Back on Halloween, I had harsh words for then-McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb's references--during an appearance on CNN--to an unnamed and (allegedly) anti-Semitic Friend of Obama.

Now, in an interview with Columbia Journalism Review's Kate Klonick, Goldfarb discusses that appearance and how it was received, inside and outside the campaign:

John McCain is ending the election on a low note. Here, via CNN, is the translated conclusion of a robocall that started going out to Spanish-language voters in Florida this afternoon:

Don't give Castro what he wants. Go vote right now for John McCain and avoid establishing in the United States political policies like those of Cuba.

I have a running argument with a friend about which anti-Obama attacks are racist. For example, I thought the McCain camp's Obama-disrespects-Palin ad played on toxic racist sentiments involving black men and white women. My friend didn't see it.

So I'd be interested to hear what readers think of Fox News's coverage of pro-Obama excitement in Kenya, his father's country of birth.

Got an e-mail this morning from none other than Newt Gingrich, who urged me to stick it to the media by going to the polls. Because, he explained, the media don't want conservatives to vote:

The latest tactic in this elite media campaign has been to declare the presidential race over in an effort to discourage some voters from going to the polls.

For months now, my colleague David Bernstein has been assuring me that Barack Obama's going to win the presidency by a wide margin tomorrow. But no matter what he says--and despite how promising the polls currently look--I can't help expecting the worst.

Sound familiar? If so, please join me in a little exercise.

For the past day or so, Fox News and the McCain campaign have been pushing the whole LA Times-Rashid Khalidi videotape story. In case you've missed it, the Times apparently has a videotape of Obama saying nice things about Khalidi, a former U. of Chicago professor who now teaches at Columbia, at a 2003 shindig. The Times has already written about Obama's relationship to Khalidi, a Palestinian-American who's been harshly critical of Israel.

If Barack Obama becomes president, historians will marvel at the restraint he demonstrated throughout his campaign. John McCain and his surrogates, they'll recall, tried attack after attack: they cast Obama as arrogant, disrespectful, a friend to terrorists, a latter-day Eugene Debs. But rather than firing back--and risking coming across as an Angry Black Man--Obama stayed calm and kept hammering home his "Change" message.

So asks Politico's Jeanne Cummings. But she can't really get anyone to take the bait. That includes GOP strategist Mike Murphy, who says: "I don't see any risk at all."

I don't see it either, largely because the whole Obama-as-celebrity thing has already run its course. But you know what does worry me a bit? This new Obama spot targeting A) McCain's lack of economic expertise and B) his decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate:

In today's Herald, making the not-unfamiliar argument that the media is in the tank for Barack Obama, Michael Graham cites some numbers from a recent campaign-coverage study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism:

At the risk of violating union rules, allow me to do a bit of reporting: A new study by the Pew Research Center found that, while 71 percent of Obama’s recent media coverage has been “positive” or “neutral,” almost 60 percent of McCain’s coverage over the same period has been “decidedly negative.

Given the McCain campaign's ongoing battle with the New York Times, someone at McCain HQ must have gotten intense enjoyment out of correcting today's NYT Magazine cover story:

The cover article on Page 52 this weekend about Senator John McCain’s campaign misspells the given name of Mr. McCain’s fellow senator from Arizona and the surname of the governor of Florida, both McCain supporters.

Did a big black guy really rob and mutiliate a young white female in Pittsburgh after spotting a McCain-Palin sticker on her car?

Fox News suggests it's legit. TMZ is withholding judgment.

Here's a photo of the alleged victim. My prediction is that this is a stunt. If I'm wrong, feel free to point that out:

Atlantic national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg's whole interview with McCain confidante/co-author Mark Salter is worth reading. But one part in particular--dealing with McCain's relationship with the media--is remarkable:

Goldberg: Looking back, do you think there was something false about your salad days with the press?

Earlier today, I accused Jon Keller of working for CBS4 and glibly dismissing charges of anti-Obama nastiness. Now, in a sizzlin'-hot response, Keller has 1) accused ME of glibness and 2) noted that CBS4 is known as WBZ-TV, and has been for some time.

I'll give him point two, and that's it. For starters, consider Keller's objection to my accusation:

CBS4's Jon Keller seems to think that--since the Secret Service can't confirm that anyone suggested killing Barack Obama during a Sarah Palin rally in Scranton--all claims of disturbing anti-Obama invective are baseless.

Over at Media Nation, however, Dan Kennedy notes that it's not that simple:

The first report that Palin's crowds were getting out of control appeared in the Washington Post in early October, when Dana Milbank covered a Florida event at which "Kill him!" was clearly heard.