Sarah Palin and her husband have pieced together a uniquely Alaskan income that reached comfortably into six figures even before she became governor, capitalizing on valuable fishing rights, a series of land deals and a patchwork of other ventures to build an above-average lifestyle. Add up the couple's 2007 income and the estimated value of their property and investments and they appear to be worth at least $1.2 million. A more complete picture will come when she outlines her personal finances in federal paperwork in coming days.

And while Democratic running mate Joseph Biden portrays himself at times as an average middle-class guy, he maintains a lifestyle that is more comfortable than the impression he may have given on the campaign trail.

Biden certainly can trace his roots to the working-class neighborhoods of Scranton, Pa., and he and his wife, Jill, a college professor, earn about $250,000 a year.

But these days, his kitchen table can be found in a 6,800-square-foot custom-built colonial-style house on 4 lakefront acres, a property worth close to $3 million.

OBAMA TAKES 7-POINT LEAD IN AP POLL

Barack Obama has surged to a seven-point lead over John McCain one month before the presidential election, lifted by voters who think the Democrat is better suited to lead the nation through its sudden financial crisis, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that underscores the mounting concerns of some McCain backers.

Likely voters now back Obama, 48 to 41 percent, over McCain, a dramatic shift from an AP-GfK survey that gave the Republican a slight edge nearly three weeks ago, before Wall Street collapsed and sent ripples across worldwide markets. On top of that, unrelated surveys show Obama beating McCain in several battlegrounds, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania -- three states critical in the state-by-state fight for the presidency.

BILL CLINTON: OBAMA HAS THE RIGHT ANSWERS

Campaigning in Florida on Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton told supporters that Obama has the right philosophy, better answers and betters advisers than McCain.

Clinton, speaking to several thousand people in Orlando, said the country "is a mess," thanks largely to policy decisions made by President Bush. He told that supporters that "it didn't have to be this way" and that Obama and Biden know that the next administration must "grow the economy from the ground up."

NEWS SERVICES