Democrat Barack Obama has widened his national lead over Republican rival John McCain, as more voters believe McCain would continue President Bush's policies, according to a new poll released this afternoon.

Obama leads McCain 53 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, compared to 51 percent to 47 percent two weeks ago, the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found. When minor-party candidates are included, Obama's lead grows to 53 percent to 42 percent. It is the latest national poll to show Obama breaking the crucial 50-percent barrier.

The survey also found that 54 percent of likely voters believe that McCain would mostly carry out Bush's policies, up from 52 percent two weeks ago.

UPDATE: An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released this evening showed similar movement toward Obama, who leads 49 percent to 43 percent. That edge matches his biggest lead in this poll, and is up from a 48 percent to 46 percent lead two weeks ago.

The NBC survey found that voters gave Obama higher marks for his response to the financial crisis -- 34 percent said they felt more reassured by his actions, compared to 29 percent who felt less reassured. The opposite was true for McCain -- while only 25 percent were reassured by his actions, 38 percent felt less reassured.

The CNN poll also shows the unpopularity of the financial rescue package: 53 percent said they oppose the $700 billion bailout, and 76 percent said they oppose more government assistance if the bailout doesn't work. And 51 percent said they don't believe the bailout will prevent a deep and long recession.

The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday and has a margin of error among likely voters of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Hillary Clinton gave one of her most forceful, impassioned endorsements of Barack Obama, telling activists today that she is "absolutely positive with every fiber of my being" that her one-time Democratic rival needs to be elected.

"I come today with a very clear, unequivocal message," she said at the 8th Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee Luncheon in New York City. "We are facing extremely difficult times in New York and America. It will be challenging for our nation and our state to navigate through these unchartered waters. We will need leaders who will understand what it takes to reassert our economic stability, create new jobs while at the same time remembering those who are most likely to be left out and left behind.

“As a woman, as a lifelong advocate for women, children and families, as a New Yorker, as a senator and as an American, this is not even a close choice. This must be approached with the same level of commitment and intensity that we have ever seen by any campaign and by any citizen movement," she added, citing Obama's differences with Republican John McCain on abortion, equal pay, family leave, and healthcare.

She quoted her predecessor as first lady, "A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is until she’s in hot water."

"Well, the same is true for America," Clinton said. "We’re in hot water. But we will with the right leadership show strength and resolve. We will roll up our sleeves and get to work. But the only way we will find our way forward is by electing a President and Vice President who understand what’s at stake, who share the values that America represents here at home and around the world that will come with solutions that work."

“We need a fresh start, and the Obama-Biden Administration will provide that. America can rise again as we have before from the ashes of the Bushes. And get back on a confident and optimistic path into the future."

More than 3 in 5 US households watched at least one of the two debates so far, and nearly one in three watched both the presidential and vice-presidential face-offs, Nielsen Media Research reported this afternoon.

On the eve of the second presidential debate Tuesday night, Nielsen issued its latest number-crunching that shows the intense interest in this year's race.

About 41 percent of all homes watched the V.P. debate last Thursday -- up one-third from the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, which reached 31 percent of all households.

Both debates drew mostly white viewers, who make more than $100,000 a year and at least a college degree -- precisely the demographic most likely to already be following the race closely, Nielsen said.

Older viewers made up the biggest chunk of the audience for the debates, while Hispanic households were least likely to watch. They account for about 11 percent of all TV households, but made up just 6 percent of the combined audience for the two debates.

The Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns are going at it hot and heavy over McCain's healthcare plan.

At issue is McCain's proposal to offer a $2,500 tax credit for individuals and $5,000 for families to help them afford private health insurance. That credit would be offset, however, because workers would no longer to be able to exclude from their income taxes the value of the insurance coverage paid by their employer.

Obama calls that a taxing health benefits for the first time -- an assertion that McCain's camp calls an outright lie.

"You see, Senator McCain would pay for his plan, in part, by taxing your health care benefits for the first time in history. And this tax would come out of your paycheck," Obama said Saturday in Newport News, Va. "But the new tax credit he’s proposing? That wouldn’t go to you. It would go directly to your insurance company – not your bank account. So when you read the fine print, it’s clear that John McCain is pulling an old Washington bait and switch. It’s a shell game. He gives you a tax credit with one hand – but raises your taxes with the other."

The Obama campaign followed up with a TV ad making the same argument.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded, “Barack Obama is lying to voters. It’s a bald faced lie because John McCain will improve the tax code so that middle class paychecks aren’t used to pay government bureaucrats but instead will pay for the access to health care Americans deserve. Barack Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, has a different plan: higher taxes, a trillion dollars in new spending, and a radical turn toward government-run health care that promises to be as efficient as a trip to the DMV.”

