New York, Oct. 17 : A study shows that the Kings of Late Night are not equal-opportunity destroyers this year when it comes to telling jokes about the candidates for president and vice president.

They are hammering Republicans a stunning seven times more often than they skewer Democrats, reports Fox News.

Toledo (Ohio, US), Oct. 17 : Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber in Toledo, Ohio, who hit the headlines in America this week after stopping Senator Barack Obama to complain about taxes, has suddenly found himself facing celebrity-level scrutiny.

It now turns out that Joe is not a licensed plumber.

Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber''s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities.

According to the New York Times, he also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber''s union, which has endorsed Obama.

Riverside (California, US), Oct. 17 : A San Bernardino County Republican group’s distribution of a newsletter picturing Barack Obama on a phony 10 dollar bill adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken has been roundly condemned by both Democrats and Republicans.

Various GOP officials denounced the illustration after it appeared in the October newsletter of the Chaffey Community Republican Women.

A defensive Diane Fedele, the president of the group, said the move had no racist intent.

Washington, Oct. 17: The third and final presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama Wednesday night did not draw a landmark viewing audience. An adequate audience is more likely, reports the Washington Times.

Overnight ratings in the nation''s top 56 local television markets was 38.3 rating points, according to Nielsen Media Research.

One rating point equals 1 percent of the total TV audience in a given market - essentially, 38 percent of the viewers in those areas were tuned in.

Washington, Oct 17 : Though GOP strategist Karl Rove highlights a continued weak point for Barack Obama by claiming that 45 percent of registered voters in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll doubt the Illinois senator’s readiness to be President, it was much the same for George W Bush in the 2000 presidential polls.

According to the Washington Post, Rove may have exaggerated the extent of public doubts about Obama’s experience compared with George W. Bush’s in 2000.

Washington - Calling Senator Barack Obama the "right man for a perilous moment," the Washington Post newspaper Friday endorsed the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, adding its national weight to 39 other regional newspapers - including the Boston Globe and St Louis Post Dispatch - that have declared for the centre-left candidate.