WASHINGTON (CNN) – In her first speech outside Alaska this year, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin praised her state, criticized the president's economic recovery plan and talked at length about her anti-abortion views.

But she didn't touch on what a lot of people wanted to know: Will she run for president in 2012?

Palin's appearance before the sold-out Vanderburgh County Right to Life dinner in Evansville, Indiana, brought in nationwide media and forced organizers to open up an overflow area for attendees.

"It's great to be here in Indiana, the crossroads of America," she said to thunderous applause.

Palin's dinner speech took her out of Alaska in the waning days of her state's legislative session, drawing harsh criticism from Democrats.

Listen: Palin proves she's still a draw. CNN Radio reports.

"They condemn anything that I do, but especially traveling outside the
state to speak in another state at a function like this," she said. "Which is ironic, because these are the same critics who would love to see me outside the state forever, permanently, you know, outside the governor's office anyway."

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Florida beat Oklahoma in Thursdays BCS Championship game. Obama favors a playoff system instead.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Details of President-elect Barack Obama’s multi-billion dollar economic stimulus plan might still be murky, but his position on the hottest topic in the world of college football certainly is not.

“We need a playoff,” Obama told reporters after being asked about Florida’s 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in Thursday night’s BCS Championship game. "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles.”

Florida, Oklahoma and Texas all finished the season with one loss. Texas actually handed Oklahoma its one defeat in October on a neutral field. When the BCS computer system put Florida and Oklahoma in this year’s national championship game, the annual back and forth over whether to have a college football playoff system was reignited. Utah was the only college football team to finish the season undefeated but its conference is considered less competitive and therefore was put at a statistical disadvantage in the BCS.

Friday was not the first time Obama stated his preference for a playoff system.

Related: BCS is a political football in 2009

"It would add three extra weeks to the season," Obama said in a interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes just after the election. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

The night before Election Day both Sen. John McCain and Obama made brief appearances during Monday Night Football. “I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this that and the other. Get eight teams — the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a national champion,” he said then.

Pres. Bush signed an agreement with the Iraqi government in Baghdad Sunday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As President Bush prepares to leave office and looks back over his tenure, he Tuesday continued to stand firmly by his decision to go to war in Iraq, calling the decision to send troops into harm's way the most important one he made he has made in the Oval Office.

"I listened to a lot of people before we went into Iraq. And I listened to a lot of people, including in my own administration, who said, 'it's just not working. Let's get out.' And I listened very carefully to them. And obviously, came to a different conclusion," President Bush told CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley during a tour of the Oval Office.

While he did not want to revisit his decision to go to war, Bush he was ultimately concerned about "whether or not we would succeed."

"I have worried about it in the past, in 2006 in particular. In Iraq, I was deeply concerned about whether or not we would succeed," he said. "A lot of people in Washington, were saying, let's get out now. And I obviously chose not to do that. But, that was a very difficult period," he said.

The president said he "considered all options" when it came to Iraq and contemplated leaving but said, "I could not live with myself, if I had chosen to just leave and leave behind the valor and the sacrifice of a lot of our young men and women. I would have never been able to face their loved ones."

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Obama brought up comments made by various Republicans about certain places being 'real America'.

LEESBURG, Virginia (CNN) - In recent days, comments made by various Republicans about certain places being the "real America" or certain people being "pro-America" have started to creep into Barack Obama's stump speech. The lines appear to be resonating with supporters.

"I know some folks may not think so, but this looks like the real Virginia to me. This looks like authentic Virginia and y'all look like a bunch of Virginians," he said at an early evening rally. "I've been traveling across this great state of Virginia. I've met folks everywhere I go I haven't seen a real Virginia and a fake Virginia I've just seen Virginia."

As Obama's motorcade made its way through quaint downtown Leesburg, residents were lining the streets and standing on porches waving a mix of Obama and McCain signs. Hanging from one white Victorian home was a hand painted sign that said "real Virginians for Obama."

Obama said Wednesday McCain is 'not fighting for Joe the plumber'.

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) –- Joe the plumber is getting some company on the campaign trail.

“Let’s be clear who Senator McCain is fighting for, he’s not fighting for Joe the plumber. He’s fighting for Joe the hedge fund manager. John McCain likes to talk about Joe the plumber but he’s in cahoots with Joe the CEO. So don’t be fooled, don’t let them hoodwink you,” Obama told thousands at a mid-afternoon rally.