That brought this missive from Obama spokesman Bill Burton, “We understand why John McCain doesn’t want voters to know the full truth about his radical health care plan, which would force at least 20 million Americans out of the health care they rely on, and let insurance companies, not doctors, make key decisions about families’ health. But as Barack Obama said today, John McCain pays for his $5,000 health tax credit by taxing employee health benefits for the first time in history. The bald-faced lie is to suggest anything otherwise."

The Obama camp launched a second ad that went a step further, accusing McCain of wanting to give insurance companies more control over patient care.

"On health care, there are two sides," the announcer says. Barack Obama would require insurance companies to cover routine treatments, like vaccines and mammograms. John McCain would deregulate the insurance giants…letting them bypass patient protections in your state. Obama would force insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.
McCain would let them continue to do as they please. Isn’t your health care too important to be left to chance?"

McCain's campaign called the ad a false attack.

“On health care there are two sides of this coin: Barack Obama would impose expensive mandates that cost workers jobs, health insurance, penalize parents because they can’t afford insurance for their kids, build a new health care bureaucracy, and expand a bloated government by an unaffordable $250 billion a year. Americans’ paychecks would go to higher taxes that pay the bureaucrats who control their health care. Barack Obama is not being truthful, because John McCain’s plan puts money in the hands of families, preserves their employer coverage and expands new options, and transforms the health care system to provide better care, at lower cost, for every American – that is a fact,” Doug Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to McCain, said in a statement.

UPDATE: McCain hit back during a speech today in New Mexico.
"On healthcare, Senator Obama has been misleading you about my plan to give you more money for healthcare, and he has been equally misleading about his own plans. He has said his goal is a single payer system where government is in charge of health care and bureaucrats stand between you and your doctor. Under the plan he has proposed, he will fine families that don't have the kind of health insurance that Senator Obama tells them to purchase. He will fine employers who do not offer the health insurance that he thinks they should offer," McCain told supporters.

"What he doesn't say, and what nobody has asked, is how big his fines will be. What he doesn't want you to know is that with a small fine, his plan will encourage companies to just pay the fine, drop existing healthcare coverage for their employees and leave them with only one real option: government run healthcare."

Both major-party presidential candidates declared today that the global stock sell-off -- that pushed the Dow Jones industrial average below 10,000 for the first time in four years -- shows that the $700 billion bailout passed last week isn't enough to rescue the economy.

Democrat Barack Obama said another stimulus package is needed, along with more unemployment benefits.

"Not only are we seeing the stock market go down but there is still great danger of the credit markets not responding and the contagion is spreading to all parts of the globe. Europe is having some of the same problems," he told reporters in Asheville, N.C.

"It is a reminder that the rescue package that was passed last week is not the end of our efforts to deal with the economy, it’s just the beginning. I think it is very important for Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke to move swiftly and try to restore confidence as quickly as possible, and effectuate the plans based on the authority that has been given to them by Congress. I think it is still critical for us to move forward on an economic stimulus package that can provide people with some relief from high gas prices, food prices, help state and local governments maintain their payrolls. I think we have to extend unemployment insurance after the statistics showing that 159,000 additional jobs were lost just last month. We’re going to have to then, move on an aggressive plan to deal with some of the underlying structural problems in the economy including the housing market."

Republican John McCain said sweeping reform in the way Washington works is needed.

"The action Congress took last week to address our financial crisis was a tourniquet, but not a permanent solution," he told voters in Albuquerque, N.M. "Today we are seeing the stock market fall, and the credit crisis spread to other parts of the world. Our economy is still hurting -- working families are worried about the price of groceries, the price of gas, keeping their jobs and paying their mortgage -- further action is needed. We need to restore confidence in our economy and in our government."

Get ready to hear a lot about Bill Ayers and Charles Keating this week, likely including Tuesday night's second presidential debate.

Republican John McCain is trying to move the campaign off the economy -- an issue on which Democratic rival Barack Obama has a clear edge and has ridden to a clear lead in national polls and surveys in a bevy of battleground states -- and has apparently decided to go after Obama's character.

So McCain is seeking to capitalize on new attention, including a New York Times story on Saturday, on Bill Ayers, a founder of a radical group that planned bombings at the US Capitol and Pentagon. Ayers and Obama have crossed paths in Chicago, but Obama has denounced him.

That isn't stopping McCain's camp from describing Ayers and Obama as friends, and trying to link the two.

"Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers. And according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist," McCain's running mate Sarah Palin told voters in Clearwater, Fla., this morning. "Wow. And there’s even more to the story....In fact, Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s home. And they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago.

Palin said of Obama, "This is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country."

