We could try to make this into a real obvious political item, noting how many dogs and cats and birds and a ferret Republican presidential candidate John McCain has as pets, and how that makes him more popular in a poll of America's pet owners.

And how Democrat Barack Obama doesn't have any pets but says he will surely get a dog of some kind after the election.

But instead, hey, it's a Saturday afternoon. We're in between debates. Some people are getting entirely too heated over this election thing.

For a change of pace, let's just watch this video that simply reminds us of laughing.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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A couple of the warm-up acts on today's campaign trail couldn't resist trying to make the most of their short time in the spotlight, perhaps reflecting the intensifying fervor among partisans in the presidential race.

The Ticket previously took note of a questionable prayer offered on behalf of John McCain in Iowa (he was not present when a local preacher appeared to define the election as a battle among competing relgious beliefs).

In Philadelphia, meanwhile, where Barack Obama was making the rounds, the city's mayor made clear his dismissive attitude toward McCain's running mate, The Times' Seema Mehta relates.

"I have zero interest in Sarah Palin," Mayor Michael Nutter said at one of the rallies where he introduced Obama. "Sarah Palin's 15 minutes were up a long time ago."

His honor presumably will not be among those paying attention when Palin helps start the pro hockey game in his hometown tonight.

-- Don Frederick

"ABC This Week": Former Treasury Secretaries James Baker and Lawrence Summers, Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.), round table with Dan Balz of the Washington Post and Cokie Roberts and George Will of ABC News.

"CNN Late Edition": Steve Forbes, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the Washington Times' Tara Wall, Democratic strategist Paul Begala, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, Democratic strategist James Carville and CNN's Candy Crowley and Ed Henry.

"Face the Nation": Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D), Richmond, Va., Mayor Doug Wilder, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) and C. Fred Bergsten, director, Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"Fox News Sunday": McCain campaign strategist Rick Davis (pictured), Obama strategist David Axelrod, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) and a panel with Brit Hume of Fox News, Mara Liasson of National Public Radio and Fox News, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Fox News and Juan Williams of National Public Radio and Fox News.

"Meet the Press": New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) (who promises to wear his car seat belt en route to the studio), former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot and the Discovery Channel's Ted Koppel.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Credit: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

Rev. Arnold Conrad, in delivering an invocation at a rally today for John McCain in Davenport, Iowa, apparently didn't get the word from the candidate about elevating the tone at such gatherings.

Conrad, who appeared before the crowd before McCain had arrived, offered a prayer that seemed to urge divine intervention to prevent Barack Obama from winning the presidential election -- and cast the outcome as a referendum on differing religions.

The Times' Maeve Reston was at the event, and she passed along the key passage from Conrad's words:

I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray.

Some in the crowd greeted the prayer with applause.

-- Don Frederick

This is the opening weekend of the National Hockey League season and the fourth-to-last weekend of this endless presidential season.

So naturally the two phenomena come together with the world's most famous hockey mom, Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, dropping the official puck in Philadelphia before the Flyers take on the New York Rangers tonight.

So what if most of the players in the game aren't American and can't vote? It's great TV and showbiz.

And Palin's proud public profession at the Republican National Convention of being a doting mom in a rough sport that so often feels otherwise overlooked has endeared her to many of its followers. Now, all she needs to do is turn some of that into votes.

A hockey mom is much like a soccer mom or mothers in any other sport, always there cheering and finding something good to say after every game, even the 8-0 blowouts.

But hockey moms are more often found making breakfast at 4 a.m. Saturdays before the 5:30 practice. And ensuring the smelly gear is airing out in the garage. And nursing the bumps and bruises that come from falling onto 1.5 inches of ice atop a foot of frozen concrete.

And in some states like Montana, Minnesota and Alaska, they're found standing at outdoor rink sides, stomping their feet and cheering before rushing back to a warm car between periods.

According to Nielsen, hockey moms (or at least those moms who watch hockey on TV) were 39% more likely to watch the vice presidential debate with Palin than were regular moms.