Obama’s now infamous conversation with Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher has become a rallying point for both the Democratic and Republican candidates.

McCain has repeatedly said Obama’s tax plan would punish Joe the plumber because the Democratic nominee wants to change the income distribution to help those making less and thereby hurt entrepreneurs and those trying to get ahead. Obama counters that he wants to give a tax cut to the majority of working Americans and roll back the Bush tax cuts to the rates that existed under President Bill Clinton where the wealthier paid more.

In recent days Obama has taken to highlighting statements McCain made in 2001 in which he said he could not support President Bush’s tax cuts because “so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.”

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Watch Obama on Ellen.

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama lauded his wife Michelle at his evening event for being a better speaker than he is. Apparently she is also a better dancer.

The Democratic presidential nominee taped an appearance for the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" after his rally on a makeshift set behind the press filing tent. DeGeneres told Obama that when Michelle appeared on her show "she was talking some smack" about his dance "moves."

Standing in front of a few rows of supporters, Obama danced to James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" much to the delight of the talk show host.

"Let me tell you that Michelle may be a better dancer. But I'm convinced I'm a better dancer than John McCain," Obama said.

Watch: Obama says he's a better dancer than McCain

Obama told DeGeneres that his daughters were opting for scary Halloween costumes this year. He said Sasha, the younger daughter, is planning to be a "corpse bride" and Malia will be an "evil fairy."

"I've got to admit they both look too cute. They're not scary enough for my taste," he said.

The segment will air on Wednesday.

Clinton and Obama campaigned together in Florida Monday.

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) – Hillary Clinton came to Florida, a state she won in the primary but whose delegates she could not fully claim, to urge her supporters to turn out for Barack Obama on Election Day.

“We are 15 days from the finish line and we cannot falter, we cannot stop, we cannot take a single vote for granted,” Clinton said Monday. “I am asking you to work as hard for Barack as you worked for me. If you made phone calls for me, make them for Barack. If you walked streets for me, make them for Barack. If you talked to your friends and neighbors for me, do it again for Barack. We cannot risk four more years of the same failed Republican policies.”

The two former rivals had not appeared together at a public rally since they came together in Unity, New Hampshire shortly after the primary season ended, and before Obama officially became the Democratic nominee. Monday's event marks their first joint appearance of the general election season.

The Obama campaign said Senator Clinton has done countless fundraisers and events on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket. She and former President Clinton recently campaigned with Senator Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania – an area where the New York senator has deep family ties.

“Sending the Republicans to clean up the economic mess in Washington is like sending the bull to clean up the china closet. We’re not buying that anymore,” Clinton said Monday, straining her voice to be heard over raucous applause. “Now is the time to close the deal for Barack Obama, and close the book on eight years of failed Republican leadership. We are in an economic crisis born and bred by the failed Republican policies of George Bush and John McCain.”

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Obama is taking Thursday and Friday to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) – Senator Barack Obama will leave the campaign trail Thursday afternoon and travel to Hawaii to visit his grandmother, who is seriously ill.

Robert Gibbs, a senior advisor to Obama, told reporters on the flight from Orlando that 85 year-old Madelyn Dunham’s health “has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious.” Gibbs would not elaborate on the severity of Dunham’s condition, but said the fact that Obama was traveling to see her “underscores the seriousness of the situation.”

Dunham was released from the hospital late last week.

Obama had been scheduled to appear in Wisconsin and Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday. Those events have been canceled. Instead, Obama will do a morning event in Indianapolis, Indiana and then head to Hawaii. He will return to the trail on Saturday with a campaign event in a western state.

His campaign will continue to function normally and in no way is being suspended.

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Obama and Palin both agree on moving away from 'conventional campaigning'.

TAMPA BAY, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama told voters here the tenor of the campaign is only going to get worse but that apparently he had found an ally in the fight against Republican attacks: GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin..

“We’ve seen it before. And we’re seeing it again. Ugly phone calls. Misleading mail and TV ads. Careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change,” he told a crowd of thousands at Steinbrenner Field. “It’s getting so bad that even Senator McCain’s running mate denounced his tactics last night. You know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin’s standards on negative campaigning, you’ve got to work hard. …

“What we know is that change never comes without a fight. Power concedes nothing without a fight. In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over,” Obama said.