The Times story itself, however, says the ties between Obama and Ayers are tenuous at best.

But McCain's campaign has not backed down on the Ayers connection.

“The last four weeks of this election will be about whether the American people are willing to turn our economy and national security over to Barack Obama, a man with little record, questionable judgment, and ties to radical figures like unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Americans need to ask themselves if they've ever befriended an unrepentant terrorist, or had a convicted felon help them buy their house -- because those aren't smears, those are true facts about Barack Obama,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

Palin also brought up Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an interview with New York Times columnist William Kristol published today.

During the primaries, Obama denounced Wright and severed ties with his Chicago church after videotapes surfaced showing Wright making anti-American and anti-Semitic comments from the pulpit.

"I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country," Palin told Kristol. "To me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."

Obama responded to the Ayers attacks in an interview this morning on the syndicated Tom Joyner radio show, which has a sizable African-American audience.

"He engaged in these despicable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old. I served on a board with him. And so now they're trying to use this as guilt by association," Obama said.

"I think the American people deserve better. I think they deserve a last four weeks that talks about the economic crisis," Obama continued. "But if John McCain wants to have a character debate, I'm happy to have that debate because Mr. McCain's record, despite him calling himself a maverick, actually shows that he is continually somebody who relies on lobbyists....He makes decisions, often times, based on what these lobbyists tell them him to do. That I think is going to be a lot more relevant to the American people than what somebody who is tangentially related to me."

McCain's campaign is jumping on remarks made by Obama aides today that the candidate did not know of Ayers' background when he held an event for Obama's state Senate campaign.

John Roberts of CNN asked, "I just want to try to get to the heart of it so that people at home can understand. Our Jim Acosta talked with your senior strategist David Axelrod about this. In 1995, William Ayers held kind of a get-to-know you event at his place where he was introducing Barack Obama to the political culture there in Chicago when he was running for the State Senate for the first time. David Axelrod said that at that meeting Senator Obama was not aware of Ayers' radical background. Is that true?"

Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, replied, "Look, if that's what David said, that is true. Look, again, this is a relationship, excuse me, that Barack Obama has condemned the actions of Bill Ayers."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds asked, “Does Barack Obama truly expect the American people to believe that he had no idea about his friend’s past as the infamous founder of the domestic terror group ‘The Weather Underground’ or is he just lying? If Obama didn't know in 1995 about the bombings Ayers was responsible for, when did he find out -- because Obama was promoting Ayers' book in 1997, serving on boards with him until 2002, and trading emails and phone calls with him as recently as 2005. If Obama really was unaware of Ayers' radical past, learning the truth doesn't seem to have had any effect on their friendship. Whether Barack Obama is lying to voters about his previous support for higher taxes on the middle class, his votes against funds for American troops in the field or his associations with an unrepentant terrorist, voters are left wondering who Obama is and what he stands for."

In speeches over the weekend, Obama accused McCain of wanting to turn the page on the economy by launching Swift Boat-style attacks on him, referring to the assaults four years ago on Senator John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record.

"Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. They’d rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up. It’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time," Obama said Sunday in Asheville, N.C.

In response, Obama is also bringing back up McCain's ties to Keating, a key figure in the 1980s savings and loan scandal that almost killed McCain's political career. In 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee reprimanded McCain for his "poor judgment" in advocating for Keating, a major campaign contributor in Arizona, with federal regulators.

Obama's campaign has put up a 30-second web ad and this afternoon unveiled a 13-minute documentary on its website called "Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis."

In an email to supporters, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote, ``The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts -- and see for themselves the pattern of poor judgment by John McCain.''

McCain's camp insists that the Keating matter is different than Ayers.

"The difference here is clear: John McCain has been open and honest about the Keating matter, and even the Democratic special counsel in charge recommended that Senator McCain be completely exonerated. By contrast, Barack Obama has been fundamentally dishonest about his friendship and work with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, whose radical group bombed the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. Nor has Barack Obama come clean on his close friendship with Tony Rezko, a felon convicted on bribery charges who subsidized the purchase of Barack Obama’s home. It's obvious that Barack Obama is frantically attacking because he knows that most voters find these kinds of friendships, and the failed judgment they expose, to be unacceptable for our next president," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement.

The Democratic National Committee has a web video warning of a raft of personal attacks on the way against Obama by McCain.

And Palin telegraphed that to Florida voters today.

"Hang on to your hats," she told them. "From now until election day, it might get kind of rough."

In a speech this afternoon in Albuquerque, N.M., McCain suggested that Obama's response to the Ayers and other criticisms should raise concerns for voters.

