[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/01/art.beau.joe.biden.jpg caption="Sen. Joe Biden will see his son Beau off on Friday at the deployment ceremony."]
WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) –- It will be a very public good-bye for Joe Biden and his eldest son, Beau: on Friday, the Delaware senator will address the deployment ceremony of his son’s National Guard unit as they prepare to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq.
Following Thursday night’s debate with Sarah Palin in St. Louis, Biden will fly back to Delaware to spend one last day with his 39 year-old son before his deployment to Iraq as a trial counselor in the 261st Signal Brigade, a unit that specializes in providing communications for the military in Iraq.
Friday morning, Biden will join the rest of Delaware’s congressional delegation and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner in speaking to the 110 members of the unit. Despite increased interest and security because Biden is now a vice presidential nominee, the public affairs officer for the unit insists the ceremony will be no different, and not political.
“Our ceremony will be the same as any other unit leaving,” said Lt. Col. Len Grattieri. “We’re not planning anything different or special, it’s going to be a nice respectful ceremony.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/01/art.macheartbeat1001.yt.jpg caption="A new ad by a nurses union focuses on how Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be a proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency if Sen. McCain wins the White House."]
(CNN) – A nurses union is releasing a new television ad Wednesday that highlights John McCain’s age and medical history — and throws the spotlight on running mate Sarah Palin.
The National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association’s 30-second spot, “One Heartbeat Away,” features images of McCain interspersed with images of a heartbeat from an electrocardiogram, or “EKG” and images of Palin. The EKG’s readout eventually flatlines and the remainder of the ad focuses solely on Palin and her record as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and governor.
If McCain wins in November, at age 72, he would become the oldest person to win a first term in the White House. The Arizona senator also has a history of battling melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
Last May, McCain allowed reporters, including CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, to review more a thousand pages of his medical records but did not allow any copies of the records to be made. At the time, a group of physicians from the Mayo Clinic who have treated McCain declared that the Republican nominee was in “excellent health” and also said there did not appear to be any physical reason why McCain could not carry out the duties of the presidency.
Watch: What McCain's medical records show
The 85,000-member nurses union behind “One Heartbeat Away” said in a statement Wednesday that this release of McCain’s medical information fell “far short of the full disclosure that all major candidates to the presidency should provide” and the union is calling on McCain to release his full medical records.
The new ad will air in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri and is supported by an ad buy in the low six figures. The McCain-Palin campaign did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about the ad.
(Full script after the jump)
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/30/art.couric.cnn.jpg caption="Palin stumbled in her interview with CBS' Katie Couric."]SEDONA, Arizona (CNN) - Sarah Palin's interview Tuesday with conservative talker Hugh Hewitt gave the vice presidential candidate a chance to showcase elements of her life story and demonstrate some of the folksiness that's been central to her political success.
Watch: Hewitt defends Palin
It's exactly the kind of interview that voters can expect to see from the governor in the coming weeks, according to a Palin adviser, who recognized that there is hunger in Republican circles and among the public at large to see a less-scripted, more authentic candidate. That means more comfortable settings like conservative talk radio, and fewer opportunities for Palin to stumble, as was the case with a pair of high-profile network interviews with ABC and CBS.
"We're going to be continue to put her in settings where she has an opportunity to shine, to be on offense," the adviser said. "We've gotten very good feedback from the public from Hugh Hewitt interview."
The adviser suggested that the campaign's efforts at damage control following Palin's interview with Katie Couric may have been hampered by the fact that the governor wasn't doing more friendly interviews to counter her flubs on Russia and the congressional bailout bill, which have reverberated throughout the blogosphere and even turned Palin into a punchline on Saturday Night Live.
"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," said the adviser, who argued that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.
Palin is apparently eager to take on a more outspoken role - both in interviews and in her stump speech - after Thursday's vice presidential debate, in order to remind voters of what it is they like about her.
"She connects really well, and she's good at it, and she wants to be doing more of it, and she will do more of it," the adviser said.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/01/art.dems.ap.jpg caption="The House is expected to vote on the bailout bill Friday"]WASHINGTON (CNN) - The House of Representatives is expected to vote Friday on a massive plan to pump government cash into the lending industry, Democratic leadership aides told CNN Wednesday.
The House dramatically rejected an earlier version of the plan on Monday, dealing a stinging defeat to the White House and Congressional leaders, who had spent more than a week negotiating the deal.
Related: Bailout bill gets add-ons to lure votes
The Senate is voting on a new version of the bill on Wednesday, partly in order to increase pressure on the House to pass it.
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