McCain Wins Debate  —  Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it — if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

Thinking About McCain  —  I've been covering John McCain steadily for a decade.  A few years ago, I worked on a book, which I foolishly never completed, on the U.S. Senate with McCain as the central character.  So when I step back and think of McCain, even in the heat of this campaign …

McCain's Choice  —  Is there a third way?  —  The McCain campaign is now trying to broker a deal between House Republicans, Treasury Secretary Paulson, and the Democrats.  This will be tough—but it's worth a shot.  —  If it works, fine.  If it fails, McCain will have, I think, three alternative paths:

Palin Problem  —  If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.  —  To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

SLATE PREDICTS MCCAIN'S NEXT 10 HAIL MARY STUNTS.  —  1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.  —  2. Offers the post of “vice vice president” to Warren Buffett.  —  3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.  —  4. Learns to use computer.

National Review asks: Did WaMu fail because it employed minorities?  —  (updated below)  —  National Review's Mark Krikorian notes that (1) Washington Mutual became the largest bank to fail in American history yesterday and (2) its last press release touted the fact that it was named …

Away from Wall Street, Economists Question Basis of Paulson's Plan  —  The Bush administration's pitch for a sweeping bailout of the financial system has centered on two simple premises: that the economy could suffer a crippling downturn if action is not taken very quickly and that this action …

AP poll: Few support Bush's market rescue plan  —  WASHINGTON - There is scant public support for President Bush's $700 billion federal rescue plan for the financial industry and little expectation it would solve the crisis that has roiled the markets and hobbled some of the country's largest …