"My opponent has invited serious questioning by announcing a few weeks ago that he would quote -- 'take off the gloves.' Since then, whenever I have questioned his policies or his record, he has called me a liar," McCain said.

"Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked. But let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don’t need lessons about telling the truth to American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn’t seek advice from a Chicago politician.

"My opponent’s touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book. It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he is above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Senator Obama. All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government? What does he plan for America? In short: Who is the real Barack Obama? But ask such questions and all you get in response is another barrage of angry insults."

UPDATE: Responded Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, “On a day when the markets are plunging and the credit crisis is putting millions of jobs at risk, the one truly angry candidate in this race kept up his strategy of ‘turning the page’ on the economy by unleashing another frustrated tirade against Barack Obama. And if John McCain is wondering why he’s lost his credibility, he should look no further than the out-of-context quote he took from a 2007 speech in which Barack Obama warned of the subprime crisis we’re now facing. Since then, John McCain has called for less regulation no fewer than 20 times, proving that he hasn’t learned any lessons from the last banking scandal he was involved in and would give us more of the same failed economic policies as President.”

With record turnout forecast for Nov. 4, the League of Women Voters put out the call today for poll workers to keep things running smoothly.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled that so many millions of Americans are expected to come out to express their most important democratic right," league president Mary G. Wilson said in a statement. “At the same time, we know that the race could be extremely tight -- and lines extremely long -- in many states."

The league urged voters to go to a website to sign up to be a poll worker. "“Well-trained poll workers are the vital backbone of successful elections. From helping new voters navigate the process, to ensuring all votes are counted fairly and accurately, they truly do make democracy work," Wilson said.

Barack Obama has built a substantial lead over Republican rival John McCain in the traditionally GOP stronghold of Virginia, according to a new poll released today.

Obama leads McCain 51 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, the Suffolk University poll found, echoing other recent polls that show the Democrat surging in battleground states.

"Barack Obama has built a coalition of suburban DC area progressives from the north, African-American voters from the south, and young voters statewide," David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, said in a statement. "That broad-based support suggests a 44-year Republican run in the Old Dominion State, dating back to Lyndon Johnson's victory in 1964, is in jeopardy."

The poll suggests that last Thursday's vice presidential debate helped the Democratic ticket. Three fourths of likely voters watched the debate, which tied for the second most-watched debate ever, and 46 percent said Democrat Joe Biden bested Republican Sarah Palin, while 26 percent said Palin won and 20 percent said neither did. One-third of respondents said the debate made them more likely to vote Obama, while 18 percent said they were more likely to support McCain, and 47 percent said the debate didn't affect their decision.

"The toxic state of the economy in the final year of the Bush Administration is making many Republican candidates radioactive,” Paleologos said. "As has been the case in other Suffolk battleground states, the recent Wall Street and economic turmoil has been costly to the Republican party in Virginia.”

The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, Suffolk said.

In its stepped-up assault on Barack Obama, John McCain's campaign is trying to use a remark Obama made about Afghanistan to paint the Democrat as not supporting US troops.

In a new TV ad, unveiled today and which is to air nationally, the announcer says, "Who is Barack Obama? He says our troops in Afghanistan are," then the ad shows Obama saying, "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians."

"How dishonorable," the announcer says. "Congressional liberals voted repeatedly to cut off funding to our active troops. Increasing the risk on their lives. How dangerous.

"Obama and Congressional liberals," the announcer concludes. "Too risky for America."

"Whether it is making reckless statements about our military or trying to prevent them from having the equipment they need, it is clear that Barack Obama is dangerous for our country," McCain's campaign said today.

The ad only quotes part of what Obama said as he talked to New Hampshire voters in August 2007 about his plans to send more troops to Afghanistan, which he calls more important in the war on terror than Iraq.

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there," Obama said.

The ad also doesn't tell the whole story about Obama's votes on troop funding. While he voted against a 2007 spending bill because it did not include a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, he subsequently voted for a version that did include a timetable. He has voted in favor at least 10 other war funding bills.

Obama's campaign responded with a statement from retired admiral John B. Natham: "As a recently retired Admiral, I know who has the strongest record of supporting the men and women currently serving in our military. Senator Obama has consistently voted to fund our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and, just as importantly, a proven record of support when they return home. That's why independent veterans organizations give Senator Obama higher marks than Senator McCain. Despite consistent distortions of his record, thousands of veterans like myself support Senator Obama because he has the judgment, character and integrity to be a great president. We will need a great president to lead us in these very challenging times."

Sarah Palin is trying some self-deprecating humor to stay above some withering parodies on "Saturday Night Live," featuring Tina Fey's dead-on impersonation of her.

