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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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First up: we have two breaking stories tonight.
In the last hour we learned that federal agents have broken up a plot they say
to assassinate Barack Obama and then go on a murder spree and kill about 100
African-Americans. We'll talk to NBC News Justice Department correspondent Pete
Williams, who is covering that story tonight.
We'll also talk to Pete about the other breaking story tonight: Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-AK) was convicted this afternoon on all seven counts of lying about
free home renovations and other gifts he received. It's more bad news for
Republicans and John McCain. How do you run on reform when the senior
Republican in the Senate gets nailed with felonly conviction for corruption
before the election? And what does this mean for the Democrats' hopes of
wininng 60 Senate seats?
Next - with eight days left in the race, Barack Obama has moved from combative
to conciliatory and is now making the argument that we've heard from many
presidential candidates in recent years - that it's time to change the tone in
Washington.
After meeting with his economic advisers in Cleveland, John McCain said it all
comes down to how you want your money spent. Does McCain have enough time left
to chip away at Obama's lead in the polls? Will these closing arguments work
for either candidate?
Tonight we'll speak with Obama supporter Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) and McCain
supporter Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) about the final stretch of the
Presidential race.
Plus, is Sarah Palin getting all "Maverickey" on McCain? There are new reports
that there's friction between the Alaska Governor and the McCain staff. Will
Sarah be splitting from the campaign one week out? Politico's Roger Simon and
Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson will weigh in.
And, going into the final days, which states are key to victory? We'll take a
look at the new NBC Electoral map with NBC's Political News Director Chuck Todd
and NBC News political analyst Charlie Cook.
Don't miss the Politics Fix as we break down these headlines and tell you what
it means for next week's election.
For the latest on all of today's political news, go to the best political
website www.politics.msnbc.com, powered by NBC News and the National Journal.
And, don't forget to check out NBC's "First Read" and MSNBC.com's Hardblogger.
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