Obama is back? [First Read]

Nate Silver writes that Obama is rising in the polls for three reasons: the economic crisis, the deflation of McCain’s convention bounce, and the fact that Sarah Palin might have become more a liability than an asset. [The Plank]

McCain’s town halls are usually open to the public, but not the one Palin joined. [Political Wire]

That town hall, yesterday, was really more of a "pep rally," according to one reporter. [Washington Post]

Chuck Hagel thinks Palin’s talk about Russia is "insulting to the American people.” On the fact that she only got a passport last year, Hagel said, "I don’t know what you can say. You can’t say anything." [Omaha World Herald via Think Progress]

Network coverage of Palin’s inaccurate comments is becoming highly routine and, by TV standards, unequivocal. [Radar]

John Riley says McCain definitely made a "gaffe" while speaking about Spain. [Spin Cycle]

Joe Biden says paying taxes, for wealthy people, is "patriotic." [AP]

Rochester Congresswoman Louise Slaughter talks to Rachel Maddow about why she voted in favor of an energy bill that included offshore drilling (around the two-minute mark). [MSNBC]

The developer Toll Brothers has begun the approval process for a huge residential project on the still-dirty Gowanus Canal. [Brooklyn Paper]

An upstate blogger wonders why no one has heard from Jon Powers. [Monroe Rising]

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