Jerome Corsi, the author of a controversial book attacking Barack Obama, has been detained in Kenya and is expected to be deported, The Times' Nairobi bureau chief, Edmund Sanders, reports.

Corsi is the author of "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," a best-selling book whose assertions -- that Obama was raised a Muslim and is secretly seething with "black rage" -- have been widely dismissed as false and based on little more than the author's desire to derail the Democrat's presidential candidacy.

Corsi arrived in Kenya Thursday to promote the book and to investigate Obama's ties to Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, according to a news release sent to the media by Corsi's publisher last week. In a chapter of Corsi's book titled "Kenya, Odinga, Communism, and Islam," the author claims Obama gave Odinga $1 million for his 2007 presidential campaign -- a claim both Obama and Odinga deny.

Corsi was detained on Tuesday by Kenyan immigration officials for failing to obtain the proper visa needed to work in the country. He told the Associated Press that he expects to be deported soon.

Obama, whose father was Kenyan and mother was American, is wildly popular in Kenya and the U.S. election is being closely followed in the country.

Corsi played a role in the 2004 presidential election with a book attacking that year's Democratic nominee, John Kerry. "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. "The Obama Nation" spent four weeks at the top of the bestseller list.

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo credit: Jerome Corsi arrives at the immigration department in Nairobi, Kenya / AP

John Edwards may have disappeared from the political radar, after his summertime admission of an extramarital affair, but his wife -- who was a major asset to her husband's Democratic presidential aspirations and also became a voice to be reckoned with on her own terms -- is re-establishing a public profile.

Recently, Elizabeth Edwards talked with the Detroit Free Press about the storm of personal turmoil she's experienced. Today, she talked policy at conference co-sponsored by the Service Employees International Union in the key state of Virginia.

Appearing at the gathering in Richmond in her role as a senior fellow of the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, she excoriated John McCain's healthcare proposals.

Although the event was not officially linked to Barack Obama's campaign, it was in line with an increasing effort by the Democrat and his allies to focus attention on a significant policy difference between the two presidential candidates.

And Obama can be expected to seize every opportunity to harp on the issue during his townhall meeting with McCain tonight.

-- Don Frederick

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Republicans far and wide have eagerly jumped on the assertion Monday by top Barack Obama aide David Axelrod that the candidate was unaware of Bill Ayers' background as a violent radical when the two first met in the mid-1990s.

Sarah Palin pressed the GOP attack today while campaigning in Florida (our colleague Mark Silva has the details at the Swamp).

Sometimes, though, a particular surrogate may not match up well with delivering a particular message. That appeared to be the case this morning, on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."

Rudy Giuliani, sitting on the set's couch, castigated Obama for "a pattern" of apparently not being fully aware of the views and detects of some of his associates, mentioning the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Chicago crook Tony Rezko, along with Ayers. The bottom line, the former New York mayor said, was that all this showed Obama lacked "the judgment" to serve as president.

On camera next was Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, speaking from Nashville, the site of tonight's town hall faceoff between his candidate and John McCain. And Gibbs was ready with an acerbic response.

He noted that Giuliani has been the main advocate for Bernard Kerik, New York's former police commissioner, to be named head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. President Bush made the nomination, only to quickly withdraw it when a morass of legal and personal problems surrounding Kerik surfaced (he currently is under federal indictment for conspiracy, mail fraud and several other charges).

As a result, Gibbs said, "taking judgment advice" from Giuliani "is a little bit like being called ugly by a frog."

The not-to-be missed exchange can be seen here.

-- Don Frederick

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John McCain's campaign has denounced and rejected a racially charged, anti-Barack Obama newspaper column written by one of the Republican campaign's organizers in Virginia,and has removed the author-activist from his post as a member of the candidate's statewide leadership team.

The column by Bobby May appeared in a southwestern Virginia newspaper,The Voice, and drew attention after it was cited in a Sunday Los Angeles Times report about how voters in that mostly white region were reacting to potentially electing the country's first black president.

May, who in July was named his county's Republican representative on the McCain statewide campaign team, offered a spoof of Obama's platfrom and plans in his recent column.

Examples: Obama would hire the rapper Ludacris (a prominent supporter) to paint the White House black. And the....

In his day, Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld used his big paychecks to spread campaign money among Democrats and a few Republicans. Lately, he received a little bit back, thanks to Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd and Hillary Clinton.

Henry Waxman, the Beverly Hills Democrat, summoned Fuld to Capitol Hill on Monday and grilled him about his pay, noting that Fuld appeared to have received $480 million this decade.

