As the presidential campaigns both shift into ground-game mode, actual news is slow in coming. However, the Boston Herald has an interesting story about John McCain’s VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The paper’s Laura Crimaldi reports that Palin spent $51,000 in taxpayer money to remodel the governor’s mansion in Juneau, as well as her offices in the state capital and Anchorage. The McCain-Palin campaign claims they’re all “routine” expenses.

Also, The Wall Street Journal’s T.W. Farnam examines donations from an often-overlooked group: American Indian tribes. He finds that they’ve given Barack Obama more than $1 million. John McCain hasn’t taken money from tribes ever since his 2006 chairmanship of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

In the closing days of the race, Campaign Money Watch’s new ad on John McCain’s ties to gambling interests is getting attention from the media. National Journal’s Amy Harder is among those recently writing up the ad, following up on reports by The Washington Post, Politico, and the New York Daily News.

Still haven’t seen the ad? Here it is:

John McCain’s ties to gambling interests have been getting a bit more attention these days – look at these recent reports by The Associated Press and CBS News. Now, that relationship is the subject of a new ad by Campaign Money Watch – more details about the ad will be posted here later today, but feel free to watch it right now.

In other news, the Associated Press’ Justin Pritchard and Garance Burke reported this weekend that McCain’s VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, presided over a “flawed bidding process” for a massive pipeline project that “narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration.” The story notes that “leader of Palin’s pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman’s former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada’s lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal.”

Also in the news today are reports of two GOP fundraisers who once played a crucial role but have seen their influence minimized. The first is President Bush – The Washington Post notes that the unpopular incumbent has been relegated to relatively small events for congressional fundraising committees and hasn’t attended many events for specific candidates, most notably McCain.

The other Republican fundraiser down on his luck these days is McCain bundler Harold C. Simmons, who was behind 2004’s infamous Swift Boat ads. His efforts this year to tie Barack Obama to William Ayers haven’t had much impact, The New York Times notes, largely because Democrats were simply better prepared, but also because independent groups have seen their influence decline this election.

The furor over Sarah Palin’s $150,000 clothing makeover – courtesy of the Republican National Committee – continued on what was a fairly slow news day yesterday. Today, The New York Times’ Patrick Healy and Michael Luo report on how the spending spree may undercut Palin’s “hockey mom” image. Luo and Leslie Wayne also offer up a sidebar on Jeff Larson, the GOP consultant who appears to have been the one doing the actual shopping.

New York Magazine’s Peter Keating offers a primer on what Barack Obama’s money is buying him. The short answer: Tons of ads, an overwhelming advantage on the ground, the ability to fight off John McCain wherever, and whenever, he wants, and a growing sense of inevitability. Keating also assesses the impact of Obama’s $150 million September on the future of the presidential public financing system – he says the current system may effectively be dead, but that when “McCain weeps for campaign-finance reform, his are crocodile tears. For months, McCain has been funneling huge contributions to his campaign through state parties and the Republican National Committee… McCain and the GOP have been trying just as hard as the Dems to circumvent public financing. They just haven’t been as good at it as Obama.”

Finally, the Center for Responsive Politics (the source of much of the campaign finance data we use), offers up a projected final price tag for the 2008 election: $5.3 billion. That figure encompasses not only the presidential race, but also congressional contests. It’s a 27 percent increase over 2004.

Sarah Palin’s understated yet sharp fashion sense has won some attention since John McCain tapped her to be his vice presidential running mate. But it turns out that signature Palin look is courtesy of the Republican National Committee, which, as Politico’s Jeanne Cummings reports, has shelled out $150,000 to dress and accessorize not only Gov. Palin, but her family as well.

As Cummings writes, “The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission’s long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.”

Meanwhile, it looks like the RNC’s main fundraising go-to guy, President Bush, is losing some of his potency. Politico’s Ryan Grim reports that Bush has pulled in “$40 million less than he raised last cycle and $4 million less than Barack Obama raised last month.”

Barack Obama’s $150 million September continues to attract coverage. Today, The Washington Post’s Matthew Mosk and Sarah Cohen point out that only a quarter of the $600 million Obama has raised actually came from people who have donated less than $200 – a reflection of the fact that big money is still essential for anyone seeking high elected office.

Finally, two editorial today – in the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post – both signal that Obama’s haul confirms that it’s time to fix the public financing system, and that it’s up to the next president to lead the way.

Even with two weeks to go until the election, yet another connection between John McCain and troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac has come to light.

