Tracking polls show McCain taking the lead nationally in the last few days, and the ABC/Washington Post poll shows white women favoring McCain 52-41 since he picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate.  The Obama camp points to the electoral vote polls which still show him ahead 243-179, with 116 tossup.  HAROLD MEYERSON will comment – he’s executive editor of the American Prospect and op-ed columnist for the Washington Post.

Plus: The forces of repression were all too evident in St. Paul last week at the Republican National Convention.  The arrest of Amy Goodman and her producers was only the tip of the iceberg.  We’ll speak with Chuck Samuelson, head of the ACLU of Minnesota, about the violations of constitutional freedoms, and the legal efforts to redress those offenses.
Watch video from CityPages of police attacking journalists

Also: A reporter investigates his own past as a drug addict: DAVID CARR of the New York Times looked up police reports and medical files and interviewed dealers and fellow junkies to find out what he did during his 'detour into narcotics' in Minneapolis.  His book is The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life: His Own— it’s a recovery narrative like no other (which also has an amazing web site).  David also went back to St. Paul last week to report on politics at the state fair and on the police attacks on Rage Against the Machine concerts.

-- on the 4 o'clock report Wed with Jon Wiener.
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