New ABC News/Washington Post national poll conducted after the debate (Sept 27-29) shows that John McCain has picked up 5 points on Barack Obama during the last week, moving from a nine-point deficit to trailing by four:

Obama 50 (-2 vs. last poll Sept 19-22)
McCain 46 (+3)

Obama leads by 4.8% in the RCP National Average.

According to the poll, McCain has regained the lead among key swing groups: Independents favor McCain by 3 (48-45), white women by 11 (54-43), and white Catholics by one (47-46). McCain is still holding on to 20% of Democrats who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries, while 70% are supporting Obama.

McCain economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin issued the following statement on the SEC's plan to relax mark-to-market accounting requirements:

John McCain is pleased to see that the SEC has finally decided to permit alternative accounting methods to mark-to-market accounting for securities where no active market exists. There is serious concern that these accounting rules are worsening the credit crunch, making it difficult for small businesses to stay afloat and squeezing family budgets. In March, John McCain called for a meeting of accounting professionals to discuss whether mark-to-market accounting was magnifying problems in the financial markets.

Here are the transcripts for McCain and Obama.

Sources say New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to repeal the city's term limits law so he can seek a third term. The only problem? According to the NY Daily News:

Bloomberg vociferously opposed scrapping term limits in the past, at one point calling an effort to change the laws "disgusting."

Voters haven't been in favor of repealing term limits in the past either. But with Bloomberg's high approval ratings and the markets in crisis, things may be different today.

Strategic Vision will release a new poll tomorrow in New Jersey (Sept 26-28) showing Obama leading McCain 48% to 39% with 3% for other candidates; and 10% undecided.

An incisive "random thought" from Rich Karlgaard:

For the life of me, I can't figure out why Obama supporters are crying racism when Obama is ahead and gaining in the polls. Does anyone think a cigarette sucking machine politician from Chicago, a white guy named Barry Obamski with ties to terrorists, with loans from a sleazebag, with a voting record that is the Senate's most left wing, would have any chance of winning the presidency?

New Insider Advantage polls show Obama leading by 6 points in Virginia and 2 points in Ohio.

Virginia (Sept. 29, 436 LV, MoE +/- 5%)
Obama 51
McCain 45
Und 3

Ohio (Sept. 29, 512 LV, MoE +/- 4%)
Obama 47
McCain 45
Und 7

Something tells me this new McCain web ad should have a different title:

Say, something that begins with an "H" and ends with an "E"?

Over at NRO, Mark Goldblatt channels Gov. Palin:

Ever since Senator McCain made that selection, by the way, I've been working hard to get up to speed on foreign policy and global issues. The reason I wasn't up to speed beforehand is that, curiously enough, I'd been focusing all my energy on doing the jobs I'd been elected to do. When I was elected mayor of Wasilla, I tried to be a good mayor. When I was elected governor of the Alaska, I tried to be a good governor. I didn't regard either position as a stepping stone to anything else. I saw no need to go on fact-finding tours, at taxpayers' expense, to foreign countries in an effort to bolster my geopolitical credentials for higher office.

By the time John McCain and I take office in January, rest assured I will be up to speed on geopolitics. I will be altogether qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency. And I'll surround myself with altogether qualified advisers and staff, not yes-men and yes-women. Because I know from experience -- the very experience my opponent, Sen. Biden, lacks -- what it is like to make an executive decision. I know what it is like, after the legislative wrangling is done, after the wheeling and dealing by party hacks who are determined to maintain political cover and plausible deniability, to have the buck stop at my desk, to enact a law by my signature, to put my name on the bottom line.

Will Goldblatt's fictitious answer satisfy Palin's biggest critics? No. But it's better than arguing one's foreign-policy credentials has anything to do with Alaska's proximity to Russia.

Big Think scored an interview with Christine Todd Whitman, who defends Sarah Palin: