Election Unspun tends to stay away from the polls. But we're going to break that rule today just in case you don't consume any other media and have no idea where the Presidential race stands. Democrat Barack Obama seems to be pulling ahead, even in states that Bush captured: Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Nevada and Colorado. They continue to be battleground states, along with states John Kerry took in 2004: Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Obama is polling ahead in those states too.

Election Unspun is continuing the conversation with third party candidates. Joining us is Matt Gonzales, Ralph Nader's running mate on the Independent ticket. Gonzales is from San Francisco, he nearly beat Mayor Gavin Newsom in the 2003 election as a Green Party candidate. Matt Gonzales, Nader is out campaigning across the country against the bail out, he's speaking at a protest on Wall Street today. What is your position on the bail out?

The two main party candidates met in the second of three debates.  Third party candidates were excluded. At Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Townhall style format, members of the audience asked the questions and NBC's Tom Brokaw moderated.  The theme, domestic policy.  For the most part, both candidates stayed with in the subject areas and stayed on issues.

As the economy remains the most important topic to voters, questions revolved around the 700 billion dollar economic bail out, which has yet to provide relief to the ailing economy. 

The seven hundred billion dollar bail out of the financial industry is not US law.  Who helped shape the plan, and who's promising to limit any new regulations? Diane Darsetta and Sari  Williams of PR Watch dot org. report. 

"Spinning the U.S. Financial Crisis"

Who boasted of having "the expertise and experience to help you and your members minimize the punitive effects of any new federal regulations"?  The major PR firm Edelman, in a pitch sent to financial companies in late September.  Though unemployment is up and home foreclosures continue, the financial meltdown has boosted the already-booming business of the lobbying and public relations industries.

As the Presidential election season is entering its most intense time, just one month before Election Day, Election Unspun will be bringing you the voices of the third party candidates.  Today we speak with Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Rosa Clemente.  Clemente, of black and Puerto Rican heritage, is an activist and organizer. She associates herself with the hip hop generation.  She was chosen by the Green Party's Presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney for her youth and her connection to the hip hop community. The McKinney and Clemente pair is the first ever woman of color ticket.  Clemente talks about domestic issues and the Green Party's growing pains

Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden squared off in a running mate face off.  At Washington University in St. Louis, Biden, a life long Senator and current Chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, an opinionated and knowledgeable policy wonk, deferred his own beliefs to promote Barack Obama's Palin, current Alaska Governor, former sportscaster and small town mayor appeared more knowledgeable than she had during previous media appearances where she was unable to name a Supreme Court case or a major newspaper or the purpose of the bail out plan. She portrayed herself as a member of the middle class, the common person, a Washington outsider.

The Brennan Center for Justice recently released a report on what's known as voter purging, the practice of removing voters from registration lists in order to update state registration rolls. According to the report between 2004 and 2006, thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia purged more than 13 million voters from registration rolls. Myrna Pérez from the Brennan Center for Justice is the author of the study. She says the lack of voter purging transparency is particularly troubling.

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