Word came out this weekend that Freddie Mac secretly paid Republican firm DCI Group to lobby GOP senators to oppose legislation that would have increased regulations on its lending.

Does DCI Group sound familiar? It might – it turns out that DCI Group’s CEO is Doug Goodyear, who was John McCain’s choice to organize this year’s Republican National Convention. And, as Newsweek reported in May, Goodyear’s firm also made money representing Burma’s brutal military junta.

As for McCain’s VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The New Yorker has a lengthy article on the governor’s rise to prominence among the GOP elite – the very “Good Ol’ Boys Network” she so often decries. Part of that, the story mentions, was her quick desire to cozy up to powerful Washington lobbyists after she became mayor of Wasilla.

Of course, McCain spent Sunday questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s staggering $150 million in September fundraising, saying on Fox News Sunday, “What’s going to happen, particularly if you’ve got an incumbent president, and we no longer stick to the … public financing, which was a result of the Watergate scandal?”

Sen. McCain might want to ask this question of himself, as “sticking to public financing” proved to be, well, a sticky point during the Republican primaries. You may remember that McCain opted into the public financing system for the primaries and then decided to change his mind once his campaign took off. Despite the questionable legality of this move, the FEC eventually let him off the hook.

Finally, The Dallas Morning News explores why an Obama administration, combined with a Democratic Congress, would likely result in new regulations on AT&T. As for a McCain administration, the story notes that “AT&T’s executives and lobbyists have longstanding ties to Mr. McCain,” including the company’s top lobbyist, Tim McKone, who has raised $500,000 for the GOP nominee. The article also points out that some of McCain’s “top campaign aides are former AT&T lobbyists, including Charlie Black and Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager. Some of Mr. McCain’s Senate aides later worked as lobbyists for AT&T.”

The biggest news of the day (at least that wasn’t from the debate) is something we wrote about last night – AT&T and Verizon setting up cell phone towers on John McCain’s ranch in what appears to be an example of McCain and his wife, Cindy, getting preferential treatment. McCain, of course, has been a friend to the companies on Capitol Hill and has many of their lobbyists serving his campaign.

Here’s the original Washington Post story. Also weighing in today is The New York Times.

Yesterday we mentioned Murray Waas’ story in Huffington Post about William Timmons’ connections to Saddam Hussein. As expected, McCain’s campaign is downplaying the story but now they’re also claiming they’ve “had no associations with any lobbyists – a claim MSNBC’s David Schuster isn’t buying, in this clip.

McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin, got a frosty reception yesterday when she trashed Wall Street… in front of a group of wealthy New Yorkers, even earning hisses and boos at some points of her speech. Fox News embed Mosheh Oinounou has the story.

The Wall Street Journal’s Mary Jacoby reports that McCain raised $87 million for the Republican National Committee in August and September. Unfortunately for McCain, it appears the RNC isn’t returning the favor, having pulled out of Wisconsin and Maine, the AP’s Jim Kuhnhenn notes.

Finally, USA Today’s Ken Dilanian and Matt Kelley look at the problems both candidates face in railing against corruption while relying on some questionable people for fundraising. It’s part of their ongoing “Price of Power” series examining the role of money in politics and is definitely worth a read.

Happy Columbus Day! The holiday’s arrival means a relatively slow news day, but there are some items worth mentioning.

Catching up on news from the weekend, the “Troopergate” report was finally released late Friday – the Alaska legislative investigation found that John McCain’s VP pick, Gov. Sarah Palin, abused her power in pursuing the firing of a state trooper and removing the state public safety commissioner from his post. Palin has claimed the report cleared her of any ethical wrongdoing, even though the report appears to say the exact opposite.

In related news, the Los Angeles Times’ Kim Murphy reports on Todd Palin’s involvement in the governor’s office, noting that his constant presence made staff members uneasy.

The Boston Globe’s Brian C. Mooney notes that outside groups appear to be playing less of a role in this presidential election than they did in 2004.

Finally, the LA Times’ Mark Z. Barabak and Dan Morain go into detail about what Barack Obama’s fundraising advantage really means – mainly, it has given Obama an overwhelming presence in every battleground state, including a few that were deep red in 2004.

The Alaska legislature is expected to release its findings today in the “Troopergate” investigation, which has focused on whether John McCain’s VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, abused her power in pursuing the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, and in firing the state public safety commissioner after he refused to meet Palin’s demands. The Anchorage Daily News has the latest.

The New York Times also reports on the scandal – Serge F. Kovaleski writes that “the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Trooper Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show.”