The Republican vice presidential nominee told voters in Clearwater, Fla., this morning that she had some not-so-great moments during a series of interviews with "the mainstream media." Her flubs with Katie Couric of CBS became part of a sketch two Saturday nights ago, and this past Saturday featured Palin's debate last week with Democratic rival Joe Biden.

"I was just trying to give Tina Fey more material," Palin joked. "....Job security for SNL characters."

In case you missed it, the video below shows last night's Saturday Night Live spoof on Thursday night's vice presidential debate.

Tina Fey returned to play Sarah Palin, Jason Sudeikis took the role of Joe Biden, and Queen Latifah sat in as moderator Gwen Ifill. Click play below to watch.

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, speaking for Democrat Barack Obama, ripped into Republican John McCain today on issue No. 1: jobs.

Citing Friday's job report that showed another 159,000 jobs cut during September, Strickland went after McCain for saying on Sept. 15, in the early days of the current Wall Street meltdown, that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

McCain has tried to explain that he was talking about American workers, but Strickland continued Obama's line of attack: "John McCain doesn’t seem to understand that this crisis isn’t two weeks old. Maybe he doesn’t realize that we’ve lost jobs every month this year. Maybe he doesn’t know that the average family’s income is down $2,000 in the Bush economy. Maybe because John McCain’s trying to remember how many homes he owns, he doesn’t understand that 7,000 families are losing their homes each day."

Strickland, who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries, then proceeded to bash McCain's tax cut and healthcare proposals. "John McCain just doesn’t get it," he said. "He hasn’t said one thing he’d do to make his economy look any different than George Bush’s economy.

"Barack Obama does gets it," Strickland said, then outlining Obama's proposals on jobs, taxes, and healthcare aimed at helping the middle class.

"Right now, the change we need is Barack Obama’s plan to jumpstart our economy and move America forward."

John McCain, perhaps as relieved as enthusiastic, continued today talking up his running mate's performance in Thursday night's one and only vice presidential debate.

"On Thursday night, millions of Americans got to see a little more of why I chose Sarah Palin to be my running mate," he said in his weekly radio address. "In her debate with Senator Joe Biden, she showed the intelligence, heart and grace under pressure that our nation's capital desperately needs. I couldn't be prouder of my choice, or more certain that she's the right person to help me shake things up in Washington. And there were moments when I almost felt a little sorry for my old friend, Joe."

At at a town hall meeting in Pueblo, Colo., on Friday, he drew cheers when he referred to her high school basketball nickname, "Viva la Barracuda!"

In his radio address, McCain also highlighted the financial rescue package he supported. "It took Congress a while, but a majority finally awakened to the danger. And by the week's end, with the unity that this crisis demands, Congress acted to restore stability to the American economy," he said.

But more needs to be done to get the economy on the right track, he said. And the bailout has serious implications for the federal budget: "We cannot dedicate more than a trillion dollars to rescue failing institutions, and then go right back to business as usual in Washington -- as if there were no end to the resources of government or to the patience of taxpayers. Therefore, as president, I will impose a one-year spending freeze on every agency of the federal government, excepting only national defense, the care of our veterans, and a few critical priorities."

Instead of bad-mouthing Democratic rival Barack Obama, McCain promoted his proposals for tax cuts and energy independence, and vowed to bring bipartisanship to Washington.
"I will ask Democrats and Independents to serve with me," he said. "And my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. We're going to finally start getting things done for the people who are counting on us, and I won't care who gets the credit."

Thursday night's vice presidential debate tied for the second largest audience for any debate in history, Nielsen Media Research reported today.

It said 69.9 million saw the face-off between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, equal to the second George H.W. Bush/Bill Clinton/Ross Perot debate in 1992 and was only exceeded by the Jimmy Carter/Ronald Reagan debate of 1980 that drew 80.6 million viewers.)

"Although scheduling the debate on a Thursday was obviously a factor in attracting more viewers than the presidential debate last Friday, public curiosity about Sarah Palin clearly drove these higher ratings," Nielsen said.

The viewership is 17.5 million higher than the audience for the Barack Obama-John McCain debate last Friday night.

The audience smashed the prior record for most-watched veep face-off: George H.W. Bush vs. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 with 56.7 million viewers. The 2004 version between Dick Cheney and John Edwards drew an audience of 43.6 million.

PBS, which does its ratings separately, said an estimated 3.5 million viewers watched its veep debate coverage, compared to 2.6 million last week.

The three broadcast networks' post-debate analysis programs all ranked in the top five prime-time programs, and ABC's was only behind the latest installment of "Survivor."

Fox News Channel said tonight that its audience for debate coverage, averaging 11.1 million viewers during the 90 minutes, was the highest among the cable channels -- and its highest-rated telecast ever in its 12-year existence.

