Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) votes (by absentee) for Obama.

I was on a panel a week or so ago. And I said that I thought most observers were overstating the degree to which an economic crisis automatically advantaged the Democrat. To some degree, sure, especially in the dying days of an unpopular Republican incumbent. But remember, McCain’s sell in this campaign was steadiness, experience, unflappability in a crisis. If he’d convinced voters that that was what he brought to the table, I do not believe the damage he sustained by the economic crisis would have been nearly so great. I continue to think that McCain’s reaction to the economic crisis was the turning point in the election.

Here’s what Pressler said …

Pressler, who said that in addition to casting an absentee ballot for Obama he’d donated $500 to the Illinois senator’s campaign, cited the Democrat’s response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision.

“I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better,” he said. By contrast, John McCain’s “handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous.”

From the St. Cloud Times …

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann wrote a letter last year recommending a federal pardon for a major campaign contributor who was once convicted of felony money laundering, firearm and drug charges on the basis he had reformed.

This month, she withdrew that recommendation on behalf of Frank E. Vennes Jr., eight days after the FBI searched his Shorewood home and office and confiscated documents, money, art, coins and jewels that agents think may be related to a $3 billion investment fraud scheme in which Minnesota business mogul Tom Petters has been charged.

From TPM Reader TJ …

What is it about Alaskan politicians? Palin is given a $150,000 wardrobe, which she wears, but doesn’t own it. Stevens was given furniture, but he doesn’t own it, yet it still sits in his home. Stuff is given to them, but they don’t own it? Steven and Palin must attend the same seminars on electoral ethics, or is this just an Alaska thing?

Obama up 8 points in Virginia, according to the new Washington Post poll. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.

I guess you file this under the heading of Deep, Late Election Comic Relief. And not surprisingly it comes from a Senate Republican who should have been coasting but now finds himself with a real chance losing his seat.

Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) squared off in a debate with Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford. But on Lunsford’s podium a GOP operative had placed a small voice recorder, presumably to pick up some off-mic comments Lunsford might make — apparently a violation of the debate rules.

(The recorder itself — sans recording — was eventually returned.)

Now, from here the accounts differ. According to the Lunsford campaign, Lunsford actually didn’t see the recorder. But since it was nestled in among his papers it was included when he handed his papers off to his staffers after the debate — staffers who say they later erased the recording since it violated debate rules to have a planted recorder on the opponents podium.

According to the McConnell staffers, however, Lunsford did see the recorder during the debate and essentially confiscated it. Richard St. Onge, II (who, in a separate story, may have absconded with his name from some neo-gothic southern novel) is the GOP operative who planted the recorder. And according to St. Onge, when he went up to Lunsford after the debate to demand his recorder back, Lunsford said, “No you won’t get it back.”

And now St. Onge and the chairman of McConnell’s campaign have filed a criminal complaint against Lunsford for petty larceny and destruction of property — because of the erasure.

Now, we’re digging into this to get a clearer sense of what happened. But I must say that even if you accept McConnell’s version of events, is there really an affirmative responsibility to return your opponent’s campaign bug after you discover it? Campaign ‘trackers’ with handcams have become a normal and I think generally benign part of modern campaigns. But this seems a bit different. Thoughts?

It’s the final days of the presidential race and things are turning sour in the McCain campaign. Is Palin bailin’ from a campaign that’s failin’?

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

TPM Election Central takes a look at what the GOP is resorting to in key Senate races in Minnesota and North Carolina.

Rasmussen: Arizona: McCain 51%, Obama 46%.

At the end of September it was McCain 59%, Obama 38%.

Sarah Palin tells Israeli Ambassador “we look forward to .. working with your Jewish agency.”

Via MJ Rosenberg.

Late Update: Okay, this may not be as bad as first advertised. The original AP quote was garbled. And the Ambassador used to head up the Jewish Agency. See the follow-up AP story.

Sen. Stevens (R-AK) convicted on all counts in corruption trial.