As for McCain himself, The Washington Times has uncovered an interesting tidbit from the GOP nominee’s friendship with Charles Keating. In 1986 McCain, then a House member pursuing a Senate seat, sent Keating a letter apologizing for incorrectly listing Keating as a member of his campaign finance committee. Keating’s handwritten response? “Don’t be silly. You can call me anything, write anything or do anything. I’m yours till death do us part.”

The Washington Post’s Paul Kane and Glenn Kessler report on McCain’s gambling winnings: Apparently he’s been a loser at the craps table the past couple years, explaining his lack of gambling winnings on his tax returns. However, the campaign will only say that about 2006 and 2007. Returns from prior years still haven’t been disclosed.

Finally, Barack Obama has apparently raised a LOT of money – he’s going to air a half-hour infomercial in prime time on CBS and NBC on Oct. 29 and is in negotiations with other networks as well. Each block of time is estimated to cost around $2 million, The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi notes.

(Sorry for the late post today. We had some technical difficulties this morning.)

The “Troopergate” investigation into whether John McCain’s VP pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, abused her powers in pushing for her brother-in-law to be fired, and if those efforts resulted in the firing of the state’s public safety commissioner, is picking up steam. “First Dude” Todd Palin submitted a statement to the legislative investigation yesterday that indicated his efforts to get the trooper fired “started before his wife became governor and accelerated during the first 19 months of her administration,” the Anchorage Daily News’ Bill White reports.

The legislative panel’s report is expected to be released in a matter of days.

As for McCain, The New York Times reports today that a plan he floated in Tuesday’s debate – having the government buy up bad mortgages – would “would leave taxpayers to cover the losses, rather than the financial institutions that hold the original mortgages.” Of course, those are the same financial institutions that, with the help of deregulatory laws supported by McCain, played a big role in sparking the current crisis.

In an editorial today, the Times notes the “hypocrisy” of McCain for his talk about Obama’s “cronies” during the debate. After noting that McCain once called lobbyists “birds of prey,” they say the GOP nominee “is living in a virtual aviary with, among others, his campaign manager and his White House transition planner, bona fide heavyweights in the power game of lobbying and consulting.”

In the same vein, The Washington Post’s Zachary Goldfarb examines how Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae became this year’s “political hot potato,” noting how deeply entangled the mortgage giants were in Washington and the two presidential campaigns.

The LA Times’ Dan Morain and Doug Smith examine how Obama’s fundraising has, basically, been so successful that it’s rendered existing law obsolete. Campaigns don’t have to report information on donors who provide $200 or less, but Obama has raised so much money from small donors that a large chunk of his donor base is completely unknown. Basically, when the law was written, no one thought so much could be raised via small donors.

Finally, and along the same topic, the Financial Times notes that Blue State Digital, whose tools and consulting have helped fuel Obama’s record-breaking online fundraising, is taking its business international.

The Republican National Committee made the news over the weekend by demanding a Federal Election Commission audit of Barack Obama’s political donations, citing concerns that the Democratic nominee was illegally accepting money from foreign nationals, the Wall Street Journal and others reported.

The Journal’s take notes that Republicans “didn’t provide evidence of widespread foreign contributions” and that any audit, if approved would take place after election day, two facts that have led to questions over the motives behind the RNC’s action.

John McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin, is facing an interesting week. The “Troopergate” report is scheduled for release on Oct. 10, and, according to the Anchorage Daily News’ Wesley Loy, seven state employees are set to honor subpoenas and testify in the legislative investigation. She’s also being sued by a Republican activist over two personal e-mail accounts, The Washington Post’s Matthew Mosk reports. Amid all that, she still managed to attend a California fundraiser on Sunday.

Agence France Presse notes that, even as lobbyists become a “whipping boy” on the campaign trail during the economic crisis, they’ve also come to be more relied upon than ever. But the story ends on an optimistic note for those worried lobbyists will roll back any regulations put into place: “”There is such an enormous popular reaction to what has happened that it will be more difficult than usual for lobbyists to turn back and craft legislation.”

No wonder President Bush was so eager to sign the bailout bill – turns out, according to The Associated Press, that he left for a fundraiser only 28 minutes after signing the legislation.

USA Today reports on Hillary Rodham Clinton as a fundraising draw for Barack Obama. She’s reportedly raised more than $8 million for her former rival for the Democratic nomination.

Speaking of Obama’s fundraising, Newsday turns up a good example of why a ban on lobbyist contributions may be well intentioned, but is prone to loopholes.