Top Items:
Levi Johnston / Washington Post:
Democrats gain in poll but GOP still leads as midterm elections near — Less than a month before the midterm elections, the political landscape remains strongly tilted toward Republicans, although Democrats have made modest improvements with voters since their late-summer low point, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Fix, Washington Monthly, Speakeasy, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Daily Kos, Hot Air, The New Republic, DailyHowler.com, The Page and Prairie Weather
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Gallup:
GOP Well Positioned Among Likely Midterm Voters
GOP Well Positioned Among Likely Midterm Voters
Discussion:
Beltway Confidential, The Note, Liberty Pundits Blog, Scared Monkeys, Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, FiveThirtyEight, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Examiner, Washington Wire, The Politico, National Review, USA Today, The Atlantic Online, The Hill, Sweetness & Light, The Sundries Shack, GayPatriot, Real Clear Politics, AmSpecBlog and Conservatives4Palin.com
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Oh my: GOP's generic ballot lead down to three in Rasmussen …
Oh my: GOP's generic ballot lead down to three in Rasmussen …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, RedState, Liberty Pundits Blog, Washington Monthly and The Politico
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The Morning Plum — * Dems experiencing a modest uptick in their fortunes?
The Morning Plum — * Dems experiencing a modest uptick in their fortunes?
Discussion:
The Note, Think Progress, Balloon Juice and Public Policy Polling
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
It Has Come To This: O'Donnell Family Straightens Out Father's Bozo The Clown Career — Christine O'Donnell's campaign is facing yet another set of questions about her background, and this time it's on a really weird line of discussion — whether her father was Philadelphia's local Bozo the Clown.
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Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
What Did I Tell You About Her? — Christine O'Donnell's …
What Did I Tell You About Her? — Christine O'Donnell's …
Discussion:
Hot Air, minx.cc, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Da Techguy's Blog, Weigel, Left Coast Rebel, Gateway Pundit, Don Surber and AmSpecBlog
Sean Alfano / NY Daily News:
Tea Party darling Christine O'Donnell in first ad: 'I'm not a witch'
Tea Party darling Christine O'Donnell in first ad: 'I'm not a witch'
Discussion:
Haaretz and The Agonist
Brad Phillips / Mr. Media Training:
I Am Not a Witch: Christine O'Donnell's New Ad
I Am Not a Witch: Christine O'Donnell's New Ad
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Why Christine O'Donnell's New Ad Might Work
Why Christine O'Donnell's New Ad Might Work
Discussion:
Washington Wire, The Politico, The Huffington Post and TPMDC
Ashley Parker / The Caucus:
O'Donnell Ad Confronts Reports on Her Past
O'Donnell Ad Confronts Reports on Her Past
Discussion:
Speakeasy, Philly.com, Wonkette, Firedoglake and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Chris Stirewalt / Fox News:
Fox News Polls: GOP Poised to Gain or Hold Senate Seats in Key States — Democrats have a mountain to climb in West Virginia. — The latest Fox News battleground state surveys of five key states shows Republicans in good position to gain two seats and hold two seats left open by GOP retirements.
