Senator Barack Obama’s ailing grandmother has passed away. Recently the Senator stopped campaigning to visit Madelyn Dunham who helped raise him. Dunham was 85 years old.

USA Today

Reminder Senator Barack Obama will have a half hour campaign commercial tonight on all of your network stations except for ABC. No one really knows what will be happening but it should be interesting. It probably won’t look like this unfortunetly:

Following media reports, including one from Newsweek, alleging the Obama campaign might be accepting campaign contributions from foreign and fraudulent sources, the RNC will reportedly file an official complaint with the FEC. The complaint will seek an audit of Obama’s funds.

Consider the cases of Obama donors “Doodad Pro” of Nunda, N.Y., who gave $17,130, and “Good Will” of Austin, Texas, who gave more than $11,000—both in excess of the $2,300-per-person federal limit. In two recent letters to the Obama campaign, Federal Election Commission auditors flagged those (and other) donors and informed the campaign that the sums had to be returned. Neither name had ever been publicly reported because both individuals made online donations in $10 and $25 increments. “Good Will” listed his employer as “Loving” and his occupation as “You,” while supplying as his address 1015 Norwood Park Boulevard, which is shared by the Austin nonprofit Goodwill Industries. Suzanha Burmeister, marketing director for Goodwill, said the group had “no clue” who the donor was. She added, however, that the group had received five puzzling thank-you letters from the Obama campaign this year, prompting it to send the campaign an e-mail in September pointing out the apparent fraudulent use of its name.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review and the Washington Post have more on the story.

After a shift away from health care reform as an issue in the race Barack Obama brought the issue back to the forefront of his campaign today. From the Associated Press:

He devoted at least half his speech to criticizing McCain. The Republican nominee has proposed to tax the health benefits that 156 million people get through the workplace as income. In exchange, McCain would give tax credits to help pay for insurance — $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families, paid directly to the insurer they choose.

The criticisms that Obama made here are echoed by his campaign in four new television ads, four separate mailers targeted to swing state voters, radio commercials and events in every battleground state.

“On health care, John McCain promises a tax credit,” an announcer says in one of Obama’s new ads, over images of families examining their bills. “But here’s what he won’t tell you: McCain would make you pay taxes on your health benefits, taxing your health care for the first time ever, raising costs for employers who offer health care so your coverage could be reduced or dropped completely. You won’t find one word about it on his Web site.”

While John McCain spends the weekend in Arizona preparing for Tuesday’s debate, Governor Palin, fresh off her own debate, went on the offensive linking Senator Obama to 60’s radical and domestic terrorist William Ayres. Saying Obama is “palling around with terrorists”. Palin also said about Obama “This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.”

From Politico:

“There’s been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol,’” Palin said today, according to a transcript distributed by the campaign. “These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes. This is not a man who sees America as you and I do — as the greatest force for good in the world.

The Obama campaign responded by saying:

Governor Palin’s comments, while offensive, are not surprising, given the McCain campaign’s statement this morning that they would be launching Swift boat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation’s economic ills. In fact, the very newspaper story Governor Palin cited in hurling her shameless attack made clear that Senator Obama is not close to Bill Ayers, much less “pals,” and that he has strongly condemned the despicable acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was eight. What’s clear is that John McCain and Sarah Palin would rather spend their time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build up our economy.

A new section has been put together on the site devoted to the 2008 presidential debates. There you can find the latest news, debate dates and format information, moderator information and more. After the debates video highlights, transcripts, reviews and other information will be available.

The Obama campaign has confirmed it is closing its 11 North Dakota offices and moving staffers to Mississippi & Wisconsin.

From the International Herald Tribune:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

But last week the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.

Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.

In my opinion? Watching both parties and campaigns attempt to portray the other in a negative light on this issue is utterly ludicrous. I would be surprised if anyone could find a person in Washington that did not have their hand in the cookie jar in one way or another, who did not receive donations or whose staff does not include a person, current or former, that was employed or defended in some small way an entity connected with this mess.

It was dumb and short sighted of the McCain camp to launch such attacks.

Update: Quick word, as commenters have noted the original Obama plan still exists at the bottom of the Web site page with the original language in PDF form under the title of being just Senator Obama’s plan. I don’t know why they dropped language on the site itself to reflect the Obama/Biden plan and the campaign has never returned my calls or e-mail requests for information in the past and don’t seem likely to do so now. Still I am looking for information on if the new language is “in addition to” or supercedes the original plan.”

The Obama campaign has made a number of changes to its “Science, Technology & Innovation” position page that now reflects the position of both the Senator and his running-mate Joe Biden. A Slashdot submitter summed up some of these changes by saying the following:

“Barack Obama has edited his official website on many issues, including a huge revision on the technology page. Strangely it seems net neutrality is no longer as important as it was a few months ago, and the swaths of detail have been removed and replaced with fairly vague rhetoric. Many technologists were alarmed with the choice of Joe Biden before, and now it appears their fears might have been well founded.”

You can see all the changes by viewing this link.

I am including a few of the things I found of note:

1) While the page still states “Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet. ” Now missing is the following firm explanation of what that means to the Senator:

Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices. They have a right to receive accurate and honest information about service plans. But these guarantees are not enough to prevent network providers from discriminating in ways that limit the freedom of expression on the Internet. Because most Americans only have a choice of only one or two broadband carriers, carriers are tempted to impose a toll charge on content and services, discriminating against websites that are unwilling to pay for equal treatment. This could create a two-tier Internet in which websites with the best relationships with network providers can get the fastest access to consumers, while all competing websites remain in a slower lane. Such a result would threaten innovation, the open tradition and architecture of the Internet, and competition among content and backbone providers. It would also threaten the equality of speech through which the Internet has begun to transform American political and cultural discourse. Barack Obama supports the basic principle that network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet applications over others. This principle will ensure that the new competitors, especially small or non-profit speakers, have the same opportunity as incumbents to innovate on the Internet and to reach large audiences. Obama will protect the Internet’s traditional openness to innovation and creativity and ensure that it remains a platform for free speech and innovation that will benefit consumers and our democracy.

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From the Associated Press:

Michelle Obama says voters need to decide this election by examining the issues, not because they like a candidate or think “she’s cute.”

Obama spoke in Charlotte on Thursday morning at a women’s round-table on economic issues. The crowd roared at her remark disparaging voters who might cast a ballot because of a woman’s looks, a clear jab at Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin.

Obama tried to clarify her remark with a smile, saying she was talking about herself.