All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Last night after President Obama's first primetime address to Congress, we wrapped up our broadcast - and started a whole new one, online. Katie had some remarkable guests, including Sen. John McCain, Robert Gibbs and Bob Schieffer.

Missed it? For your viewing pleasure:

Tonight, immediately following our primetime coverage of President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, Katie Couric will speak with Sen. John McCain in a live Web-exclusive interview on CBSNews.com and CNET.com at approximately 10:30 p.m. The Webcast features other guests, too - and all the analysis you expect from what Katie likes to call "the best political team in the galaxy."

And as usual, you get to join the conversation. The Webcast includes live response to viewer questions, which can be submitted now at www.cbsnews.com/webcast or by e-mailing questions@cbs.com.

Check out a preview here:

Christina Ruffini is a CBS News broadcast associate based in Washington.

---

I am still completely strung out on Campaign '08. I'm not delusional. I know it's over. But two years and $5.3 billion later, I can’t be expected to just quit cold turkey. The election is still coursing through my veins. I need a dose of rhetoric, a snippet of sound bite, a quantum of controversy … anything to fill the giant void now left in my life.

Find me a sanitarium, a hospital, a quiet, secure place where I can hunker down and suffer through the next three years without a fix. The campaigns should be forced to pay for some sort of bi-partisan rehab to dry out all the rabid election junkies they created. Republicans and Democrats alike could be seen as bad back alley drug dealers: They got us hopped up on their product, and then inexplicably skipped town.

I am trying my best to get clean, but the withdrawal process is brutal. I am constantly alienating friends because I insist on calling them by their first name and occupation: Gene the government contractor, Dana the dental hygienist, Mike the middle-manager or Steve the unemployed-freeloader-living-off-of-his-wife's-palimony-payments.

I keep egging on the people ...

Read full post…

Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News.

---

It’s a week before America chooses its next president – but the government is already gearing up for Inauguration Day.

Part of the sidewalk in front of the White House has now been fenced off. It’s where they’ll start building the big reviewing stand from which the 44th President of the United States will watch the Inaugural Parade.

Across the street in Lafayette Park, trailers and more fencing have been moved into position. That’s the site where booths for the news media will be constructed along with grandstands for VIPs with special tickets for the parade.

Up at the U.S. Capitol, the Joint Congressional Committee on the Inaugural Ceremonies began its preparations last month – holding a ceremony Sept. 24 to mark the driving of the "first nail" in the inaugural platform.

There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the country must make a big to-do over the inauguration of a new president. All that’s required ...

Read full post…

Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative correspondent for CBS News.

---

Fake occupations like "lover"? Non-existent zip codes like "00000"? Imaginary people like "Doodad Pro"? Neither campaign appears to corner the market on odd entries from the donor files.

But with Obama receiving many more individual donations, a stunningly larger total (Obama's got more than $603 million to McCain's $358 million), and -depending who you ask - an impressive (or suspicious) month of record fundraising in September, some are trying to take a closer look at Obama's stats.

"He's been taking in a lot of money very rapidly," says Sheila Krumholz who heads up the Center for Responsive Politics. She says ...

Read full post…

Christina Ruffini is a CBS News broadcast associate based in Washington. As of yet, she is uncommitted ... to a Halloween costume.

---

It's down to the wire. The big day is rapidly approaching. You know there is a choice to be made, but you just can't stomach your options. It's the same recycled characters, the same hackneyed ideas, the same old party lines. There is no new blood, just the familiar red corn syrup and painted vampire fangs of Octobers past.

But with all you've had to think about lately, your Halloween costume might be pretty far down on the list. It is difficult to justify the purchase of full-body Stormtrooper armor or a historically-accurate Scarlett O'Hara hoopskirt when your 401(k) just dropped 30 percent. And how can you be expected to choose which Power Ranger or Teletubby you want to be when the only colors on your mind are red and blue?

The impending election has possessed many to pick politically themed day-of-the-dead duds. After all, what more colorful characters could there be than the ones running for office? Latex masks of Barak Obama and John McCain are popping up faster than plastic yard signs, and if the sale of beehive-ish wigs is any indication, bespectacled Sarah Palins will be as ubiquitous this season as sexy nurses and sultry cats.