Watch: Obama mocks Palin for speaking against her campaign's robo calls

Palin told reporters Sunday that if she were in charge of the campaign there would be more time spent one-on-one with voters and less time on “the old conventional ways of campaigning that includes those robo-calls.”

The Obama campaign descended on Florida Monday, the first day Floridians could vote early. The Democratic nominee and Hillary Clinton were scheduled to campaign together in Orlando. Clinton held a solo event earlier in Ft. Lauderdale. Michelle Obama and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will headline separate events across the state on Tuesday.

Polls have shown the state all but tied and the Obama campaign aides think if “sporadic voters” can be mobilized to cast a ballot early, that may be the edge they need to win.

“I want everybody after this rally, if you have not already voted I want you to go vote. Don’t wait until November 4th you don’t know what might happen on Nov 4th. Your car might break down, you might have an emergency, you might the alarm might not go off you don’t get to work on time. So take the advantage of early vote,” Obama implored the crowd.

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Obama campaigned in North Carolina earlier Sunday.

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) – Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama could not have come on a more opportune day for the Democratic nominee as he campaigned in eastern North Carolina, an area awash with military members and their families.

“With so many brave men and women from Fayetteville serving in our military, this is a city and a state that knows something about great soldiers,” Obama said to a capacity crowd waving small American flags. “I have been honored to have the benefit of his wisdom and counsel from time to time over the last few years, but today, I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell.”

The campaign said Obama and Powell spoke for ten minutes on the phone after the former Secretary of State’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Powell, Obama said, reminded voters “we don’t have the luxury of relying on the same political games the same political tactics that are used every election to divide us from one another and make us afraid of one another.”

Obama promised the audience the next 16 days would be full of “more of these robo-calls making outrageous accusations.”

In his video announcing the campaign’s massive September cash haul, campaign manager David Plouffe said supporters needed to keep donating money so they could respond to such calls with their own.

Obama’s campaign has shattered its own presidential fundraising record.

DUNN, North Carolina (CNN) – Barack Obama’s campaign had a record-breaking September, hauling in over a $150 million last month — a new high-water mark in campaign fundraising history.

In a video to supporters, Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe said a record 632,000 new donors gave to the campaign, with an average contribution under $100, although several multi-million dollar fundraising events last month did pad that total. Over three million individual donors have given so far.

In addition, the Democratic National Committee raised $49.9 million in September.

John McCain's campaign is operating under the public financing system which limits its spending to $84 million for the general election, although the Republican National Committee is able to assume certain activities on its behalf.

Regardless of this stunning haul — which dwarfs the $65 million raised in August — Plouffe told supporters the campaign still needed more money because “of the slime that we’re getting from the McCain campaign.” Plouffe cited recent attack ads and robo-calls in battleground states and said the campaign needed to have every resource to “fight back.”

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ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) – Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill chastised Governor Sarah Palin for recent comments that she likes to visit “pro-American” parts of the United States.

“We have reached a new low in American politics when someone dares to say that one part of America is more pro-American than another part of America,” McCaskill said at an afternoon Barack Obama rally.

McCaskill, an ardent Obama supporter and ubiquitous campaign surrogate said voters are beginning to “see clearly the differences between these two candidates.” She described the Obama campaign as exhibiting the “kind of leadership that America needs in a crisis” because in her mind it has been “slow, steady, thoughtful, constructive.”

McCaskill criticized the McCain campaign as “stumbling, erratic, all over the map” and said it is trying to “distract American with small, petty, unfair personal attacks.”

“As America has taken the measure of these men, they have looked at their judgments on the campaign trail. One picked one of the strongest candidates for vice president he could’ve picked in the United States. The other didn’t,” she said.

Senator Jim Webb thinks that McCain is now regretting his VP selection.

ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) – Introducing Barack Obama at a Friday campaign event, Virginia Senator Jim Webb questioned John McCain’s vice presidential pick and said it was a decision the Republican nominee now probably regrets.

“Do you really think that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in the Republican Party?” asked Webb. “I don’t know how many people here like country music? I like country music. There’s a song about two years ago it was called ‘I know what I was doing but what was I thinking?’ I think John McCain is probably singing that song right now,” he added, referring to the Dierks Bentley tune “What was I thinking?”

