Former L.A. Mayor crosses party lines, endorses Obama | PolitickerCA: "Mayor Richard Riordan: Getty Images PhotoFormer Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican, is backing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and attended a high-profile Beverly Hills fundraiser for the candidate last night. He explained to KCAL-TV why he had crossed party lines. 'I think he's a much more open person,' Riordan said as he arrived at the event, which featured a performance by Barbra Streisand. ...

tags: mayor richard riordan, barbra streisand, richard riordan, democratic presidential nominee, getty images, open person, s young, barack obama, fundraiser, high profile, beverly hills, electricity, republican

Seattle's KCTS will host the second and final formal debate between Republican Dave Reichert and his Democratic challenger Darcy Burner this evening at 7 PM. I'll wait until after the debate is over to post my thoughts. Jason plans to blog the debate in real time as it airs, so feel free to check back here if you aren't near a television at 7 PM.

tags: kcts seattle, democratic challenger, dave reichert, formal debate, republican, real time, television

Panicking McCain tries to control the monster he conjured up from the underworld: LAKEVILLE, Minn. -- Sen. John McCain responded Friday to the increasingly angry crowds at his rallies and town halls by urging them to be respectful of his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, despite their deep policy differences with the Democratic nominee. ical supporters at a town hall in this Minneapolis suburb, McCain prompted boos from his crowd when he called Obama "a decent person" and ...

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First: A study by Harvard post-doc fellow Daniel J. Hopkins (pdf here) which argues that the Bradley effect disappeared around 1996: African Americans running for office before 1996 performed on average 2.7 percentage points worse than their polling numbers would indicate. Yet this effect subsequently disappeared. Although precision is limited because there were only 47 observations for 18 elections with black candidates in this period, these finding accord with theories of racial politics emphasizing the information ...

tags: great dismal swamp, north carolina border, andrew hacker, harvard post, african immigration, doc fellow, national prominence, democratic presidential candidate, mid 1990s, wet ones, racial politics, j hopkins, information environment, bigots, suffolk virginia, post doc, anecdotal evidence, mid 90s, percentage points, nuances