The debate smashed Fox's previous record, 9.7 million, during President Bush's address in March 2003 announcing the war in Iraq.

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- In the course of 18 hours, Representative Barney Frank went from being castigated as a "coward" during an interview with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly to being hailed by House leaders this afternoon as the indispensable "maestro" who played a key role in winning passage of the financial rescue package.

The Newton Democrat seemed to revel equally in both moments.

Irascible, rumpled, combative and endlessly accessible to the press, Frank was designated by the House leadership to shepherd one of the most unpopular bills in recent history through Congress and then explain why it needed to be approved. In a week of role reversal, he worked closely with his usual nemesis, the Bush administration, while he struggled to bring his usual allies, fellow liberals, some of whom viewed the bailout as a giveaway to Wall Street.

Unlike some congressional leaders, who speak in circumspect language and operate largely behind closed doors, Frank held forth before the media in hallways, conference rooms and television studios. While the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is famous for his biting wit and willingness to engage nearly anyone in debate, his agreement to appear on "The O'Reilly Factor" - a flagship of conservatism - seemed designed to set off sparks.

O'Reilly began the Thursday evening segment by playing a clip of Frank saying last July that the quasi-governmental companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "not in danger of going under" and, while "not the best investment these days...are in good shape going forward." With the government having since bailed out the two mortgage-related companies, O'Reilly said Frank's statement has been proven wrong.

A five-minute argument ensued, with O'Reilly at one point blaming Frank for enticing investors to put their money into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Frank responded by noting he had said it wasn't a good investment at that moment.

Fed up with Frank's comments, O'Reilly fumed: "None of this was your fault! Oh, no. People lost millions of dollars. It wasn't your fault. Come on, you coward! Say the truth."

"What do you mean, coward?" Frank responded.

"You're a coward! You blame everybody else. You're a coward!" O'Reilly said.

"Bill, here's the problem with going on your show," Frank said. "You start ranting. And the only way to respond is almost to look as boorish as you."

Frank said the experience was "totally nuts" and said he came out looking better than the Fox host. "I will go down as the man of calm and restraint compared to O'Reilly," Frank said.

This morning, Frank was at the pinnacle of his power, on the floor of the House, working on behalf of the Democratic leadership to manage the financial rescue bill. He button-holed legislators who had opposed the bailout on Monday, assuring them he would use his newfound influence with the Bush administration to put pressure on lenders to restructure home loans that could result in foreclosure.

Representative Al Green, a Texas Democrat, cited Frank's promise to push for the restructure of home loans as a key reason for switching his vote from "no" to "yes."

"I did talk with Chairman Frank," Green said. "He assured us" that he would work for the loan restructuring.

After the bill passed, Frank was front and center at a press conference with House Democratic leaders, who heaped praise on the congressman. When Frank noted that his staff had to put up with him for long hours during the negotiation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi laughed and told the press, "No comment."

Afterward, asked what the day meant to him, Frank became reflective - to a point.

As he ignored a call on his cell phone from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Frank told a small group of reporters, "In some ways, it is an out-of-body experience. I've got to go home and take out the garbage and hope I get to the laundry before it closes at 5 o'clock - and you are doing things that are historic. You read about people and all of a sudden you are one of the people you read about. And then you realize, yeah, they had to go to the laundry, too."

President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, congressional leaders, the major presidential candidates, and Wall Street bigwigs are all relieved that the House gave final approval today to the financial bailout package.

Count Ralph Nader out of that happy crowd.

"The whole thing was a special interest boondoggle, around the core of a $700 billion blank check," Nader told the Globe this afternoon.

The longtime consumer activist, waging a long-shot presidential campaign for the third consecutive election, asserted that the legislation does not have any comprehensive regulations to stop the Wall Street meltdown from happening again, does not enhance shareholder control over financial institutions, offers no guarantee that taxpayers will get their $700 million stake back ("very doubtful," he said), does not make clear how the bailout will be financed, was larded up with huge tax breaks and other goodies, and does nothing to deal with the spate of foreclosures that stared the crisis.

The package is the wrong way to bailout Wall Street and raises the question if it doesn't work: "What next?"

Instead, Nader supports a Wall Street speculation tax, starting on derivatives, to generate enough money to eliminate federal taxes on the first $50,000 of income.

Nader, who plans a rally at 11 a.m. Sunday at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, predicted that fed-up voters will go after members of Congress who voted for the package when they return to their home districts to campaign before the November election.

"They're drinking champagne, they've got their pens from Bush, but when they go back home, wait for the hornets nest," he said in a telephone interview.