“If you’re trying to talk to friends about clear distinctions in terms of judgment, temperament, vision, this is something you can really ask them to take a look at,” he said.

Webb said the choice of a running mate was the one real window into the kind of judgment a future president would exhibit in office. He said he did not really “understand the process” by which McCain picked Governor Palin but said Obama’s choice of Biden was “thoughtful,” and Biden is “capable in a moment of stepping forward” into the presidency.

“I watched the vice presidential debate and I thought Joe Biden did a very good job and at the beginning f the debate Governor Palin turned around and said ‘nice to meet you can I call you Joe’ and I was thinking Joe what you really ought to do is say ‘yeah, you can call me whatever you want — in two months you can call me Mr. Vice President,’” Webb said.

The junior senator said southwestern Virginia voters can “trust [Obama]” — and that the “Karl Rove” type campaign going on against him has gotten tough.

“What they do is they say that person is not like you that person doesn’t understand you,” he said. “There’s a lot of comments that have been made about certain ethnic issues in this campaign, and I would like to say we know Barack Obama’s father was born in Kenya. Barack Obama’s mother was born in Kansas by way of Kentucky. We’re going to see on Election Day the election of the 44th President of the United States, whose ancestry and whose family line goes back to the mountains of this area.”

Obama is speaking about last night's debate out on the campaign trail today.

LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire (CNN) – At a Pennsylvania campaign event Thursday, John McCain repeated his advisors’ favorite line from Wednesday night’s debate: that Barack Obama wasn’t running against George Bush. And on the trail in New Hampshire, Barack Obama repeated his comeback.

“He said, ‘I don’t know why you’re running against George Bush,’” Obama told a rain-soaked crowd south of Manchester. “I said ‘I’m not running against George Bush, I’m running against all those policies of George Bush that you support, Sen. McCain.’

“In three debates and over twenty months, John McCain hasn’t explained a single thing that he would do differently from George Bush when it comes to the most important economic issues we face today. Not one,” he said to loud cheers outside of Mack’s Apple Farm, a location he campaigned at a year ago.

Obama said last night’s debated highlighted McCain’s “attack strategy,” and said the remaining 19 days of the general election campaign should focus on the “genuine differences” between the two candidates.

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Obama does not want his supporters to get too comfortable with his recent lead in the polls.

NEW YORK (CNN) – He may hold the edge in most polls with just 19 days to go, but Barack Obama can’t relax, pointing to the ghosts of election nights past.

“For those of you who are feeling giddy or cocky and think this is all set, I just say one word — I guess it’s two words for you — New Hampshire,” Obama told a high-dollar fundraiser crowd in Manhattan, referencing his loss to Hillary Clinton in January’s primary. “I’ve been in these positions before where we are favored and the press starts getting carried away and we end up getting spanked … and so we want to make sure we are closing strong, right through the tape.”

The morning after the last presidential debate, Obama displayed a mix of wistfulness and humor about one part of the political process coming to an end.

“We had a fun night last night. I’m deeply sad that after 26 debates we have no more debates,” he said to laughter. “I was hoping to have several more.”

At a breakfast that pulled in at least $3.6 million for the Obama Victory Fund, the Democratic nominee said “we are now 19 days not from the end but from the beginning,” emphasizing the amount of work and the number of challenges the next president will face. He asked those in attendance for more help going forward.

“I’m going to need all of you in that process not just for campaign support and financial support. Once we’re done there’s extraordinary expertise in this room ,and we’re going to need good advice and who knows there might even be some of you who decide that you want to spend a little time in government, and we’re going to need people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and make sure that Washington and Wall Street and the country as a whole are working in ways that leave a better future for our children,” he said.

David Axelrod spoke with reporters on board a plane en route to New York Wednesday.

HEMPSTEAD, New York (CNN) –- With Barack Obama holding the advantage in most recent surveys, the goal for his campaign is to stay the course.

“Let me just say this, we weren’t discouraged by polls when they were not favorable for us, we’re not seduced by polls now,” Obama Senior Strategist David Axelrod told reporters on the plane ride from Toledo, Ohio to New York. “We think this is going to be a battle everyday right till the end and we’re prepared for that.

“I think Senator McCain’s problem is fundamental which is he’s got a bad argument, he’s on the wrong side of history. He’s arguing for a set of policies and approach that have been discredited in a really dramatic way over the last eight years. And I’m not sure any stylistic change or approach in a debate can change that.”

