Top Items:
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Education of a President — On a busy afternoon in the West Wing late last month, President Barack Obama seemed relaxed and unhurried as he sat down in a newly reupholstered brown leather chair in the Oval Office. He had just returned from the East Room, where he signed the Small Business Jobs Act …
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Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
President Obama Looks Forward — and Back — President Obama said that he expected Republicans to offer him more cooperation after November's elections, no matter the outcome. — In an hour-long interview with the Times's White House correspondent, Peter Baker, Mr. Obama predicted …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Rove-backed group raised $13M since attacks from Obama — The GOP-aligned American Crossroads said Wednesday it has raised over $13 million since coming under attack from President Obama. — The group and its campaign affiliate, Crossroads GPS, said it had easily surpassed …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool
Wall Street Journal:
GOP Groups Launch Massive Ad Blitz — Alliance Spends $50 Million on Competitive House Races Where Democrats Have More Money Now — An alliance of Republican groups is launching a $50 million advertising blitz this week in a final push to help the GOP win a majority in the House …
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN, Mother Jones, FoxNews.com, Wake up America, The Spot, The Caucus and The Page
Mike Allen / The Politico:
20 DAYS OUT - Obama to Peter Baker: 'There's no such thing …
20 DAYS OUT - Obama to Peter Baker: 'There's no such thing …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, RedState, Daily Kos, Politics Daily and Outside the Beltway
Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
Exclusive: Chamber Receives At Least $885,000 From Over 80 Foreign Companies In Disclosed Donations Alone — Last week, ThinkProgress published an exclusive story about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's foreign fundraising operation. We noted the Chamber raises money from foreign-owned businesses for its 501 …
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Robert Gibbs, hypocritical transparency crusader — (updated below) — The controversy over Chamber of Commerce election funding raises a very real and important issue: the genuine threat posed to our political system by unknown funders who can pour massive amounts of money into negative ads while hiding who they are.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice, The Last Tradition, The Plum Line and The Daily Caller
Jake Tapper / Political Punch:
Chamber of Commerce: The White House Wants Our Donor Lists So Its Allies Can Intimidate Our Donors — Tuesday afternoon, I spoke with Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, about the White House pressing the Chamber to release its donors list …
Discussion:
Nice Deb, Ben Smith's Blog, The Daily Caller, Sunlight Foundation, Pundit & Pundette and Verum Serum
The Hill:
THE HILL POLL: Republicans are up in 8 of 10 open House districts — Republicans are winning eight out of 10 competitive open House seats surveyed in a groundbreaking new poll by The Hill. — Taken on top of 11 GOP leads out of 12 freshman Democratic districts polled last week …
Discussion:
The Fix, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, Right Wing News, Prairie Weather, Ballot Box, The Hill, msnbc.com and Zandar Versus The Stupid
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Mark S. Mellman / The Hill:
Great uncertainty still lies before us — For months, the narrative has been imprinted on our brains: Weighed down by an economy that still feels mired in recession and a president whose popularity is sagging as a result, Democrats face electoral Armageddon in November.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
The Hill:
THE HILL POLL: A district-by-district analysis of results and interactive map
THE HILL POLL: A district-by-district analysis of results and interactive map
Discussion:
The Tolbert Report, RedState and WisPolitics DC Wrap
Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:
Four Causes that Will Lead to a Democratic Election Nightmare
Four Causes that Will Lead to a Democratic Election Nightmare
Discussion:
Liberty Pundits Blog
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The Christine O'Donnell fascination, examined — Tonight's Delaware Senate debate between marketing consultant Christine O'Donnell (R) and New Castle County Executive Chris Coons (D) will be carried live on CNN and co-moderated by the network's lead anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Discussion:
CNN and Taegan Goddard's …
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Rep. Castle won't make endorsement in Del. Senate race
Rep. Castle won't make endorsement in Del. Senate race
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Politico, The Note and Z on TV
NY Daily News:
GOP governor hopeful Carl Paladino cashed in on Buffalo gay clubs Cobalt, Buddies II — Carl Paladino says kids shouldn't be “brainwashed” into thinking it's okay to be gay or be taken to a “disgusting” gay pride parade. — But he had no problem when his son, William, ran Cobalt …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Gothamist, Rough Sketch, Runnin' Scared, New York Times, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Gawker
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Washington Post:
Michelle Rhee to announce resignation as D.C. schools chancellor on Wednesday — D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will announce Wednesday that she is resigning at the end of this month, bringing an abrupt end to a tenure that drew national acclaim but that also became a central issue …
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Felix Salmon:
The enormous mortgage-bond scandal — You thought the foreclosure mess was bad? You're right about that. But it gets so much worse once you start adding in a whole bunch of parallel messes in the world of mortgage bonds. For instance, as Tracy Alloway says, mortgage-bond documentation generally …
Chris Moody / The Daily Caller:
‘Spirit of Political Disclosure’? White House Press Sec once part of group that refused to disclose donors — The White House plans to continue attacking groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other conservative organizations for not disclosing the names of donors behind political ads.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, POWIP, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Liberty Pundits Blog and Politics Daily
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Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:
White House Meeting for Black Journalists Doesn't Stay Off-The-Record for Long
White House Meeting for Black Journalists Doesn't Stay Off-The-Record for Long
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and The Awl
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Raese Mangles Ethnic Names, Calls Justice Sotomayor ‘Sarah Manorgan’ — In an interview touting his plan to repeal the minimum wage, West Virginia GOP Senate candidate John Raese also slipped up by calling the man he wants to replace, Senator Carte Goodwin, by the wrong first name.