But those of who don't want to end up just another Democratic doppelganger or Republican running mate must find a way to rise above the partisan pack. An Obama mask is nothing new, but pair it with a suit covered in pennies, nickels and pages from an old atlas and you can be "Obama's Map for Change." McCain's mug is musty, so combine him with a large Stetson, six-shooters and a Mel Gibson DVD, to become ...

Read full post…

Last night the presidential candidates lobbed information missiles across the table - but how many of them were on target?

John McCain blamed the housing crisis on lending practices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not quite. They don't hand out loans to home buyers, they buy mortgages from banks.

Then, Barack Obama said 100 percent of McCain's ads are negative. That was only true for one week of the campaign, and both have spent more money on negative ads than positive ones.

Despite McCain's assertions, experts say Obama's health care plan would not hurt small businesses. On the flip side, they say McCain's $5,000 rebate would be enough to offset the tax burden from most employer-based insurance plans.

Do those health plans cover aspirin? It's all giving me a headache. It's no small task to memorize all the numbers and regurgitate all that information at a debate. But as Mark Twain said, "When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

Talk about 15 minutes of fame. A professional handyman from Toledo, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight during last night's final presidential debate ... repeatedly. According to the New York Times, candidates Barack Obama and John McCain mentioned or spoke directly to Joe Wurzelbacher – immortalized as "Joe the Plumber" – more than 20 times during their primetime discussion with Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer.

And as the debate ended, so did Joe's anonymity. By the time he was contacted by a producer at the CBS Evening News, Wurzelbacher said three news trucks were already parked outside his home. But he made time to speak with Katie during both the primetime debate analysis and our online-only Webcast.

See what he had to say - or watch the video - below.

Katie Couric: We want to go to Joe the plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher from Toledo, Ohio, because Joe is telling me that he's got three live trucks parked outside his house - actually from Holland, Ohio, let me correct that, Joe. Was this a bit of a surreal experience, hearing your name mentioned not once, but twice, but almost half a dozen times during the course of this debate, Joe?

Joseph Wurzelbacher: Yeah, actually, surreal's a good word to use for it. It was - you know, I was glad I was able to act as some type of point, you know, to where they could sit there and hammer out what they both think, what they want to say. But ultimately, you know, the important part was the debate.

Couric: And again, why don't you just reiterate quickly for us, Joe, because I want you to get back, get to your local news station where you are, how you felt about the statements made by the candidates vs. the statements you heard when they were out on the campaign trail talking to you.

Wurzelbacher: One thing I noticed ...

Read full post…

With less than a month left, this presidential campaign has taken a decidedly ugly turn.

At Republican rallies, some over heated supporters have started to yell things like "terrorist" and "treason" when Barack Obama's name is mentioned. This is depressing and unacceptable.

Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished rights, but words that incite violence should be seriously condemned by all the candidates.

It's no surprise that "civil discourse" is such an oxymoron these days. When I sometimes peruse comments on the Internet, they are loaded with vitriol and profanity. I'm embarrassed for the authors of those comments, and for the readers who stumble upon them.

Words are like weapons – they can damage who we are. This is an important time to remind ourselves that even when passions are high, we can agree to disagree. And we can do so with reason – and respect.

The pundits are spinning like whirling dervishes today to declare their candidate the winner of last night's debate. But no matter who won, the clear losers are the undecided voters.

A CBS News poll found that 72 percent of them still feel the same way today – unsure. Part of the reason may be found in another poll number. Fifty-seven percent said neither candidate did a good job of answering the questions.

Based on the thousands of e-mails to our Webcast last night, the economy is Topic A at the kitchen table. Ellen from Mississippi wrote, "Without the slinging of mud and this one said this and did that, what are you going to do for Americans who work hard for a future that is not too promising?"

401Ks have lost $2 trillion in the past 15 months. The financial mess is already a Main Street problem, but Americans are still just hearing a lot of K Street spin. To the uncommitted voters, here's hoping the third time's a charm – that you'll hear real solutions at the next debate next Wednesday.