Czech Republic PM Topolanek Smashes Photographer's Head Into Wall

Threatened with removal from his own party, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic gets a little narky with a persuing photographer, smasing the photojournalists head into a wall.

From Eastern European media:

With all of those troubles on his mind, during a walk with his newly born son in Prague, Topolanek was irritated by tabloid photographers that wanted to capture a few shots of the premier walking. Topolanek then decided to hit a photographer who became too irritating, report the world media.
Topolanek’s civic democrats are very angry for the party’s poor results at the local elections, and are determined to remove their president from his position.
All of this is occurring only a few months before presiding over the European Union, which has been scheduled for January, after six French months.

The Obama Show Preivew: Details of Wednesday Prime Time Obama Half Hour Commercial

Barack Obama's Presidential campaign, awash with cash from donations by millions of Americans, is set to air a 30 minute Prime Time commercial on 3 major broadcast TV newtorks (NBC, CBS, FOX) plus cable news channel MSNBC.

Details of the Barack Obama half hour show have just been leaked by the Obama campaign to the New York Times:

As the screen flashes scenes of suburban lawns, a freight train and Mr. Obama seated at a kitchen table with a group of white, apparently working-class voters, Mr. Obama says: “We’ve seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history and on American lives; much that’s wrong with our country goes back even farther than that.”

Then, while standing before a stately desk and an American flag, Mr. Obama, in a suit, says: “We’ve been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them. For the past 20 months, I’ve traveled the length of this country, and Micelle and I have met so many Americans who are looking for real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives.”

Mr. Obama would also share the story of his mother, “who struggled through her bout with breast cancer and the difficulty she had with her insurance company, to help viewers understand why his health care reform program is what it is.”
It will also have a live component, featuring Mr. Obama at a rally in Florida.

Saturday 2008 President Polls: Obama Strong Nationally, Big Lead in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Close in Ohio Despite Economy

Saturday, Midday October 25
Poll
Results from realclearpolitics.com

National
Rasmussen Reports
Obama 52, McCain 44
Obama +8

National
Hotline/FD
Obama 50, McCain 43
Obama +7

National
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby
Obama 51, McCain 42
Obama +9

Colorado
Rocky Mtn News/CBS4
Obama 52, McCain 40
Obama +12

Pennsylvania
Morning Call
Obama 52, McCain 41
Obama +11

Ohio
Ohio Newspaper Poll
Obama 49, McCain 46
Obama +3

The "Palin Insurgency"?

Politico.com's Ben Smith talks about the apparent unesyness between John McCain and Sarah Palin in the McCain-Palin 2008 camp.

Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image -- even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.

Obama Goes Nuts With TV Ads in October.

Barack Obama is really opening up a can of whoop ass on American TV with the Obama-Biden 2008 campaign spending "more than half of what Sen. John F. Kerry spent on television commercials for the entire 2004 presidential campaign" in the first 2 weeks of the month of October alone.

The Washington Post Reports:

The burst of spending came on the heels of Obama's record month of fundraising and has, in some key markets, enabled the presidential nominee to broadcast as many as seven commercials for every one aired by Republican Sen. John McCain.

"It's beyond saturation," said Evan Tracey, a media analyst.
The overall differences in the way each campaign spent money during the critical first weeks of October are stark.

The reports filed with the Federal Election Commission late Thursday show that Obama and the Democratic Party committees that are supporting his effort spent nearly $105 million from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15. McCain and Republican Party entities, by contrast, spent just over $25 million