Discussion:
Charleston Daily Mail, New York Magazine and The Note
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First Read / msnbc.com:
Raese, missile defense, and ‘lasers in the sky’
Raese, missile defense, and ‘lasers in the sky’
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and TPMDC
Julian Borger / Guardian:
Linda Norgrove: Navy Seal faces disciplinary action — Guardian learns commando hurled explosive device during rescue as he had not seen UK aid worker taking cover nearby — Startling details of the daring rescue mission that ended in the death of the British aid worker Linda Norgrove …
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE
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Charles Ashby / Daily Sentinel:
Anti-Obama billboard raises eyebrows — Caricatures are racist and homophobic, local Dems say — A Grand Junction billboard depicting President Barack Obama as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican bandit and a gay man is getting national attention. — The billboard, erected along …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers
Jocelyn Noveck / Associated Press:
Obama's related to Palin — NEW YORK - President Barack Obama has family ties to none other than Sarah Palin, according to the genealogists at Ancestry.com, a discovery the family history site made when looking for connections between political foes. — And that's not all …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Politics Daily and AmSpecBlog
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Dem's hippie ad: ‘Does not support Pelosi...voted with GOP 65% of the time’ — As Democrats in conservative districts scramble to distance themselves from the national Democratic leadership, Georgia Rep. Jim Marshall outdoes the rest with what's a cultural attack ad aimed at contrasting him with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Discussion:
Hotline On Call, Washington Post, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Fix and Open Congress
Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:
GOP Congressional Candidate Walberg Suggests Using Impeachment To Get Obama's Birth Certificate — As ThinkProgress previously noted, Tim Walberg — a former GOP congressman and current Republican nominee for the House of Representatives from Michigan's seventh congressional district …
Discussion:
The Daily Telegram News RSS, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Mediaite and Wonkette
Sean J. Miller / The Hill:
POLL: Majority of voters say they want a viable third party in American politics — A majority of likely voters think a viable third party would be good for American politics, according to a new poll of likely voters in 10 key open House districts. — Those voters are split, however …
Discussion:
CNN
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Rand Paul's college letters: Asked whether gov't should combat discrimination, worshipped Ayn Rand — I've obtained several letters and Op eds that Rand Paul wrote to his school newspaper in the early 1980s, and they provide a glimpse into Paul's budding libertarian mind as he grappled with his early hostility towards government.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The New Republic, A plain blog about politics, TPMDC and Hullabaloo
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Majorities in U.S. View Gov't as Too Intrusive and Powerful — Independents largely side with Republicans in denouncing big government — PRINCETON, NJ — Record- or near-record-high percentages of Americans are critical of the size and scope of government, as measured by four Gallup trend questions updated in September.
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, Commentary, Weasel Zippers, CNSNews and GayPatriot
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Wage cuts hurt, but they may be the only way to get Americans back to work — Last week, General Motors and the United Auto Workers announced agreement on a new two-tier wage structure that would allow the automaker to produce its next-generation subcompact car in Michigan rather than in South Korea.
Discussion:
Yglesias, Mother Jones, Prairie Weather and Grasping Reality …
Mike Flynn / Big Government:
Exclusive: Court Document Details Congressman's Past Spousal Abuse — Ohio Democrat Congressman Charlie Wilson was first elected to Congress in the Democrat wave year of 2006. Prior to that, he had been a long-time member of the Ohio state legislature, first elected to the Ohio House in 1996 and the Ohio Senate in 2004.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media and National Review
Nigel Jaquiss / blogs.wweek.com:
Dudley Says He “Was a Minority”; Black Lawmaker Disagrees — When Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Dudley addressed the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs' monthly “Coffee & Issues” breakfast on Sept. 24, he reprised a comment he'd made at an earlier interview with the Urban League of Portland.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Awl, The New Republic and Daily Kos
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Sink continues to lead — Alex Sink continues to lead the Florida Governor's race by a 46-41 margin over Rick Scott. — The big story in this race is the independents. In most states across the country Republicans are dominating with them but the intense unpopularity of Scott is making this contest an exception to that rule.
Discussion:
Riptide 2.0
Myglesias / Yglesias:
Preserving Retail Mix — Lydia DePillis reports on efforts to further constrain the quantity of bars and restaurants allowed to open in the District of Columbia: … In my view, the whole conversation around retail mix in this city (and most likely other cities around the country) …
Discussion:
Housing Complex and Eschaton