Axelrod dismissed the notion that the Obama campaign was “goading” John McCain into bringing up Barack Obama’s relationship with 1960s radical William Ayers. Yesterday, McCain said the issue was all but certain to come up because Obama said in a recent interview he was surprised the Republican ticket would bring the relationship up at rallies, but that the Arizona senator would not mention it in their face-to-face debates.

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Obama offered specifics on his economic plan this afternoon.

TOLEDO, Ohio (CNN) – Barack Obama said the average American consumer is facing an “immediate economic emergency” and steps need to be taken right away to stop things from any getting worse.

Watch: 'J-O-B-S,' says Obama

“If Washington can move quickly to pass a rescue plan for our financial system, there’s no reason we can’t move just as quickly to pass a rescue plan for our middle-class that will create jobs, provide relief, and help homeowners,” Obama told Toledo voters. “If Congress does not act in the coming months, it will be one of the first things I do as President of the United States.”

Obama proposed $60 billion worth of measures his campaign said would offer “relief” to homeowners and workers. Many of the ideas build on policies Obama has already proposed and authority the government already has. The campaign suggested many of them could even be passed in a lame duck session of congress after the election.

The Democratic nominee wants to: temporarily lift taxes on unemployment benefits; allow investors a penalty free withdrawl of up to $10,000 from their 401k or IRA this year or next year; place a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners who are “making a good-faith effort” at meeting payment deadlines; and temporarily offer businesses a $3,000 tax credit for “every net new job” added in the United States in 2009.

“It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s easy to spell, J-O-B-S. Jobs. We’ve got to work on jobs,” he said.

John McCain’s campaign told reporters on a Monday afternoon conference call that Obama’s plan would have little impact — adding that the Republican nominee would be unveiling economic proposals of his own on Tuesday.

Listen: McCain advisors blast Obama's proposals — and tell reporters how the Republican nominee plans to counter them

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The Pennsylvania governor stumped for Obama in Philadelphia Saturday.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Barack Obama and his band of Pennsylvania pols criss-crossed Philadelphia Saturday in an effort to drive up turnout in a city where Obama needs big margins to win the state next month.

“Senator Obama has done everything he could to bring us to this point. For two years he’s campaigned across the length and breadth of this country and he’s done a great job,” Governor Ed Rendell told a mostly African-American crowd in north Philadelphia. “In the primary, only 53 percent of the registered voters in Philadelphia turned out. Twenty-four days from today, 53 percent will not cut it. It will not cut it if we want to make sure that Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. We need to turn out at least 75 percent.”

The homage to the Philadelphia Phillies and requisite cheese steak references aside, Obama stuck to the economic populist stump speech he’s delivered in various battleground states since the financial crisis began.

“We need policies that grow our economy from the bottom-up, so that every American, everywhere has the chance to get ahead,” Obama told residents in Germantown, a Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood. “These are the Americans I’m standing for. These are the folks I’m fighting for. The cops, the teachers, the guys who pick up the garbage, the folks who are mopping the floors at night, the people who are starting a small business the barber shop owner, the hardware store owner, that’s the kind of leadership I’m offering. That’s what I mean when I’m talking about change.

Obama drew thousands at four stops in distinct sections of the city. Crowds jammed his motorcade route screaming, waving and occasionally running in between the cars, creating havoc.

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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell dismissed the McCain campaign’s recent attacks against Barack Obama’s character Saturday, and said the Republican nominee’s current strategy has severely damaged him here.

“I think the John McCain of 2000 would have been a very difficult candidate to beat. The John McCain of 2008 is much less difficult to beat,” Rendell told reporters after an Obama rally.

When asked if he thought there has been any racial undercurrent to the McCain-Palin ticket bringing up issues like Obama’s relationship with 1960s radical William Ayers, Rendell shook his head.

“Not particularly. I think they’re just stupid, they’re dumb, dumb,” Rendell said of the attacks. “They’re all dumb when people are facing the challenges in their own lives that they’re facing no one wants to hear that stuff it’s just dumb.

"You know tell us what you want to do. If he’s got a plan for the mortgage bailout explain it to the American people that might get people’s interest … but don’t tell us about you know something that happened when Barack Obama was just 8 years of age, it’s just dumb.”