Editor's note. Parts two and three track down PPFA's money trail and the huge revenue that goes into its coffers from abortion. Please send me your thoughts at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

I hope you have a chance to watch the third and final debate tonight between pro-life Sen. John McCain and pro-abortion Sen. Barack Obama. Let me offer four thoughts on the debate, moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer, that is supposed to focus entirely on the economy and domestic policy.

#1. I don't pretend to great expertise on the current economic turmoil. It seems clear, however, that for whatever reason, or combination of reasons, the setbacks in the markets have stymied Sen. McCain's comeback. Given Sen. Obama's gargantuan financial advantage, tonight is likely Sen. McCain's best opportunity to make the case that his is the hand the public wants at the helm during these turbulent times.

#2. As we have noted many times in this space, the elephant in the room--the topic that everyone knows is there but is not acknowledged--is abortion. We can hope that Sen. McCain is able to steer the discussion to Sen. Obama's opposition to the kind of limitations the vast majority of Americans support. That would include everything from parental involvement, to women's right to know laws, to not using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, to Obama's straightforward opposition to a ban on partial-birth abortion. All of these popular (and highly effective) limitations would be smashed to smithereens if the steamroller known as the "Freedom of Choice Act" is passed. Obama is a FOCA co-sponsor. If people are pleased that the number of abortions dropped 8% between 2000 and 2005, they should know that FOCA would reverse that trend almost immediately.

#3. Like me, most of you have read articles (some of them may actually be sincere) in which commentators angrily denounce anger expressed against the media by McCain supporters at various rallies. At this point, you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I've watched this annual ritual intently since 1980. Most of the media does everything in its collective power to sabotage the pro-life candidate and make smooth the path of the pro-abortion candidate and then is astonished that people feel outraged. There is an inverse correlation between media bias and its willingness to acknowledge their irresponsibility. The more incredibly one-sided they are--and the "mainstream media's" tilt toward Obama is astonishingly blatant--the less they will examine their own behavior, preferring to attribute bad motives to those who are naïve enough to believe that the media is supposed to be relatively even-handed.

#4. As we enter the last three weeks, there are very few polls you can count on to be accurate. I read a fascinating piece this morning the gist of which is at the very end most polls will wind up predicting an outcome reasonably close to what actually occurs. But along the way the performance of the polls will vary wildly. It is impossible not to draw the conclusion that some of them have an agenda: depress the turnout for the candidate they want to lose. In this case Sen. McCain.

One of those reliable presidential tracking polls is the Rasmussen Report. In today's edition, it reported Obama up on McCain, 50% to 45%. However, there are these two very important paragraphs:

"Overall, 12% of voters remain persuadables who favor one candidate or the other but could change their mind. Those, plus the 3% who remain undecided, are the target audience for both candidates in tonight's debate.

"Fifty percent (50%) of these target voters say the economy is the top issue of Election 2008. That is similar to the overall perceptions of voters. However, while national security matters are second on the list for all voters, the persuadables have less interest in that topic--13% say that cultural issues are their highest priority, 13% name fiscal issues as number one and 11% see national security as most important. Only 5% of persuadables are most interested in domestic issues such as health care and social security."

In other words nearly one voter in eight says they could change their mind and 3% remain undecided. (My guess is that 3% may understate the situation.) While half say the economy is their top issue, 13% say "cultural issues" –the most prominent of which we know is abortion--are their highest priority.

As I have written for months, even at this late date, some percentage of Americans still do not know that Barack Obama is the Abortion Establishment's Alpha and Omega, the guy who promises to give them everything they want, and more. Likewise, John McCain's strong pro-life record on abortion is not known to everyone.

Be sure to do everything you can to educate the American public. You can download a comparison flyer by going to http://nrlc.org/Election2008/comparison0909084c.pdf.

Part Two -- Following the PPFA Money Trail
Part Three -- PPFA Money Factsheet