And that anger, Nader said, will boost his campaign. "It's a big door for us," he said. "....If voters want someone who did them in, they can vote for Obama or McCain."

"We're not just jumping on this," he added, noting that he opposed the 1999 financial deregulation law that many blame, at least in part, for the crisis, and has long predicted the consequences.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain, who voted for the bailout package on Wednesday, have issued statements. The full texts are below.

(Reuters/JASON REED)

GLENSIDE, Pa. -- "Let's get a dozen of those."

With that, Barack Obama had his white roses, a little anniversary gift for his wife as they celebrate 16 years together tonight. Obama is making an unusual Friday night departure from the campaign trail to head home to Chicago for the occasion; he and his wife, Michelle, are going to dinner at an Italian restaurant they like.

After a rally in Abington, Pa. Obama stopped by Penny’s Flowers in nearby Glenside. "So I’m thinking maybe just some roses," he said. "I'm thinking maybe not red, maybe yellow?" After surveying the options, he went with white.

A worker at the store, Mary Darcy, wrapped them up with baby's breath and cellophane. The owner brought over an Obama sign, which he signed with a Sharpie. He paid the bill -- $47.70 -- on a credit card, and went outside to greet about 200 people who had gathered on the street. Two blocks later, the motorcade was driving past a group of screaming elementary school children. Obama couldn't resist; he got out and shook a few hands.

The other night, on a flight from Washington to Grand Rapids, Mich. Obama was offering reporters some tips on maintaining a healthy marriage. No real gems of wisdom, just some self-evident rules of the road: "Sense of humor, listening."

"Never forget an anniversary?" he was asked.

"No, because Michelle forgot my first one," he said, adding "Never get so mad that you forget why you love them."

Of course, nothing's terribly romantic when you're tailed more or less all the time by a small battalion of aides, Secret Service agents, and media.

"I wish I could just slip in and get some flowers for my wife," he lamented while shopping at Penny's.

Both major-party presidential candidates have weighed in on the discouraging jobs reports for last month with their usual themes -- Democrat Barack Obama warning that his Republican rival John McCain would continue the Bush administration policies causing the damage, and McCain warning that Obama would raise taxes and worsen matters.

“Today, Americans woke up to the sad news that 159,000 jobs were lost last month alone, making September the ninth straight month of job loss. With three-quarters of a million jobs lost this year, and millions of families struggling to pay the bills and stay in their homes, this country can’t afford Senator McCain’s plan to give America four more years of the same policies that have devastated our middle-class and our economy for the last eight. Instead of Senator McCain’s plan to give tax breaks to CEOs and companies that ship jobs overseas, I will rebuild the middle-class and create millions of new jobs by investing in infrastructure and renewable energy that will reduce our dependence on oil from the Middle East. I also call on Congress to pass an immediate rescue plan for our middle-class that will provide tax relief, save one million jobs, and save our local communities from harmful budget cuts and painful tax increases,” Obama said in his statement.

And in a speech he is to give in Abington, Pa., Obama links the jobs report to Thursday night's vice presidential debate.

"You know, there were a lot of noteworthy moments in that debate, but there’s one that sticks out this morning. It’s when Governor Palin said to Joe Biden that our plan to get our economy out of the ditch was somehow a job killing plan," Obama plans to say, according to prepared remarks released by his campaign.

"I wonder if she turned on the news this morning. Because it was just reported that America has experienced its ninth straight month of job loss. Just since January, we’ve lost more than 750,000 jobs across America, 7,000 in Pennsylvania alone. This is the economy that John McCain said – just two weeks ago – was fundamentally strong. This is the economy that my opponent said made great progress under the policies of George W. Bush. And those are the economic policies that he proposes to continue for another four years.

"So when Senator McCain and his running mate talk about job killing, that’s something they know a thing or two about. Because the policies they’re supporting are killing jobs every single day."

McCain's statement: "Today's report of another 159,000 lost jobs confirms what America's working men and women have understood for months: our nation's economy is on the wrong track. It is imperative that Congress act to address the financial crisis while protecting taxpayers and being good stewards of their dollars. But we must do more. America's middle class needs help from a government that is truly standing on their side and not in their way. I am committed to getting to the roots of this crisis -- reforming Washington and cleaning up the mess created by the greed and crony capitalism of government-backed mortgage giants -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I will reverse out-of-control spending, end the wasteful and corrupting practice of earmarks, and get the government budget back to balance. I will reform health care to control costs and better serve American families, open markets around the globe for our products, cut taxes, and expand domestic production of energy to eliminate the ability of international oil markets to hold our economy hostage. I will create jobs and get the economy on the right track.

"Unlike Senator Obama, I do not believe we will create one single American job by increasing taxes, going on a massive spending binge, and closing off markets. Our nation cannot afford Senator Obama's higher taxes."

