FP Top Story 10/13

With just three weeks remaining before the big day, Barack Obama leads John McCain by 10 points in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll of likely voters. The poll's results suggest the McCain campaign's escalating rhetoric about the Democratic nominee and its failure to settle on a coherent economic narrative have backfired with voters.

Obama is also rumored to be set for another huge fundraising month, and his ground game looks to be superior to McCain's. With the caveat that a lot can happen in the next three weeks, and polls can be misleading, the race appears to be Obama's to lose at the moment.

"This is going to turn into a landslide," predicts Republican strategist Ed Rollins. A confident McCain still says he will "whip [Obama's] you-know-what" during Wednesday's debate (mercifully for viewers, it's the last one), but time appears to be running out for the Arizona senator.

William Kristol's solution for McCain? "Fire his campaign."

Economy

Over the weekend, the U.S. Federal Reserve led an international effort to shore up confidence in world markets after last week's global crash.

Britian committed more than $60 billion to save three banks, while the French and Germans introduced their own bailout measures. The news sent European and Asian markets back up today.

It's still likely that a nasty recession is coming, economists say.