According to USA Hockey, the 70-year-old umbrella organization in Colorado Springs, Colo., that oversees amateur U.S. hockey, nearly 400,000 youth players were registered to play last year, including some 57,000 girls, a 5% annual jump. Including junior players and adults, total membership is around 600,000.

Palin will no doubt make an effort to shake the hand of Scott Gomez, one of the Ranger co-captains and a native of Anchorage, that suburb of Wasilla.

Palin will actually have help dropping the puck at tonight's game in Philadelphia. Not that the 7-ounce chunk of frozen rubber is so heavy. But the Flyers have been running a contest to find the ultimate local hockey mom.

So they'll share the duties and spotlight at center ice. Then, they both better get out of the way.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Robyn Beck / AFP-Getty Images

We weren't feeling very well at The Ticket this evening, probably because -- like most Americans -- we know how important healthcare is to each of us, but it's like algebra used to be when we had to think about it, both times we took it:

It's just so hard to understand and winds in so many directions, we'd rather change the channel.

Thank goodness for Susan Brink over on the Health page here. She has actually studied the plans of both the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket and the Barack Obama-Joe Biden team.

And she can even explain the details in plain English. It's right here.

We feel better already.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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An investigator for an Alaskan legislative panel issued a report Friday night saying that as governor, Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, violated ethics laws and abused her authority in seeking to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

The panel found that inaction on her dismissal request was at least one factor in Palin firing her state public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan.

The governor's husband, Todd Palin, was also involved in seeking the trooper's dismissal after a contentious divorce for allegedly threatening the governor's family members, illegally shooting a moose, driving under the influence of alcohol and Tasering his young son.

The report is not a legal indictment; the panel has no power to prosecute. Members said they'd await a state Personnel Board report before considering some action, probably not before January.

The embarrassing report, which Palin charged had become a partisan tool since her GOP VP nomination, is certain to create undesirable distractions for the McCain-Palin ticket as it struggles to ....

Harsh words, false allegations and downright bile increasingly marked a series of John McCain/Sarah Palin rallies in recent days.

Tonight, in Lakeville, Minn., McCain sought to put a stop to it.

In doing so, he found himself in the unusual position of defending the decency of the man he is running against for president and disabusing supporters of some of their notions about Barack Obama.

The Times' Peter Nicholas was at the town hall event and reports that shortly after it started, an audience member urged McCain to engage in a "real fight" with Obama as the campaign winds to its conclusion.

Such remarks had been typical at gatherings Wednesday and Thursday in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, as McCain campaigned in tandem with Palin. The pair responded by pledging to do so and making their case against Obama -- while ignoring occasional audience shouts of "traitor," "terrorist" and, in one case, "off with his head" in reference to the Democrat.

But in Minnesota, where McCain appeared solo, he took a different tack. “If you want a fight, we will fight,” he said. “But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.”

That comment prompted some boos, which spurred McCain to emphasize his point, “I want everyone to be respectful," he said. "And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.”

The give-and-take with his audience over Obama had just begun, though.

A few minutes later, a man who said his wife was pregnant said he was "scared" as he contemplated an Obama presidency during the first years of his child's life.

McCain, after letting the fellow finish his thoughts, took the microphone from him and replied: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”

A woman in the crowd (pictured above) remained unconvinced. Saying she didn't trust Obama, she added: “I have read about him. He’s an Arab.”

McCain, shaking his head, this time quickly ...

As everyone knows, history is really all about the hats.

Pope hats. Cardinal hats. Soldier hats. President hats. Our personal favorite is the 19th century Prussian helmet with the pointless pointed spike on the top. (See below.)

As always, The Ticket is gonna be honest with you. The main reason for us to publish this item is the photo here, the best hat of this 21-month-old presidential campaign.

It's being worn for some reason by Roger Stone, a longtime Republican political operative who once reportedly got a GOP spy hired as Hubert Humphrey's campaign driver when he was running against Richard Nixon.

These days Stone is offering himself up as a talking political strategist for journalists to consult.

But Stone's chapeau -- he appears to have just returned from oppo research in Kenya -- got us thinking about the demise of the presidential hat.

