. The economy contracted by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter from a year ago, based on preliminary data. The trade ministry cut its full-year growth forecast for 2008 to 3 per cent from a previous estimate of 4-5 per cent. On an annualised, seasonally adjusted rate, the economy shrank by 6.3 per cent from the previous quarter, after contracting by 5.7 per cent in April-June period, which meant that Singapore is in a technical recession defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. More from the Financial Times.

Austrian Mourns the Death of Joerg Haider
Austria is coming to terms with the shock death of far-right leader Joerg Haider in a car accident. The nationalist politician had been travelling to his home near Klagenfurt in the early hours of this morning to celebrate his mother’s 90th birthday. Police say his government car skidded out of control after overtaking another vehicle. It hit a concrete barrier and overturned several times. Fifty-eight year old Haider was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. More from Euro News.

IMF Speeds Access to Funds as Emerging Markets Buckle
The International Monetary Fund will use a “rapid-fire” emergency-loan program to lend hundreds of billions of dollars to emerging markets as the credit squeeze threatens to hobble nations that until this year were weaning themselves off the fund’s aid.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, said yesterday he has activated the program, which could distribute a record amount of cash. The move comes as the cost of protecting bonds issued by a number of developing countries has climbed sharply, and nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Peru have sold dollars to shore up their currencies. More from Bloomberg News.

Mugabe’s Power Grab Threatens Power Sharing Agreement
Robert Mugabe yesterday attempted an ‘ambush’ on the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe by claiming all the key cabinet posts and control of the state security forces for his own party. In an open challenge to the power-sharing pact between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the President’s ruling Zanu-PF party, which have reached deadlock over the allocation of ministries, Mugabe made a typically defiant gesture by gazetting the 14 key ministries as having been allocated to Zanu-PF. More from the UK Guardian.

Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat Considering Resignation
Thailand’s embattled prime minister indicated on Saturday that he may resign in the wake of fierce anti-government protests earlier this week that left two people dead and hundreds injured. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who has held the job for little more than three weeks, said he was considering his position as protesters against him and his administration prepared for another mass rally. The story from Agence France Presse.

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