9/14 Roundup: Bipolar Markets, McCain Lost at Sea, Levi Johnston was Like Whatever

Leader: How the Dow got its Points Back

- The S&P 500 rose 11.6% yesterday-- the biggest single-day rise since 1939-- on news that the government would buy minority stakes in the major banks. $250 billion will go to buy stock in America's banks-- half to be divided among the nine largest, and the other half for everyone else. There was apparently some reluctance among the representatives of the Big Nine, but as Secretary Paulson told them, they didn't really have much choice in the matter.

Election '08

- Kos' DemFromCT poll analysis has Obama above 50% in nearly every poll. He's pulling away in the battleground states, and in Pennsylvania, McCain's unfavorables are higher than his favorable ratings.

- According to the Hill, McCain has been alienating his base on the economy.  According to the Wall Street Journal, he's been alienating his major donors. According to Washington Wire, he's alienating the people who show up to his rallies.  And according to just about everyone, he's alienating the press. Politico wants to know: Who's running the show here?

- As things get crazier for McCain, likelihood of campaign stunts rises.  538's Nate Silver has given us a system to know the threat.  I'd say we're a solid yellow right now.

- McCain's campaign raised eyebrows yesterday when it announced he would release new economic plans, and then didn't.  Today, he's got the plans: Tax cuts.

- Obama released an updated plan of his own yesterday. It includes tax credits to encourage job creation, allowing people to borrow from retirement
savings without a tax penalty, elimination of income taxes on
unemployment benefits, and a doubling of
loan guarantees for automakers. He's also called for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures.

- Hillary summed the plan up well with her new line: "Jobs, baby, jobs."

- House Democrats, meanwhile, are cooking up a plan for a big stimulus package.  NDN's Michael Moynihan has called for a stimulus that invests in clean infrastructure.

- Despite it all, Adam Nagourney reminds us that it's not over 'til it's over. Dan Balz, likewise, still has questions for Obama.

One Last Thing

- The AP has a profile on the season's most unlikely political celebrity: Levi Johnston. Going to the RNC, at first he was nervous, but then he was, like, whatever.

- BarackObama.com now lets you calculate (and fantasize about) the tax cut you'll receive under his administration.

- The San Fran. Chronicle reports on how the candidates have avoided the immigration issue, but NDN President Simon Rosenberg is quoted as saying it's "not a third rail."

- Chair of the NDN Globalization Initiative Rob Shapiro is quoted talking about America's flood insurance debt in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

- Last, though he's hammered Acorn lately, turns out McCain didn't oppose the group back when it was politically expedient: