PALIN'S PLANE? IT WASN'T SOLD ON EBAY

One of the most compelling anecdotes in Sarah Palin's repertoire is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move aimed at cleaning up the excesses of her predecessor. But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to an Alaska businessman named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the plane, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to news reports at the time. Reynolds contributed to Palin's campaign in 2006. Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay, but there was only one serious bid, in December 2006, and it fell through.

PALIN ETHICS INQUIRY WILL END BEFORE ELECTION

The Alaska Legislature will work to complete its ethics investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner by Oct. 10 -- weeks earlier than expected and weeks before the election. Legislators are reviewing whether Palin dismissed the official, Walt Monegan, on July 11 after he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce from the governor's sister.

MCCAIN, OBAMA BOTH TUNED IN MASSIVE AUDIENCE

As a television draw, John McCain was every bit the equal of Barack Obama. He attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech as Obama did last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Republican convention was the most-watched convention with 34.5 million TV viewers, beating the audience of 30.3 million set by the Democrats. "It clearly suggests that a great number of Americans think that who will be the next president is important and worthy of their time," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

NEWS SERVICES