Morning Fix: A premature celebration for the GOP  —  Republicans in Washington can barely contain their glee at the turn of President Obama's political fortunes in the first nine months of the year but a new Washington Post/ABC News poll suggests the GOP still faces serious perception problems in the eyes of the American public.

Public Option Gets New Life in Senate  —  WASHINGTON — The idea of creating a government-run health-insurance plan, once on life support in the Senate, is making a recovery among Democrats writing health-care legislation.  —  So far, no one is talking about a nationwide Medicare-like plan …

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE OPTICS PROBLEM  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg  —  *** The optics problem: The Obama White House is in one of the periods many presidencies go through, when no matter what you do, it doesn't seem to play well.  Fundraising is one of those issues right now.

For His Decision On Troops, Obama Has Leeway, The White House Says  —  President Obama won't decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan until the country's political disputes settle down, senior administration officials said.  On the advice of several key members of his war council …

Karzai accepts Afghanistan election runoff  —  KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Afghanistan is to hold a run off presidential election on November 7, it was announced Tuesday, as incumbent Hamid Karzai bowed to international pressure over claims of widespread vote fraud.