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Whether they voted for him or not, Americans are optimistic about the next four years with Barack Obama as president, according to a new CBS News poll. Seventy-one percent of all Americans say they are optimistic about the next four years, including nearly half (48 percent) of all those who voted for John McCain. Just 17 percent of all Americans are pessimistic, including 40 percent of McCain voters.

Eighty-three percent of African-Americans are optimistic and 88 percent of Americans under the age of 30 are as well. While 88 percent of Democrats say they are optimistic, so do 51 percent of Republicans.

During the campaign, Americans expressed record levels of dismay about the state of the country and the economy, and dissatisfaction with the current Administration. However, the level of optimism Americans now express about the future matches the level they expressed before many other recent presidents took office.

About seven in 10 were also optimistic about Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton -- before their first terms began. Six in 10 were optimistic in December 2000 about George W. Bush, even after that election’s 35-day post-election struggle.

More from the poll will be released tonight at 6:30pm ET on the CBS Evening News and in full on CBSNews.com.

This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 1,220 adults interviewed by telephone November 7-10, 2008. Respondents had been first interviewed October 30-November 3, 2008. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the total sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

With two days left until the presidential election, Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain by 13 points among likely voters, 54 percent to 41 percent, a new CBS News poll finds. The margin in the new poll, released Sunday, is identical to that in a CBS News poll released Saturday.

As the number of undecided voters has dwindled, so has the number that says their minds can still change. More than nine in 10 of each candidate’s voters now say they have made up their minds about who to vote for and are not likely to change. Just seven percent of Obama voters and 8 percent of McCain voters say they still might change their minds.

With two days to go, only 8 percent of likely voters are uncommitted – either they have not yet chosen a candidate, or their minds could still change. Nearly all of these uncommitted voters say they plan to vote.

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A story from the Center for Media and Public Affairs concludes that comments made in television media coverage on the broadcast networks reflected more positively on Barack Obama than John McCain, reports AP media writer David Bauder. The study, which omitted talk about the horserace aspect of the campaign showed that the broadcast evening news programs reflected positively on Obama 65 percent of the time compared to just 31 percent of the time for McCain.

“For whatever reason, the media are portraying Barack Obama as a better choice for president than John McCain,'' said Robert Lichter, a George Mason University professor and head of the center. ``If you watch the evening news, you'd think you should vote for Obama.'' The study analyzed 979 separate news stories shown between Aug. 23 and Oct. 24. Bauder notes this is the second study in two weeks that demonstrates negative coverage for McCain. A Project for Excellence in Journalism examination of media coverage last week concluded that the McCain coverage has been “overwhelmingly negative” since the conventions.

Newspaper editors are considering how to deal with a “Doonesbury” comic strip, scheduled to run the day after the election, which proclaims Barack Obama the winner, the AP reports. Creator Garry Trudeau sent his week’s worth of comic strips to newspapers who syndicate his work and the one slated to run on Wednesday features a group of soldiers celebrating an Obama victory.

Trudeau told the AP he would have considered providing an alternate one reflecting a McCain victory but at the time he drew the strip Obama was well ahead and poll analysts were giving McCain less than a 4 percent chance of winning. “From a risk-assessment viewpoint, I felt comfortable with the odds,'' Trudeau told the AP in an e-mail. “The way I see it, if Obama wins, I'm in the flow and commenting on an extraordinary phenomenon. If he loses, there'll be such a national uproar that a blown call in a comic strip won't be much noticed. Besides, I'll be the one with the egg on my face not the editors.”

Barack Obama and John McCain will participate in one-on-one interviews during halftime of next week's installment of ESPN's "Monday Night Football," the Associated Press reports.

The interviews, set to be taped via satellite during the day on Monday, will air during halftime, ESPN says. Voters (who have not voted early or absentee) go to the polls the following day.

"I am ready," Obama said, a reference to speculation that he would run for president. He then put on a Bears cap and added, "for the Bears to go all the way, baby!"

