The quick version: Palin's now more accessible than Biden, and McCain gets more negative press than Obama.

From ABC New's Political Punch blog by Jake Tapper:

The Delaware lawmaker (the Dems' vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden - bd) has not fielded questions from supporters since a Sept. 10 rally in Nashua, N.H., at which he said that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., might have been a better vice presidential pick than him.

And he has not held an arranged press avail since a Sept. 7 flight to Kalispell, Mont.

It might not be hard to imagine why this has happened. Biden's proclivity to speak his mind has provided much fodder for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Republicans -- as happened this week, when Biden told contributors at a Seattle fundraiser that America's enemies would "test" a new, young President Barack Obama.

Conversely, while Biden has an apparent embargo against fielding questions from his traveling press corps -- and from his supporters -- his once-reclusive Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has become increasingly accessible, perhaps more so than any of the four candidates.

(h/t to Romenesko)

From the Politico:

The good news for John McCain? He's now receiving as much attention from the national media as his Democratic rival. The bad news? It’s overwhelmingly negative.

Just 14 percent of the stories about John McCain, from the conventions through the final presidential debate, were positive in tone, according to a study released today, while nearly 60 percent were negative — the least favorable coverage of any of the four candidates on the two tickets.

The study, by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, a nonpartisan journalism watchdog organization, examined 2,412 stories from 43 newspapers and cable news shows in the six-week period beginning just after the conventions and ending with the final presidential debate.

Much of the increased attention for McCain derived from actions by the senator himself, actions that, in the end, generated mostly negative assessments,” the study found. “In many ways, the arc of the media narrative during this phase of the 2008 general election might best be described as a drama in which John McCain acted and Barack Obama reacted.”

Here's the link to the PEJ report.

(h/t to MH King's Twitter feed)