“Is this fair?” Waxman said, as The Times' Jim Puzzanghera reported.

Fuld said he probably received "a little bit less than $250 million -- still a large number, though."

Fuld got rid of some of that money in the form of....

There's a lot of talk, mainly between these quadrennial presidential circuses, about Americans' inattention to and nonchalance about their democratic political process, which now lasts nearly two full years. With the other two spent plotting.

Maybe you remember how impressed everyone was back in August when the Democratic National Convention drew such high TV ratings.

And the very next week, despite a holiday and a hurricane, the Republican National Convention drew even more viewers, especially, doggone it, that acceptance speech by the newcomer Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, whose name is genuine box-office for admirers and detractors.

Now come the presidential debates, which showed Americans by the dozens of millions were watching and judging the contestants to be their new leaders.

And then last week's record-breaking vice presidential debate between Palin and her Democratic opposite, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. (See a Times video analysis below by clicking on the "Read more" line.)

As Republican John McCain and Democratic Barack Obama prepare for tonight's second of three rhetorical confrontations -- this one a town-hall forum in Nashville, which the Ticket will again be live-blogging right here as usual at 6 p.m. Pacific -- come some fascinating statistical tidbits that back up the Ticket's own exploding readership numbers in recent months.

Just under 70 million watched the VP debate, viewer numbers topped only by the October 1980 debate between Pres. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

According to the Nielsen rating service, 61% of all American households have watched one of the debates so far, nearly 31% watched both and fully 41% watched the VP chat.

As usual, older citizens (55+), who are the most reliable voters too, made up the largest proportion for the first two debates -- 42% and 46%. But Nielsen found more younger viewers than usual tuning into the VP confrontation, enough to lower the median age from 54 for the presidential debate to 52 for the VPs.

African American households, which make up about 12% of U.S. TV households, comprised 14% of the Obama-McCain debate audience and about 12% of the VP encounter.

Latinos seem the least interested. They make up about 11% of US total TV households, but made up only 6.3% and 6.5% of the debate audiences.

But here's one interesting Nielsen finding that flies against all standard political intuitions: Minute-by-minute studies of viewership during both debates so far this general election season show that despite conventional wisdom, viewership did not drop off for the second half of each debate.

In fact, viewership stayed high and steady throughout both sessions.

See what happens without commercials?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credits: Associated Press

Barack Obama has locked down the youth vote, according to a poll released Monday.

The USA Today/MTV/Gallup survey found that 61% of 18- to 29-year-olds who are registered to vote prefer Obama, versus 32% who like John McCain.

The numbers aren't exactly a surprise. Obama has gone to great lengths to reach young people -- many have remarked upon his campaign's technological savvy -- and young voters often lean left.

But the poll revealed some interesting things about the Millennials (that's the nickname given to people born in the years between 1980 and 2000).

For example: 64% of the youth surveyed say they have given the presidential race a lot of thought and 44% of them believe this election is the most important of the last 50 years. And age matters, it seems. More than 70% of those polled said they thought Obama understands the problems of young people better than McCain.

And now to the important stuff: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may need to rethink that "Joe Six-Pack" line of hers. After all, 52% of the young people polled said they would prefer to have a beer with Obama. Only 27% would want to throw one back with McCain.

-- Kate Linthicum

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Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Let us now praise the anonymous John McCain staffer (or staffers) who a few weeks back sent out an e-mail intended for residents of the District of Columbia.

The guts of the message: "The last day you may apply for a general election absentee ballot is October 28, 2008. We recommend sending your application as early as possible."

D.C. is an odd governmental duck. Created to serve permanently as the nation's capital -- distinct from any state's jurisdiction -- it is a federally supervised municipality. It took about 150 years for the city to gain anything approaching self-governance rights, and it still does not have voting representatives in Congress.

Beginning in 1964, though, it became part of the presidential voting process. And since then, there has been no surer thing in U.S. politics than a Democrat carrying the district and its three electoral votes.

How sure of a thing? The worst showing by a Democratic candidate in Washington, D.C., came in 1980, when then-President Jimmy Carter won ONLY 74.8% of its vote. Four years ago, John Kerry racked up 89.1% of its vote (not quite a record; that was set in '64, when then-President Lyndon Johnson won 90.3%).

All of which is to take note of this -- when someone working for the Republican presidential ticket encourages Washington, D.C., residents to cast their ballots, that truly is an example of putting country first, self-interest second.