Barack Obama and John McCain will participate in one-on-one interviews during halftime of next week's installment of ESPN's "Monday Night Football," the Associated Press reports.

The interviews, set to be taped via satellite at some point earlier on Monday, will air during halftime, ESPN says. Voters who have not voted early or absentee go to the polls the following day.

The interviews will be conducted by ESPN's Chris Berman.

"Monday Night Football" has averaged 12.2 million viewers this season, the AP notes. Obama appeared on the program in December of 2006, when his hometown team, the Chicago Bears, was playing.

"I am ready," Obama said then, a reference to speculation that he would run for president. He then put on a Bears cap and added, "for the Bears to go all the way, baby!"

Despite the presence of the first Alaskan on a major national party ticket, Alaska's largest newspaper endorsed Barack Obama today.

The Anchorage Daily News editorial board acknowledges that Sarah Palin's selection as John McCain's running mate was a momentous event for the state and writes that "Many Alaskans are proud to see their governor, and their state, so prominent on the national stage."

But the editorial continues:

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

After enumerating other reasons the paper's board backs Obama over McCain, the editorial returns to the subject of the state's governor with a particularly biting critique, saying she is not ready for the presidency and calling her "too risky" as a vice president:

Gov. Palin has shown the country why she has been so successful in her young political career. Passionate, charismatic and indefatigable, she draws huge crowds and sows excitement in her wake. She has made it clear she's a force to be reckoned with, and you can be sure politicians and political professionals across the country have taken note. Her future, in Alaska and on the national stage, seems certain to be played out in the limelight.

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

Read the full endorsement here.

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Will election night bring civil unrest?

Police departments countrywide think it's a possibility, and they're preparing for riots or other violent reactions to a McCain or Obama victory, The Hill reports.

There is particular concern that a loss by Obama, who has built a big lead in the polls, could prompt significant problems.

"Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue in cities with large black populations," The Hill writes. Detroit, Chicago, Oakland and Philadelphia are among the cities that plan to have extra police deployed.

“Are we anticipating it will be a riot situation? No. But will we be prepared if it goes awry? Yes,” Oakland Police Department spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

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Will election night bring civil unrest?

Police departments countrywide think it's a possibility, and they're preparing for riots or other violent reactions to a McCain or Obama victory, The Hill reports.

There is particular concern that a loss by Obama, who has built a big lead in the polls, could prompt significant problems.

"Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue in cities with large black populations," The Hill writes. Detroit, Chicago, Oakland and Philadelphia are among the cities that plan to have extra police deployed.

“Are we anticipating it will be a riot situation? No. But will we be prepared if it goes awry? Yes,” Oakland Police Department spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

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The Huffington Post has flagged comments by John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, that suggest the McCain campaign might bring up Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, in the final weeks of the campaign.

McCain has previously declared Wright off limits.

"Look, John McCain has told us a long time ago before this campaign ever got started, back in May, I think, that from his perspective, he was not going to have his campaign actively involved in using Jeremiah Wright as a wedge in this campaign," Davis said on conservative host Hugh Hewitt's radio show. "Now since then, I must say, when Congressman Lewis calls John McCain and Sarah Palin and his entire group of supporters, fifty million people strong around this country, that we're all racists and we should be compared to George Wallace and the kind of horrible segregation and evil and horrible politics that was played at that time, you know, that you've got to rethink all these things. And so I think we're in the process of looking at how we're going to close this campaign. We've got 19 days, and we're taking serious all these issues."

Lewis compared crowds at Republican rallies to those at the rallies of George Wallace, a prominant segregationist in the 1960s. McCain called on Obama to repudiate the remarks at the last presidential debate.

Some Republicans, including GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, have suggested that Wright, the pastor whose controvertial statements (among them "God Damn America") were widely publicized during the primary campaign, should get more attention. As Sam Stein notes, Palin at one point said she doesn't know "why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said."

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has instead tied Obama to former Weather Underground member William Ayers, with whom Obama's relationship is far more tenuous.