Earlier this month, two Campbell University students and a buddy from Virginia Tech were up in Virginia Beach for a John McCain rally.

It was their lucky day. The Straight Talk Express rumbled by, they waved it down, and the candidate himself got out and chatted them up. McCain even gave them some hot chocolate - after his secret service detail had inspected their cell phones.

The Campbell students are Eric Paul Hardy and Michael Meredity and their Virginia Tech buddy is Brendan Ahurns. Their tale is recounted in a recent Campbell University press release. I can't find a link to the release, so here are the essentials:

 "We were just out and about and driving up the boulevard on Ocean Front approaching the Hilton Hotel," said Hardy, who is a junior government major from Shoals, NC. "There was no one around, but when we looked to our immediate left, there was the Straight Talk Express."

Some communications professors from universities across the nation are taking issue with the way the McCain/Palin camp is putting out information.

As I write this, 138 professors, including a handful from the communications departments at N.C. State and UNC Chapel Hill, have signed an online statement criticizing the Republican presidential candidate's campaign for what it claims are distortions. Among other issues, the statement criticizes McCain's linking Democratic nominee Barack Obama to Bill Ayers, a 1960s domestic terrorist-turned-university professor. You may recall that Ayers is himself the subject of an online petition this campaign season and is enjoying the support of many of his academic colleagues.

The communications statement also charges the McCain camp with stoking "the fires of racism" for some controversial comments made by local Republican groups.

The statement does include a vague admonition to Obama's camp but does not mention specifics. It says in part:

"Both major campaigns have been criticized by fact-checking organizations for prevarications. We call on both campaigns to halt blatant misrepresentations of their opponent's positions.

It would be misleading, however, to imply that since "both sides do it," there is no qualitative difference worth noting. In recent weeks, the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin has engaged in such incendiary mendacity that we must speak out. The purposeful dissemination of messages that a communicator knows to be false and inflammatory is unethical. It is that simple."

The McCain appearance on Letterman was actually pretty funny last night.

When Letterman asked McCain why he cancelled on him back in September, McCain said, "I screwed up." Twice. Big laughs. McCain was funny and relaxed.

Then they got into a slightly more heated political discussion and things were tense at times. A lot of the same ole same ole: not enough town hall debates, spread the wealth, Joe the Plumber, and Sarah Palin -- about whom McCain said, "I didn't know her well at all."

Letterman pressed him pretty hard his Obama/Ayers attacks, and McCain got a little heated in his criticism. But he seemed momentarily stunned when Letterman asked him about his own relationship with Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy.

If you missed the show, it's on the Late Show with David Letterman website.

But this wasn't the only place serving up political laughs last night. McCain and Barack Obama roasted each other at the Al Smith Dinner in New York, and they were pretty funny. Obama said that his first name is actually Swahili for "that one," and McCain revealed that Obama's pet name for him is "George Bush." There's video here.

Joe Biden appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but according to the LA Times blogger, it wasn't all that funny -- except for Biden's "gaffe" intro.

And -- this could be great -- Sarah Palin is scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live tomorrow night. Now that is a DVR Alert!

Hey, remember last month when John McCain cancelled on David Letterman so he could dash back to D.C. and save the economy? So does Letterman. Tonight we get to see if Dave is over it yet. There's a lot of buzz about McCain's appearance (CBS, 11:35 p.m.): Will they patch things up? Will there be tension? Or will it be a total letdown? 

With the presidential campaign entering its final weeks, both candidates' celebrity supporters are speaking up. And here are competing endorsements from the twangy end of the musical spectrum. On one side, we have bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley representing the blue; and on the other, country scion Hank Williams Jr. representing the red.

We report, you decide.

Every Monday in October, TriangleMom2Mom.com, The N&O's Web site for moms, is featuring local politically active moms who are supporting either McCain or Obama for president. The first mom, Katy Benningfield, is featured today. Benningfield, the mom of a three-year-old boy, is an active blogger and conservative.

Read more about Katy by clicking here. 

As the presidential candidates and their potential second-in-commands sling around the half-truths, journalists this election season dutifully poke holes in the bloviation. You see it here in the News & Observer and in newspapers across the country.

So is the effort worth it? Not so much, according to a Duke researcher.

So there's some impressive starpower lined up to play this week's Democratic National Convention out in Denver. And the McCain campaign has countered by trotting out a big-name supporter of its own -- Daddy Yankee?

Maybe he can do a few pro-McCain duets with John Rich.

ADDENDUM (8/26/08): Springsteen might not be appearing at the DNC after all. 

If presidential candidate John McCain is having trouble keeping track of how many houses he owns, Feist is happy to help out.

(Thanks, Brian.) 

Guess you could call this payback for that anti-Obama "celebrity" commercial that John McCain's presidential campaign put out there. Here's a response of sorts, which nominates one of the unwitting stars of that spot as the perfect running mate for the McCain ticket.

Way tasteless -- but way funny.

(Thanks, Brian.)

ADDENDUM (8/19/08): Hey, John Rich, leave Johnny Cash out of this! And Obama "covers" Rick Astley.