• Florida early voting sites to stay open longer each day to better disenfranchise the citizenry.
• Q Poll: Obama ahead by 2 points in statistical tie.
• LAT-Bloomberg: Obama up by 7.
• Obama cuts McCain’s lead to just 2 points in McCain’s home state, Arizona!
• … but the McCain campaign says the race is tightening. Rrrrriiigggghhht.
• Our daily “Nearer My God to Thee” Media update: Time Inc. will lay off 600 workers; Gannett to cut 3,000.
• Enjoy those big gains from yesterday Dow fans. They should be gone by this afternoon.
• Tonight’s half-hour Obama ad will not run on CNN, but will lead into the World Series on Fox.
• Speaking of which: Game 5 resumes tonight — if it doesn’t snow!
• Rate cut! Rate cut! Rate cut!
• The credit crunch finally hits the cards.
• Christian Science Monitor to dump the print paper and go Web-only (mostly).
• Consumer Confidence disappearing faster than your employer’s match of your 401(k).
• Ralph Nader rallies 150 troops in Ybor City.

CNN/OPINION RESEARCH CORPORATION POLL
DEBATE WATCHERS

Who Did the Best Job In the Debate?

Biden      51%
Palin      36%

QUESTION Regardless of which candidate you happen to support, who do you think did the best job in the debate – Joe Biden or Sarah Palin?

(source: Obama for American)

Make a notation in your PDA of choice for Thursday night at 9 p.m. for the vice presidential debates between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. I’ll be here (sorry, I was on the road traveling last Friday night for the first presidential debate) ready at the enter key for the veep battle, and I will open a thread just before the show starts.

In the meantime, some reading material background for you to digest so you can have informed and intelligent comments (along with the usual barrage of partisan insults and snarky remarks). This is from the Marist Poll, full text after the jump:

This Marist Poll reports:

THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:

WAIT AND SEE…NEARLY ONE IN FIVE VOTERS UNSURE
WHO WILL WIN VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:
A plurality of registered voters nationwide — 45% — think Senator Joe Biden will beat his Republican opponent, Governor Sarah Palin, during Thursday night’s vice presidential debate while 36% think Palin will make the better showing.  However, close to one in five voters, including nearly a quarter of Independents, say they just don’t know which candidate will be victorious.  Republican and Democratic voters stand along party lines.  Regardless of whom they support, 71% of Democrats say Biden will win the debate while 66% of Republicans think Palin will.  By a difference of 6 percentage points — 41% to 35% — Independents believe Biden will win.

VOTERS DIVIDE…THINK BIDEN TO APPEAR MORE
INFORMED…PALIN MORE LIKEABLE:
Voters’ expectations differ when it comes to the candidate who will come across as more knowledgeable on the issues and the one who will leave a more likeable impression.  61% of registered voters nationally say Biden will have a greater understanding of the issues compared with just 28% for Palin.  Looking at the parties, Democrats stand strong behind their candidate.  84% think Biden will have a better grasp of the campaign’s key issues.  Although a majority of Republicans — 54% — believe Governor Palin will appear better informed than her Democratic rival, about a third of voters in her own party report Senator Biden will be more knowledgeable.  Independents agree with the Democrats.  61% of Independents believe Biden will show a greater depth of knowledge on the issues.

However, voters expect Palin to take top honors when it comes to likeability.  65% of registered voters believe she will come across as more likeable during Thursday’s debate while just 23% think Biden will present a more pleasant demeanor.  Even Democrats are divided on how likeable Biden will appear.  Just slightly more voters in Biden’s own party — 46% — are confident he will appear more likeable compared with 42% who think Palin will.  When it comes to the GOP, there’s no question where they stand.  89% of Republicans expect the Alaskan governor to appear more pleasant compared with 6% who anticipate Biden will.  Here, Independents agree with the Republicans.  Seven in ten Independents believe Palin will outshine her Democratic opponent in this way.

STILL TIME TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION?
Neither Joe Biden nor Sarah Palin are viewed favorably by a majority of voters.  49% of the national electorate says they have a favorable impression of Sarah Palin compared with 45% who have a positive image of Joe Biden.  But, 13% are still unsure how to rate Palin while 21% have yet to form an opinion of Biden.  38% have a negative of impression of Palin, and 34% view Biden unfavorably.

NATURE OF THE SAMPLE: 801 AMERICANS
This survey was conducted on September 24th and 25th, 2008.  801 adults 18 years of age or older within the continental United States were interviewed by telephone. Telephone numbers were selected based upon a list of telephone exchanges from throughout the nation.  The exchanges were selected to ensure that each region was represented in proportion to its population.  The results of the entire survey are statistically significant at +/-3.5%.  There are 693 registered voters.  The result for this sub-sample is statistically significant at +/-4%.  The margin for error increases for cross-tabulations.

If you can’t make it on Friday, fear not faithful reader: We’ll be also be live blogging the other debates (two additional presidential debates, one V.P. debate), giving you four chances to add your voice to the animated conversation surrounding one of the most exciting presidential elections in American history.

Hope to see you Friday!

We’ll have much more on the Democratic ticket on Monday.

As for that text message, the Obama campaign blew a prime opportunity. By sending the message at 3:26 a.m., they gauranteed that the recipients would almost all be asleep. Had they sent it on Friday, say right before lunch on the east coast, they would have caused a ruckus throughout offices across the country. My guess is that was the original plan, but the campaign didn’t want to knock John “I don’t know how many houses I own” McCain from the headlines.

And speaking of McCain, here is his first response to the Biden announcement: