HIGHLAND, IN - After Barack Obama took a few hours off the trail to spend Halloween with his family - including his corpse bride seven-year-old and his evil fairy ten-year-old - the senator to nearby Illinois held a campaign rally near Gary, Indiana (hometown to Thriller’s Michael Jackson).

“Happy Halloween!” he told the crowd of some 40,000. Clearly there were many Hoosiers who weren’t home to dole out candy to trick-or-treaters this election year.

The Democratic nominee recounted to the crowd that his daughters had just been trick-or-treating themselves in Chicago. “Every year they’ve got trouble deciding what they want to be for Halloween – but John McCain didn’t have that problem.  Just like every year he’s going as George W. Bush,” he joked.

Ba-dum-bum.

COLUMBUS, OH — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was the hit of McCain’s afternoon rally in Columbus Friday afternoon capping off his two-day, 500+ mile bus tour through Ohio.

LIMA, OH — The muzzle is off.

Joe Biden stopped by a local burger joint for late night take-out, but wound up taking 12 minutes of questions from national reporters who haven’t been able to talk to the Delaware Senator since a flight to Kalispell, MT on September 7th.

So did the gaffe-prone VP nominee feel pressure from the campaign not to talk to the press?

“If I’m muzzled, I don’t know,” Biden said. “I’ve done 200 interviews. I’ve been doing, you know, half a dozen to a dozen satellite feeds everyday. I’m doing shows, I mean, so, no one said anything to me about it.”

Biden told the small media throng inside the classic Lima diner that while he feels good, he expects a tight race.

This election is going to be a lot closer than everybody thinks it is,” Biden said. “I think it’s going to be close in Florida, it’s going to be close here, it’s going to be close in Missouri, I think it’s going to close - I don’t think it will be that close in Pennsylvania, I feel very good about Pennsylvania.”

“I think it’s going to be close in North Carolina, um, you know, Virginia feels really good but, you know, it ain’t till it happens,” he laughed. “We’re going everywhere. Montana, Arizona, I mean we’re everywhere we can be.”

McCain, he said, isn’t going away quietly. “One of the things I’ve admired about John, and I’ve considered him — why I’ve considered him a friend. He does, he never gives up,” said Biden. “I just hope when it’s over, win or lose, you walk up and you shake hands and say John, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The VP nominee said he’s glad to hear that McCain is closing out his TV campaign with a positive ad. “I hope John ends this campaign with his strength,” he said. ” I think it’s just not a good thing to, win or lose it’s not a good thing to end in sort of this tough environment. No matter what.”

As for his relationship with the man he calls a good friend? “I hope it’s intact,” he said.” John and I haven’t had a chance to speak. We have not had a chance to speak.”

“I just think that, uh, I think – I believe when this is over, win or lose, John and I are likely to be around, you, in one form or another, in one job or another, and I hope, uh, my hope is we can work together. Because folks, it sounds corny, you cannot do this stuff unless you start to get a little purple here. You can’t make these big decisions. I mean, you need, you need cooperation, no matter how.”

AP Photo-York, PA

HARRISBURG, PA – Sarah Palin’s bus tour throughout Pennsylvania made stops in Latrobe, Somerset, New Paris, and York so far. In Somerset, joined by her husband Todd she went on a tour of Leiss Tool and Die Co., which manufactures metal parts and does stamping and welding. Palin chatted with workers about the technology and the need for more vocational training.

Her next stop was New Paris where she visited Boyer Orchards, a large family-run apple orchard. While she toured the facility, her 7-year-old daughter Piper dressed as a snow princess for Halloween gave out candy to the rope line.

Palin met with the owners and they began discussing illegal immigration—an issue that was a very hot topic in the primary season, but Palin has not mentioned once on the stump since her selection.

Orchard owner Matt Boyer told Palin that he relies on migrant work for their very short picking season and they’ve had migrant workers for 30 years.

“Now it’s getting increasingly difficult to find legal help. People don’t understand this immigration issue. We need workers, we can’t get anybody, any local person to help us, its hard work, we tell people about our orchard and it’s a lot of hands on manual work.” Boyer told Palin, “It’s our key issue facing commercial agriculture is the immigration issue. People don’t understand that if we lose these workers all the handpicked foods gonna be coming in from oversees. It’s really critical that, it’s a national security interest that we grow our own food in the United States.”

Boyer said that he has made friends with his workers even calling them his “brothers.”

“People don’t understand that these guys, they don’t want amnesty. They don’t want citizenship. They just want to come in, and a guest worker program, make some money and get back home.”

Palin responded by saying her running mate has discussed immigration reform and the challenges it presents.

“John McCain has talked about that comprehensive approach to the immigration challenges that the country faces and dealing humanely with those who are here to work.”

McCain came under fire when he supported legislation for comprehensive immigration reform, which paved the way for illegal immigrants to become citizens. He has since backed down from that stance and believes the first step should be to secure the border.

After the tour she joined Piper on the rope line outside and answered what she thought Pennsylvanians need to do now for her ticket.

