Andrew Sullivan has reports from two different readers in two different media markets that McCain ads are up and running as relentlessly as ever.

David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo reports on McCain surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer appearing on Fox to attack Obama, and then scooting on over to the Washington Times for a friendly little chat about the campaign.

Campaign suspended?

Not only is Sarah Palin still a relative stranger to most of us from the mainland, thanks to her game of hide and seek with the press, not to mention the quasi convention-rerun speech she gives at every rally (how many times can we really hear the bullshit story of “Thanks, but no thanks, for the Bridge to Nowhere” line?). Palin’s mere presence has caused some issues for a certain business owner as well.

The sales of the Chilean red wine, deemed with the unfortunate name of “Palin Syrah,” has seen its sales plummet since Sarah’s rise to the national level. The brew once sold well at the Yield Wine Bar of California. Now? Not so much.

2. Thunder Collins

3. Palin Syrah

4. Petters Group Raid

5. Dick Lynch

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Current State Of The Tweet:

As the Twitter community still wobbles and reels on the news of Tim Russert’s passing, the tides have turned a bit, and the community has started talking about the odes to Russert from the journalists themselves. Case in point, Keith Olbermann, who delivered a teary-eyed note of sympathy for his former collegue.

Twitscoop.com is also picking up some noise about Songbird, a desktop media player, which just released its new 0.6 software version.

Twitter Trends of The Day:

Tim Russert attack: Well-known journalist and the host of MSNBC’s Meet The Press, Tim Russert, passed away today at the MSNBC studios due to a heart attack. The Twitter community is both shocked and saddened by this news. Many people have admitted tearing up after hearing of the passing and hearing journalistic eulogies. He was 58 years old.

Kelly verdict: R&B singer R. Kelly was pronounced not guilty on all charges of child pornography after an video allegedly showed him performing sexual acts with a minor, including water sport (sexual urination). No word on whether the shock of this ridiculous verdict had anything to do with Tim Russert’s untimely death.

Holland France: Holland defeated France 4-1 in a Euro 2008 soccer match-up. The consensus on Twitter reads something like “FUCK YEAH, HOLLAND WOOOHOOOO!” Of course, there are a fair share of people who just don’t give a shit, but displayed their Dutch pride anyway. Damn front runners.

Measurement Blogpotomac: BlogPotomac is this year’s premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington DC. Discussion on Twitter was highly centered around social media measurement and determining the attitude behind your blogs community.

To start things off let me say that I’m a very happy iPhone user. But will I be buying the new iPhone 3G? No. And here’s why.

What AT&T doesn’t want you to know, is that their 3G HSDPA networking service is only available for a select amount of metropolitan areas. I mean, this thing is very, very limited.

In fact, the 3G access is so limited, that the main coverage map doesn’t even cover the service area. Instead, AT&T provides a pop-out menu with the list of areas where 3G is available, each city having its own map of locational service.

So what about the iPhone user who lives in Montana (a state in which AT&T doesn’t offer any 3G access at all)? Or even in a New Jersey suburb? To say it lightly, you’re screwed.

If you purchase the iPhone 3G and don’t live in a major metro area, you’re essentially paying for the 2G iPhone with GPS. Simple as that. So the extra expensive data plan you’ll be forking over for from AT&T is basically just a hole in your wallet.

So who is the 3G iPhone good for? Traveling business men and city-dwellers. And that’s pretty much it.

Current State of the Tweet:

As it stands right now, according to Twitscoop.com the words “angry”, “blogger”, and “contest” were pretty much neck and neck for the trend words of the moment until TechCrunch posted about the new Google/Yahoo search partnership agreement. Right after this was posted, the word “announcement” was by far the leading trend word being Tweeted (coincidentally, Mike Arrington would also most likely win any “angry blogger contest”.)

This just goes to show how much influence TechCrunch has on Twitter, new media, and pretty much the entire web industry.

Trend’s Picked Up Today:

Germany Croatia - Germany vs. Croatia had a moment of hotness today when Croatia defeated the German’s 2-1 in a Euro 2008 Football (or Soccer as we in the States like to call it.)

Supreme Court - The good ole boys (and girl) of the Supreme Court today decided that Gitmo detainees could challenge their detention through the U.S. court system. CNN says this “decision marks another legal blow to the Bush administration’s war on terrorism policies.”

David Davis - British politician David Davis resigned from his position in parliament and title of the Shadow Home Secretary today. Sources say he did this to raise awareness of civil issues. The Twitter consensus seems to stand as respectful of the man, but there are still some who think he’s a “show boating moron”.

Taylor Hicks (known from American Idol) as LEO LAPORTE

Sigorney Weaver (known from the Alien trilogy) as DARREN ROWSE

Tina Fey (known from 30 Rock and SNL) is Veronica Belmont from Mahalo Daily

Michael Imperoli (known from The Sopranos) is Gary Vaynerchuk from WineLibrary.TV

To be continued? Hmmm…. perhaps.

Twitter is lacking a database. Plurk is a pile of crap. I just finished cleaning out my feed reader. And now even Amazon.com is taking some serious downtime.

If it wasn’t for FriendFeed, I’d be just about ready to go outside and experience the fresh air for once.

Don’t panic yet. FriendFeed is still here for us. And by God it better stay that way.

Plurk has become the newest talking point for social networking conniseurs. But for me, the easiest way to compare Plurk to other services is through another piece of media.

I once owned an O-Town single. Sure, I’m ashamed to admit it now, but at the time “Liquid Dreams” was one of the coolest pieces of pop I had ever encountered. But what happened? Eventually the song lost its zing. After enough listens it became nothing more but just another piece of filler in my CD case.

Eventually the O-Town CD found its way into my junk drawer and became scratched beyond recognition. So I threw the damn thing out, just like I would any incomprehensible piece of junk. By now the CD has probably either reached its half-life in a landfill somewhere or has been melted down and recycled into the Asian-made tourist product doodad market.

Plurk is just another flash in the pan, destined for the junk drawer. I just happen to be getting it nice and scratched up earlier than others.

Twitter developer Alex Payne (@al3x) discusses the conversation of choice at the Twitter HQ. Well, then. It all make a lot more sense now.