Race Didn't Defeat Bradley: He Was Too Liberal

Baller-turn-pundit calls polls 'absolutely useless'

(NEWSER) - Charles Barkley has news for the experts predicting the Bradley effect won’t undermine Barack Obama’s lead. “The polls are absolutely useless,” the former NBA star says, anticipating a race “down to the wire.” While he concedes some whites will vote Democrat for “their financial situation,” the Obama-backer says they won’t cancel out racists who claim to support him, but won’t, the Raw Story reports. More»

Fraction under mistaken impression much greater than 5-10% nationally: poll

(NEWSER) - Nearly a quarter of Texas voters still believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, the Houston Chronicle reports. Polling shows 23% of registered voters there buy internet-fueled rumors the Democrat is hiding his Islamic faith—compared to just 5-10% of voters nationwide. The same poll gives John McCain a comfortable lead over Obama, at 51%- 40%. More»

Disgusted Republicans could cancel out Bradley Effect

(NEWSER) - There are plenty of unpredictable factors that might elude pollsters, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. Most famous is the Bradley Effect. “While some have minimized the impact of a Bradley Effect in this election, we'd be wrong to discount it. Anti-black has morphed to some degree into anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim.” But there may be a Reverse-Bradley Effect among moderate Republicans horrified by the McCain campaign. More»

Defends use of same tactic used against him in 2000

(NEWSER) - John McCain defended his use of robocalls on Fox News Sunday, arguing his attacks on Barack Obama are different from the slanderous calls that targeted him during the 2000 primaries, Politico reports. “These are legitimate and truthful and they are far different than the phone calls that were made about my family,” he said. On other talk shows:

• Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama “eliminated the experience argument."

Democratic Rep. apologizes for dissing state's west

(NEWSER) - Rep. John Murtha apologized for saying yesterday that “racist” western Pennsylvanians wouldn’t vote for Barack Obama, CNN reports. “While we cannot deny that race is a factor in this election, I believe we've been able to look beyond race these past few months,” the Democrat said today in a statement. “I believe he will win both Pennsylvania and the White House.” More»