Discussion:
The Fix, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Taegan Goddard's …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Gateway Pundit, PoliPundit.com, FoxNews.com, Don Surber and MyFox DC
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
On the right, hateful words are fired like bullets — I still ride a bike. I do 12 miles, several days a week, and as I do so I listen to music — the Pandora service on my iPhone. I have created a station that plays folk rock. Lately, it has repeatedly played the Neil Young song “Ohio” …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, The Mahablog, The Powers That Be, protein wisdom, Althouse and JammieWearingFool
msnbc.com:
The first place for key political news and analysis from the NBC News Political Unit — First thoughts: Mind the (money) gap — GOP-leaning outside groups are blowing away their Democratic counterparts... Why did Dem groups disarm?... A potential downside to GOP outside groups essentially replacing …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, AMERICAblog News, Politics Daily and New York Times
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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Soft Side — By now everyone has an image of Rahm Emanuel. He's the profanity-spewing political street-fighter. He's the guy who once sent a dead fish to a political opponent. This past week, “Saturday Night Live” spoofed him as an abrasive pit bull.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Atlantic Wire and Hit & Run
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Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Who's Got West Wing Juice? Look to Flickr
Who's Got West Wing Juice? Look to Flickr
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Taegan Goddard's …
Jillian Rayfield / TPMMuckraker:
Missouri Tea Partiers, Joe The Plumber Join Movement Against ‘Radical’ Anti-Puppy Mill Legislation — Dog bites man or man bites dog? — A conservative group in Missouri is picking up the backing of the Tea Party and Joe The Plumber in its quest to stop the Humane Society …
Discussion:
Oliver Willis and Balloon Juice
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
With Tagline, MSNBC Embraces a Political Identity — MSNBC, once the also-ran but now the No. 2 cable news channel, has a new tagline that embraces its progressive political identity. — The tagline, “Lean Forward,” will be publicly announced Tuesday, opening a planned …
Lee Fang / Think Progress:
Exclusive: Foreign-Funded ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Running Partisan Attack Ads — The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, TPMMuckraker, Oliver Willis and Hullabaloo
Fox News:
GOP Rep. Cao ‘Hurt’ After Obama Endorses Dem, Warns of Opponent's Ethics History — Republican Rep. Joseph Cao — in an act of either selfless concern or political expediency — says he “must” warn President Obama that the Democratic candidate he's endorsed in the race has a history of ethical problems.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, iOwnTheWorld.com and FoxNews.com
Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:
U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels — With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Swampland, The Stranger …, Climate Progress, Sweetness & Light, Green, Balloon Juice and Associated Press
Nathan Brown / AdirondackDailyEnterprise:
Hoffman drops out (update) — Statement tells voters to back Doheny; no elaboration given — SARANAC LAKE - Doug Hoffman has dropped out of the race to represent New York's 23rd Congressional District. — Hoffman's name will still appear on the ballot on the Conservative line; however …
Discussion:
Swampland, Taegan Goddard's … and The Page
Wall Street Journal:
Frank's Own Battle Erodes Help for Fellow Democrats — It's the kind of political year in which even Rep. Barney Frank is being forced to break a sweat. — The Massachusetts Democrat, one of Congress's most well-known members, usually wins re-election by steamrolling his opponents.
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Caucus and Weekly Standard
Jan Crawford / CBS News:
Kagan Leaves a Mark on Her First Day — There's been a lot of hyped-up consternation about whether Elena Kagan was ready to be a justice. Among the nine, she is the only justice who hadn't first been an appeals court judge, and so the chatter among critics is that she would struggle because her learning curve was steep.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy and Patterico's Pontifications
Russell Berman / The Hill:
Centrist Democrats may reign in House — If Democrats retain a slim hold on the House next year, a handful of the party's most conservative members could find themselves in the catbird seat, wielding wide influence over the Democratic agenda. — In that scenario, the finicky Blue Dog Coalition …
Discussion:
CQ Politics, DownWithTyranny! and Mock, Paper, Scissors
Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Rail Service Expansion Imperiled at State Level — Republicans running for governor in a handful of states could block, or significantly delay, one of President Obama's signature initiatives: his plan to expand the passenger rail system and to develop the nation's first bullet-train service.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, The Future of Capitalism and Balloon Juice
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Odds Against Third-Party Bid Not as Long as They Seem — Thomas Friedman's Sunday column, in which he predicted the emergence of a “serious third party candidate in 2012, with a serious political movement behind him or her,” is attracting a lot of comment — and criticism — in different parts of the blogosphere.
Liam Stack / Christian Science Monitor:
Fifth NATO tanker attacked in six days since Pakistan sealed border post — A small bomb damaged an oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan as it waited at Pakistan's closed Torkham border crossing Tuesday. No casualties were reported. — The attack underscored …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers
Arthur Laffer / Wall Street Journal:
The Bill Gates Income Tax — If Washington's most famous billionaires are really worried about their state's finances, they'd write personal checks to the government and leave everyone else alone. — Framed on a wall in my office is a personal letter to me from Bill Gates the elder.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
Michael Luo / The Caucus:
Watchdog Groups Ask I.R.S. to Investigate Crossroads GPS — A pair of campaign finance watchdog organizations issued a letter to the Internal Revenue Service today, requesting that it conduct an investigation into whether a non-profit advocacy group tied to Karl Rove is violating federal tax laws …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Prairie Weather
Mike DeBonis / Mike DeBonis on Local Politics:
Hacker infiltration ends D.C. online voting trial — Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit of “give it your best shot.”
Discussion:
The BRAD BLOG, Threat Level and Corrente