Time was, pretty much everyone wore hats. Presidents. Their wives too. Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln, at 6-4 the tallest president, also wearing a top hat? Any 19th century NBA team would sign him immediately.

Now, it's rare to spot presidents or candidates in hats. John McCain wears his favorite Navy baseball cap often, but that's to keep the sun off his pale Celtic skin.

Barack Obama, the famed Hawaiian ranch hand, tried to wear a cowboy hat during the primaries but wisely gave it up. And now pretty much sticks to White Sox and Bears caps.

We've collected a few presidential hat photos on the jump here; just click on the Read more line. Pass your cursor over each photo to see the caption.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Speculation has been rampant that "Saturday Night Live" -- already a "must-see" in the political world because of Tina Fey's spot-on caricature of Sarah Palin -- soon will avail itself of the real thing.

According to one of the doyennes of the nation's corps of gossip columnists, Cindy Adams of the New York Post, it's a "done deal."

Adams writes that Palin -- who in her public comments has reacted good-naturedly to Fey's takeoff of her -- is "booked" and "confirmed" for an appearance on SNL's Oct. 25 show (a mere 10 days before the nation's big vote).

No word on whether the candidate and the comedienne will share the stage together. But one can imagine an inspired minuet between the two.

By the way, that's Palin at left, Fey at right.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credits: Associated Press 

Here we have, what, 26 days left until the election? The Republican ticket of Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is trying to figure out how to make up six, nine or maybe even 11 points in the polls.

And over at Libertarian Bob Barr's Atlanta offices, they are almost ecstatic to report they are at 3% in Virginia. That's 3% total, not points behind.

In Florida his campaign says they're just under 4% total, in Colorado just over and in Ohio all the way up to 5.2%.

"Those states are vital for us," a brave fundraising letter proclaims, "as it is in those battleground states where the election will be decided."

If the little-known former Republican congressman from Georgia can multiply his support ten times in less than four weeks (and overcome the unwritten national aversion to male candidates with facial hair), he just might pull out a victory.

Otherwise, he will suffer the usual sad fate of third party bids, struggling with the two V's: Valiantly but in Vain.

Like Rep. Ron Paul's electorally unsuccessful though financially robust bid for the Republican nomination, Barr's campaign is often built around adversity -- the media conspiracy that keeps it from getting free publicity, the difficulty of being obscure and raising money in hard times, being excluded from the debates by the two major parties and their debate commission and the local efforts by state parties to get or keep them off the ballots.

On Barr's website, which not surprisingly also asks for money first thing, Barr has posted a 3 minute 25  second video (see it below) for the faithful and the curious, calmly analyzing the recent financial crisis bailout and how wrong, once again, the big government folks were in Washington.

And charging, in fact, that they all knew precisely what was coming.

In her recent fundraising plea, Ashley Petty (see photo) said a financial crisis has also hit the Barr campaign. She'd just come back from the mailbox and last week's armload of donation checks had dwindled to a mere handful. "I'm asking you to really dig deep," she wrote.

She suggested supporters devote $5 a day for the rest of the campaign.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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At the least, a John McCain television ad unveiled today will be the likely frontrunner for the year's most-jampacked-30-second-spot award.

The ad starts with zinging Barack Obama over his connection to notorious Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers, then segues (jarringly) to blaming congressional Democrats for the collapsed housing market.

It happens all in less than 50 words (not counting the required McCain approval line for the spot):

The different moods emanating from the two campaigns, meanwhile, were on stark display in morning appearances by the two presidential contenders.

Obama, riding front-runner status in recent national and state polls, focused on the nation's economic turmoil in remarks made in Ohio. "Now is not the time for fear. Now is not the time for panic. Now is the time for resolve and steady leadership," he said, clearly hoping voters would see him as offering those attributes.

McCain, speaking in Wisconsin, began by stressing his new plan for aiding beleaguered homeowners. But he quickly launched a series of direct attacks at Obama, clearly hoping voters will judge his character superior to his rival's.

He reprised a barb from earlier this week, sarcastically telling his crowd that were he ever to need guidance in being truthful to the American people, he would not seek it from a "Chicago politician" (i.e., Obama).

-- Don Frederick