Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Don't Get Pregnant  —  This post has been updated.  —  Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape …

Exclusive: GOP scolded after drinking, nudity in Israel  —  The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff - and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses.

Niall Ferguson: Hit the Road, Barack  —  The president has broken his promises, and Romney-Ryan's path to prosperity is our only hope.  —  I was a good loser four years ago.  “In the grand scheme of history,” I wrote the day after Barack Obama's election as president, “four decades is not an especially long time.

Obama Opens Up to ‘Moneyball’ Writer for Vanity Fair  —  The White House has granted Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” extensive access to President Obama for an article in the October issue of Vanity Fair.  —  The magazine confirmed that Mr. Lewis …

Romney Campaign Works Feverishly to Project Relaxed Image  —  TAMPA, Fla. — They hail from the Broadway stage, the control rooms of NBC and the design studios that created sleek sets for Oprah Winfrey and Jon Stewart.  —  Their craft is slick packaging and eye candy that audiences consume by the millions.

The amazing little story that didn't happen on Obama's big bus trip  —  President Obama was back in Iowa for several days this past week.  He has winning memories there.  But the fact that an incumbent president feels it necessary to invest three of only 79 precious remaining days there says how close the presidential race now is.

POLITICO e-book: Obama campaign roiled by conflict  —  President Barack Obama's campaign team, celebrated four years ago for its exceptional cohesion and eyes-on-the-prize strategic focus, has been shadowed this time by a succession of political disagreements and personal rivalries that haunted the effort at the outset.

The ‘new normal’ excuse  —  Even a talker as talented as President Obama can't do the impossible: Persuade Americans that the three-year-old economic “recovery” is anything other than pathetic.  —  Growth is sinking back toward the recession red zone and unemployment's firmly stuck at over 8 percent for 42 straight months.

Emanuel, Warren, and Kaine among Dem convention speakers  —  Democrats are poised to feature the party's rising stars from crucial swing states at next month's national convention, along with popular Massachusetts lawmakers expected to denounce presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's tenure leading the state.

Ohio Republican Stands By Jab At Black Turnout “Machine”  —  “I said I believe that there's a line of how far that taxpayers should have to go to match a specific political operation, and that's what I mean,” Preisse tells BuzzFeed.  Democrats cry suppression.  —  Source: @dougpreisse

VIDEO: Paul Ryan defended stimulus in 2002, when George W. Bush wanted it  —  Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy  —  Long before he became one of the right's most vocal critics of the idea that government spending could help boost the flagging economy …