NEWSWEEK Poll: Obama Approval Rating Jumps, Democrats Close ‘Enthusiasm Gap’  —  As the president's numbers climb sharply, results suggest that Democrats may be succeeding in firing up their base.  —  Obama feels the love at a Seattle rally for Sen. Patty Murray.

‘Airplane!’ director cuts ad poking fun at Boxer for 'ma'am' exchange  —  David Zucker directed the “Call Me Senator” spot for Right Change, a 527 and 501(c)4 organization.  —  A well-known Hollywood producer and director has cut an ad against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) …

Barack and Michelle's Mumbai darshan plans  —  US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle will be extremely busy in Mumbai, upon landing on November 6 for a two day India visit.  As the world's most powerful man and his wife zip around the city visiting the 26/11 memorial on Marine Drive …

CBO Confirms: ObamaCare Discourages Work  —  Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf said Friday that ObamaCare includes work disincentives likely to shrink the amount of labor used in the economy.  —  In a speech on ObamaCare's economic impact outside the health care sector …

LMV official: Pledge of Allegiance demand ‘phony patriotism’  —  The crowd breaks into the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of Wednesday night's candidates forum with 8th Congressional District candidates Joe Walsh, Melissa Bean and Bill Scheurer at Grayslake Central High School.  —  BOB CHWEDYK

Professional Petitioners Aid Ballot Initiatives  —  CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — At 5-foot-4, with a pot belly and graying beard, Charlie Chavez does not look particularly scary.  —  But on a recent autumn day, striding toward a woman in a supermarket parking lot, clipboard in hand, he might as well have been a zombie.

Man Fired for Wearing Bush Sweatshirt at Obama Rally ***UPDATED  —  (USC) — Don't try wearing a Bush hat or sweatshirt at an Obama rally.  —  Duane Hammond says it's what got him fired.  Hammond is a union stagehand who was part of the crew that built the platform for the Obama event on campus.

The Iraq Archive: The Strands of a War  —  A huge trove of secret field reports from the battlegrounds of Iraq sheds new light on the war, including such fraught subjects as civilian deaths, detainee abuse and the involvement of Iran.  —  The secret archive is the second such cache obtained …

NPR's firing of Juan Williams wrong, but not excuse to take away funding from public radio  —  Juan Williams is right; NPR was way off base firing him for having expressed himself on a TV show.  But some are going too far in Williams' name; they vindictively want to totally de-fund …

Big Problem for Banks: Due Process  —  Earlier this week, Bank of America, the nation's largest consumer bank, reported its third-quarter earnings.  It was a very good quarter; putting aside an accounting charge — a very large, $10.4 billion accounting charge, admittedly — the bank reported $3.1 billion in profits.

Adam Gadahn, Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece, urges wannabe terrorists to go it alone  —  WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece Saturday urged wannabe terrorists in a new video to act alone instead of trying to join cells attempting 9/11-type spectacular strikes.

Harry Reid mans up for Lilly Ledbetter  —  Most readers know that Lilly Ledbetter is the woman whose courageous battle has led to progress, though not enough progress, for women receiving equal pay for equal work.  Recently, Ledbetter stood side by side with one of her greatest supporters …

Number of the Week: Big Boost From Dollar Decline  —  0.5 percentage point: The potential boost in annual U.S. economic growth from the dollar's decline since August 27.  —  As finance ministers from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations meet in Seoul in an effort to avert a currency war …

Biden to campaign for Rep. Grayson  —  Vice President Biden will campaign for controversial Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) next week in Florida.  —  Biden will attend an event on Monday for the first-term Democratic lawmaker, who's made waves during his term in Congress by taking outspoken liberal stances on issues.

Rep. Peter DeFazio Investigating Impeachment For Chief Justice John Roberts  —  What's Your Reaction: … With Democrats increasingly outraged over the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision that allowed unlimited corporate spending in elections — a change conservatives have been more successful …

Broadband Matters  —  Jay Ackroyd convinced me I should make explicit something that's only implicit in yesterday's post on the vast consumer surplus associated with digital media, namely that the case for some form of subsidization of fast internet access is very strong.

Pawlenty needles Obama upon campaign stop in Minnesota  —  Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) needled President Obama upon his planned campaign stop in the state on Saturday.  —  Pawlenty, a potential Republican candidate to challenge Obama in 2012, leveled criticisms against the president …

Support For Veterans Shows Sharp Partisan Divide  —  According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America Action Fund, Republicans in Congress have dramatically failed to support our troops after they come home.  IAVA's 2010 Veteran Report Card …

For First Time, Model Has G.O.P. Favored to Win 50-Plus House Seats  —  Republican chances of taking over the House are now up to 80 percent, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast model; they had been 75 percent two days ago.  —  In an average simulation, the model projected …

What's the Big Idea?  —  I started this blog shortly after George Bush was reelected, and though many people assume that it was the presence of Republicans in power that was the primary motivation, that isn't the whole story.  That was part of the motivation, no doubt, but there were two other factors that were more important.

Ridiculous: Wasserman-Schultz protested outside Allen West's HQ  —  Everyone remembers how Allen West was associated with a biker group named the “Outlaw Gang” but is not really a member.  However, Klein used an encounter West had with the group to demean him.