“Voter turnout of course is key. Got to be talking to your friends and your neighbors, letting ‘em know that this are in Pennsylvania also can kind of counter some of the other areas, so we need you to show up and vote.”

Watch Piper handing out candy below:

done

AP Photo

YORK, PA –-At a Halloween day rally here standing behind pumpkins carved in the likeness of her and John McCain, Sarah Palin went after the Democratic nominee calling his tax plan “so phony” and said it is “starting to unravel.”

She cited  Bill Richardson’s comments from this morning–where he told a radio station that there is going to be a tax cut for people making under $120,000 instead of the $200,000 threshold Obama cites in his tax plan–as evidence of the unraveling.

“First, remember, it was defined as those making under $250,000 a year.” Palin said, “And just this morning, Gov. Bill Richardson, a top surrogate for the Obama campaign, he who is working so hard to get Obama elected, Richardson said Obama’s tax plan would define middle class as $120,000 a year and under.  So now, we’re down to less than half the original income level and, just give it a little more time, and Barack Obama will be back to raising taxes on folks earning $42,000 a year.”

Richardson’s spokesperson, Pahl Shipley said that he misspoke and meant to say 250,000 dollars, which is still incorrect because under Obama’s plan only those making under $200,000 will have there taxes cut. Those people who fall between $200,000 and $250,000 will see no tax cut or tax increase.

The Alaska governor—who is in her last 4 day push before Election Day ––said now is a bad time to raise taxes on any Americans and mentioned the nation’s GDP number for the first time.

“Just yesterday, we learned that America’s GDP actually fell in the third quarter of this year, and that confirms what we already know, and that’s that our economy right now is shrinking. This is the worst possible time to raise taxes, but Barack Obama still wants to.” Palin said, “Sen. Obama, see, has an ideological commitment to higher taxes.”

Her next stop on her Pennsylvania bus tour is going trick or treating with her daughter Piper-dressed as a snow princess for Halloween.

KETTERING, OH — It’s getting scary on the Biden campaign trail.

With Halloween just around the corner, the VP nominee’s wife Jill engaged in some family fright after introducing her husband at a rally for 1500 in westeron Ohio. 

After passing Jill as he came on stage, Biden laughed upon approaching the podium. “I tell you what, some thing things never change,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t let the press know this, but you know, Jill walked back up here a moment ago you know what she did? She put a little rat on the thing here!”

“Everything’s Halloween with this lady!” Biden laughed. “Happy Halloween.” Turning to his wife, he said “You are bad!”

But it’s not rubber rats that scare Joe Biden — it’s Republicans. 

“Look. I know it’s Halloween. I know its Halloween. But John McCain dressed as an agent of change is a costume that just does not fit,” Biden said — repeating a line that’s been a stump speech staple for weeks. 

And as for those scary Republican attacks on Barack Obama? “The Republicans have gone way over the top in my view, calling Barack Obama every name in the book. And the problem will get worse in the next three and a half to four days,” Biden said.

“If you look at who he is, what he’s done, and what he plans to do for this country. If you work for us in the closing days and choose hope over fear, after this Tuesday, the very critics will be calling him something else. They will be calling him the 44th president of the United States of America. Our commander in chief, Barack Obama.

STEUBENVILLE, OH  — Forget ghosts. John McCain and his allies say what Americans really should be afraid of this Halloween is the prospect of undivided Democratic rule.

“Pelosi, Reid, Obama: the tax trifecta from hell!” Sen. Lindsey Graham said during his introduction of the GOP nominee at a morning rally in Hanoverton. “Don’t let it happen!”

For his part, McCain said Americans are too smart to take what he called annual Democrat scare tactics regarding social security.

“It’s Halloween. So what do the Democrats do? Every four years they run out and they try to scare seniors by saying that Republicans are going to take away their Social Security or we’re gonna take away Medicare,” McCain said at his first of four rallies in the Buckeye State. “(But) Americans have wised up. I am going to protect social security and I am going to protect medicare and I am not going to let this congress tax away your retirement savings.”

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani also joined McCain for the early event and also took aim at Democrats–mocking recent statements by Obama and Biden that Republicans are using to argue that the Dem ticket is shifting it’s definition of middle class.

“His opponent is going to raise your taxes. Or he going lower your taxes. Or he is going to raise them and lower them. Or lower them and raise them. And he can’t figure out at what number,” Giuliani joked. “They cant even their stories straight because it is a story. It’s a flim flam. They are going to raise your taxes and they are going to raise government spending and that would be a disaster.”

During McCain second campaign stop at a rally in Steubenville, the GOP nominee had his own dark humor for the holiday.

“Doug the Undertaker!” McCain exclaimed, as he read off posters in the crowd. “A few Democrats may need to see you, Doug, after this election is over.”

DES MOINES - Today it was learned that three reporters covering the Obama campaign will no longer be permitted to fly on Obama’s chartered 757 beginning Sunday, just two days before Election Day.