-- Don Frederick

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Amid a blizzard of disheartening polls a month out from the general election, the John McCain-Sarah Palin Republican ticket got some great news this afternoon:

A clear go-ahead signal to millions of evangelicals across the country from Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, to vote for the GOP ticket. It couldn't have come at a better time given more polls showing a Democratic lead on the eve of the next presidential debate, tomorrow night in Nashville.

On his radio broadcast today to hundreds of stations Dobson said, "America's future seems to hang in the balance."

Reading from his October newsletter, Dobson said he would not endorse a candidate for president. He then proceeded to endorse a candidate for president.

"It’s probably obvious which of the two major candidates’ views are most palatable to those of us who embrace a pro-life, pro-family worldview," Dobson said.

"While I will not endorse either candidate this year, (in fact, I’ve only endorsed one presidential nominee in my life) I can say that I am now supportive of Senator John McCain and his bid for the presidency."

A distinction without a difference for a Republican ticket that desperately needs an energized family values base determined to vote despite what seem increasing odds.

In recent months Dobson had spent more time announcing....

In case you're not in Albuquerque today -- and to be honest, most of us aren't, which is what makes that place so special -- here's a taste of what Sen. John McCain interrupted his Tuesday night debate prep to say there, against the backdrop of a stock market that dipped further. His campaign had indicated that, in an economic environment unfavorable to the party occupying the White House (which would be McCain's GOP), it would try to change the subject. As these excerpts show, McCain definitely tried to do that:

"Rather than answer his critics, Sen. [Barack] Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked. But let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don't need lessons about telling the truth to the American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn't seek advice from a Chicago politician.

"My opponent's touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who's already authored two memoirs, he's not exactly an open book. It's as if somehow the usual rules don't apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Sen. Obama seems to think he is above all that.

"... All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government?  What does he plan for America?  In short: Who is the real Barack Obama?  But ask such questions and all you get in response is another barrage of angry insults.

"Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What was ...

Political fund-raiser Norman Hsu used his connections to politicians--Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were the main ones--to con people into investing in his pyramid scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission charges in a complaint today.

In papers filed today in federal court in Los Angeles, the SEC said Hsu and one of his companies, Next Components, operated a $60 million Ponzi scheme. He used investors’ money to pay his “sales agents, make political campaign contributions, and support Hsu’s luxurious lifestyle,” the SEC said.

The suit seeks to force Hsu to repay money, although it’s not clear he has any money left.

Hsu bundled more than $1 million for an array of politicians, most of them Democrats, starting in 2004. He outdid himself in the Democratic primary, when he raised in excess of $800,000 for Sen. Clinton.

Clinton sought to limit the fall-out story by returning the money to donors solicited by Hsu.

Hsu’s scheme unraveled a year ago after Times reporter Chuck Neubauer and then-Times reporter Robin Fields disclosed that he was a fugitive from a fraud conviction in the early 1990s in suburban San Francisco. Hsu made a court appearance in 2007, posted $2 million bond, then fled again, by train. He was apprehended in Colorado after he made what had been described as a suicide attempt.

Linda Chatman Thomsen, SEC’s Division of Enforcement director, said Hsu used some investor money to make campaign donations, and “then used the veneer of respectability created by his political connections to persuade his investors that the investments he offered were legitimate.”

“This deception convinced investors to continue to invest with Hsu, even as he and his company allegedly siphoned away investor funds to pay for his own extravagant lifestyle and to finance a Ponzi scheme,” the SEC alleges.

Hsu is in custody awaiting trial on federal criminal fraud charges in New York.

--Dan Morain

Photo credit: Hand-out

So far, not so good in the latest offensive by the John McCain campaign against Barack Obama.

The latest Gallup overnight tracking poll shows little change in the race, with the Democratic presidential nominee leading his Republican counterpart by 8 percentage points. The next major opportunity for change would be Tuesday night's presidential debate in Nashville. This one is townhall-style.

Here's what Frank Newport of Gallup writes:

"Barack Obama leads John McCain among registered voters across the country by a 50% to 42% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Oct. 3-5, the tenth straight day in which Obama has held a statistically significant lead.

"This 10-day stretch of a significant Obama lead is the longest since he became the presumptive nominee back in early June, and the longest for either candidate at any point in the campaign.

"Today's result includes interviewing conducted Friday through Sunday, after the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, and after Friday's passage of a revised economic rescue plan to help alleviate the Wall Street financial crisis."

The results, which show neither candidate moving much, suggest that neither of these events had a significant effect on voter preferences and the race may have stabilized.

Our blogging buddy Frank James has more on this latest poll over here at the Swamp.

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Getty Images