The Morning Read: October 2, 2008

The federal bailout legislation passed the Senate last night; the only senator who did not vote was Ted Kennedy.

John McCain was not very friendly when Barack Obama approached him on the floor last night.

On the eve of the V.P. debate, Sarah Palin not only blanked on Supreme Court cases, but also appeared to not understand some basic facts about how the government runs.

The McCain campaign said Palin played a role in dealing with Russian attempts to claim part of the Arctic, but there's no evidence that she did.

Palin has "has not met with Russian leaders or delegations, negotiated any Russian issues or visited the country," reports the A.P., which says the only nation she hs negotiated with is Canada.

Term-limits advocate Ron Lauder writes of Michael Bloomberg's possibly undemocratic plan to change the law without voter input, “The voters will be heard. But lets get through this fiscal crisis first,”

Choire Sicha says Lauder lied when he said he hadn't met with Bloomberg because his publicist, Howard Rubenstein, said they did.

The New York Post has more on Bloomberg’s need for a party line.

The agenda for Bloomberg's third term would be to extend mayoral control of schools, and address economic issues.

The New York Times calls Bloomberg’s fiscal stewardship into question.

Bloomberg's margin of victory would probably be more narrower than it was in 2005, but pollster Mickey Carrol says, "I don't see any way that he doesn't win."

Nicole Gelinas's criticism of Bloomberg for blowing the chance to wean the city's economy off Wall Street is buried in this Financial Times story.

Voters north of 96th Street might be up for another Bloomberg term.

City Council members have a problem with making one-time exception to the term-limits law.

A Bloomberg aide tells the Daily News tht a third term may be “an opportunity to get rid of some dead weight.”

Mike Daly says Bloomberg should run for City Council.

If Bloomberg is so concerned about the future of the city, he should have groomed a successor, says Errol Louis.

Jimmy Oddo is making a wish list of projects he wants the mayor to work on next term.

Expect a lawsuit.

"Unless you have an act of God, he's going to win" the quotable Doug Muzzio tells Metro.

This college paper suggests letting Bloomberg run, and if he doesn't win by a supermajority, not letting him into office.

Citylife doubts that under another mayor "we are all going to be unemployed and homeless," but also, his money could be helpful.

Councilman Vinnie Gentile vents, "How can The New York Times, the Daily News and New York Post suddenly reverse their positions?"

Stephen Dubner, on the Freakonomics blog, predicts Bloomberg "could probably win in a cakewalk."

The New York Times was "pretending it wasn't on a first-name basis with the mayor."

"If that kind of brazen cowboy attitude to power fails miserably on a national level with Bush/Cheney, what makes us think it will work better on a city level?" wonders this writer.

And Page Six floats a theory about the tension between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (hint: Supreme Court).