The reporters represent three papers whose editorial pages each endorsed McCain for president: The Dallas Morning News, The New York Post, and The Washington Times. Ebony and Essence - Obama-friendly publications - will take their seats on the plane.

All three news outlets have had reporters traveling to some capacity with the campaign during the course of the general election, but unlike outlets like The Washington Post and the New York Times, it has not been consistently. Ebony and Essence, who will be traveling throug the end of the road, have been on the road only occasionally.

“Unfortunately, demand for seats on the plane during this final weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we made the decision not to add a second plane. This means we’ve had to make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to offer space to news organizations altogether,” a spokesperson from the campaign explained.

The campaign points out that the ousted reporters are encouraged to cover the events, and they’ll provide assistance with hotel rooms, space at events, and the same information disseminated to the traveling press. “Which means the only thing they don’t get is a seat — they have access to everything else,” a staffer noted. But with multiple events spanning the United States in the coming days, reporters traveling outside of “the bubble” will not logistically be able to cover each event.

It’s easy to draw the conclusion that the reporters were slighted because of unfavorable or less than glowing coverage, but to be fair, it should be noted that just today on the flight to Iowa, FOX News - hardly an Obama campaign favorite - had four coveted seats on the cramped campaign plane.

Each news organization (yes, even the New York Times) has had their number of seats limited, meaning that if a big shot wants to swoop in to cover the end, in theory, someone will have to forego a seat.

Of course all of this might have been avoided if the campaign had reconfigured the plane differently. While staffers lounge in business class seats, press and Secret Service sit three-to-a-row in the two rear cabins of the same size.

Among the newspapers expected to travel regularly for the next four days: USA Today, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and McClatchy. Politico and Slate also have slots.

DES MOINES - Barack Obama’s long shot candidacy was validated here with his surprising win in the caucuses that allowed his tentative followers around the nation - many of whom unconvinced that an African American could win - to create what’s become a movement.

Ten months later, the man who’s considered the frontrunner in the race for the presidency returned one last time to thank the state that helped launch his historic bid.

I knew the American people were a decent, generous people willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are. No where was that truer than here in Iowa. On the day of the Iowa caucus, my faith in the American people were vindicated. And what you started here in Iowa has swept the nation. We are seeing the same turnout – we are seeing the same people going and getting line volunteers – people participating – a whole new way of doing democracy  started right here in Iowa and it is all across the country now.

Iowa is truly a battleground state, opting for Al Gore in 2000 and George W. Bush in 2004. This time around, polls show Obama leading John McCain, and Obama is hoping that the state that helped him out early in the election will turn out again for him.

“We have come so close because of you.  And that is how we are going to change this country – with your help.  And that is why with four days left we can’t afford to slow down, or sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week.  Not now.  Not when so much is at stake. We have to go ahead and bring it home,” he said, asking Iowans to “stand with me and work with me one more time.”

This is Obama’s third trip back to Iowa since he became the Democratic nominee.

NEWARK, DE — Favorite Son Joe Biden packed the quad at his alma mater on Friday, where the former Blue Hen made sure current students know just how much influence the school has had this election cycle. 

“The University of Delaware didn’t just shape me in this historic presidential campaign, Ladies and gentlemen. This may be the first time in president campaign history that our campaign manager, a Delawarean named David Plouffe, who was in the political science department, a proud Blue Hen, is managing one campaign, and my friend John McCain’s campaign, his chief strategist is a guy named Steve Schmidt who also attended the University of Delaware,” Biden said. 

“Let that be a cautionary tale: Blue Hens can go astray occasionally.”

Why hold a rally in Delaware? The state isn’t remotely in question, expected to fall easily into the Obama camp. But while Biden was forbidden from mentioning it — since the rally was organized and paid for by the Obama campaign — he’s still on the ballot as a senate candidate, and aides say that in addition to talking up other Democrats up for statewide office, the long-time lawmaker wanted to remind voters in the state that he’s still around.

But there’s an Obama/Biden rationale for the rally as well. The Northern Delaware location falls under the nearby Philadelphia media market, where Obama is hoping to offset McCain’s expected strength in Pennsylvania’s more rural areas. Biden aso urged students to volunteer for Obama in the neighboring state. 

While there was a good deal of reminiscing about his time at the school in the early 60’s, Biden didn’t let the crowd go without a few digs at his GOP rivals.  

“I believe that John McCain through the conduct of this campaign unfortunately, continues to think that the way you win is to divide,” he said. “I believe Barack Obama will revitalize the middle class, the backbone of the nation. I believe John McCain is stubbornly clinging to the failed policies of the past because if he acknowledges the failure, what does he talk about?”

“I believe Barack Obama will restore our standing in the world, but I know John McCain continues to be determined to follow the policy of going it alone.”

“Barack Obama will remind us that we are, unlike our opponents continue to divide us, Sarah Palin and others talking about being in the pro American part of the one, of the country, as if all America is not pro America. Ladies and gentlemen, Barack will remind us we are one nation under God.”

Biden heads for an actual swing state next, holding two rallies in Western Ohio to wrap up the day.