This afternoon, McCain's campaign launched a spot on accusing Obama of dishonesty calling himself a tax cutter.

"He's not truthful on taxes," the announcer says, citing the campaign's claim that Obama voted to raise taxes or voted against reducing them a total of 94 times.

That claim, however, has been declared misleading by independent fact-checking groups, who say it implies that Obama wanted to raise taxes across-the-board, when he has voted consistently to raise taxes on the wealthy but not on lower- and middle-income taxpayers.

“While the McCain campaign continues to feel no shame in repeating one of the most discredited lies of the election, their own candidate is offering a health care plan that will actually tax people’s benefits for the very first time. Barack Obama will cut taxes for 95% of workers and their families and make health care affordable and available for every single American,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

UPDATE: This evening, the Obama campaign hit back with a web ad knocking down the 94 tax vote figure.

"McCain and his surrogates have continued to make this claim despite numerous independent fact checkers confirming that it is 'false' and 'phony,' " said a statement with the announcer-less ad. "What John McCain won’t tell you is that using the same absurd and dishonest method of calculation employed by his campaign, he voted for 105 tax increases since 2005 and at least 477 tax increases since he entered Congress."

In its first video response to the vice presidential debate, John McCain's campaign has a web video up that accuses Democrat Joe Biden of "lies and sighs."

"Does Joe Biden think we're not paying attention to his words?" the announcer asks.

The spot then focuses on Biden claiming during the debate that he has a 25-year record of supporting clean coal technology, juxtaposing the claim with video of him recently telling an Ohio voter he is "not supporting clean coal."

It also shows Biden saying that running mate Barack Obama did not say he would "sit down" with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then follows that with Obama saying in a debate last year that he would meet without preconditions with the leaders of nations such as Iran. He has since softened that stand, saying in May that he would meet with Iran's leaders after enough preparatory work, but not necessarily with Ahmadinejad.

The video then shows Biden audibly sighing when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said during the debate that she's glad that they agree on their strong support for Israel.

"Ready to exaggerate, not ready to lead," the announcer concludes.

UPDATE: Obama-Biden spokesman Hari Sevugan responded, "Only the McCain-Palin campaign would lie while accusing their opponent of lies. From Gov. Palin’s debate performance last night to their false web ad today, the McCain-Palin campaign has proven they offer nothing for working Americans but more of the same failed policies and discredited attacks.”

Sarah Palin, who has blasted the liberal media elite at almost every opportunity, is apparently ready to make up and let bygones be bygones.

In her first TV interview since what her campaign sees as a successful debate Thursday night, Palin told Fox News Channel today that she promises "to not being so annoyed and impatient with mainstream media. And I will make that commitment because I do understand that that is how I speak to the American people in a position like this. I speak to you and through you and that way, that message is received by American people."

"So, I apologize for the response that I gave through that interview on a couple of questions," she continued. "I'm going to try harder. But I would ask also then, that the media tries a little bit harder also. And that this is a two-way street. That there's fairness. Just objectivity and fairness and truth. That's all Americans ask for. I look forward to speaking to the media more and more everyday and providing whatever access the media would want. My life is certainly an open book.”

At the same time, she managed to get in a jab or two at CBS and Katie Couric, whose series of interviews with Palin raised doubts even among Republicans about her preparedness for the big stage. The Alaska governor appeared to have trouble saying why the state's proximity to Russia qualified her on foreign policy grounds, which newspapers and books she read, and which Supreme Court decisions she opposes.

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews is a little bit annoyed," Palin said, according to a transcript provided by Fox News. "Because it's like, no matter what you say, you're going to get clobbered. If you cease to answer a question, you're going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go on to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that, too.”

“But, in the Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were a lot of things that she was missing, in terms of an opportunity to ask what a V.P. candidate stands for. What the values are represented in our ticket.”

“So, I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed. But, that's also an indication of being outside of that Washington elite, outside of the media elite, also. And just getting to talk to Americans without the filters and let them know what we stand for.”

Palin also said she had fun during Thursday night's debate with Democrat Joe Biden.

“It was a great opportunity to get to speak directly to Americans. That's how I looked at it when I walked into there saying, you know, we're not going to be filtered. There's not going to be the cutting and pasting and editing of any of our comments. Right on. Let me just talk to Americans.”

She apologized for mistaking the name of General David D. McKiernan, the US commanding general in Afghanistan.

She added, "There just wasn't enough time either, 90 minutes in a debate sounds like that's going to be a heck of a lot of time to get a lot of words in and countering each other's records. And there wasn't enough time to go through everything that I wanted to go through.”