memeorandum: In Massachusetts, Brown Attacks Warren's Character (Katharine Q. Seelye/New York Times)

9:45 AM ET, September 26, 2012

Top Items:

Polls Show Obama Is Widening His Lead in Ohio and Florida — COLUMBUS, Ohio — For weeks, Republicans in Ohio have been watching with worry that the state's vital 18 electoral votes were trending away from Mitt Romney. The anxiety has been similar in Florida, where Republicans are concerned …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Florida Times Union, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Jammie Wearing Fools, New York Magazine, Politico, Macsmind, ABCNEWS, Prairie Weather, Taegan Goddard's …, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Hinterland Gazette, Marbury and Election 2012

Quinnipiac University:

Obama Has Big Leads In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times Swing State Poll Finds — Watch Video: Assistant Director Tim Malloy discusses poll results — Clip Information and Download: — FLV File - For Website (1920x1080 / 61.7MB)

Discussion: GOP 12, Washington Wire, Business Insider, ABCNEWS, The Fix and Battleground Watch

Roger Simon / Politico:

Paul Ryan vs. The Stench — Paul Ryan has gone rogue. He is unleashed, unchained, off the hook. — “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he'll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him,” Craig Robinson, a former political director …

Discussion: New York Times, Taylor Marsh, The Maddow Blog, The Hinterland Gazette, The Iowa Republican, Paul Krugman, Balloon Juice, AEIdeas and The Hill

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Report: Paul Ryan Goes Rogue and Refers to “Stench” Romney — Are we now witnessing the second Vice President on a Republican ticket in four years “go rogue”? Is Paul Ryan fed up with what some see as his Romneyization by the Romney camp? Is he following 2008 Vice Presidential nominee's advice to “go rogue”?

Roger Simon / Politico: Paul Ryan vs. The Stench

Investor's Business Daily:

Democrat Senate Hopeful Warren Exposed As Complete Fraud — Politics: Democrat Elizabeth Warren has framed her race in Massachusetts against Sen. Scott Brown around integrity and intellect, as if she's a cut above other pols. In fact, she's beneath even the sleaziest.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
In Massachusetts, Brown Attacks Warren's Character

Discussion: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars and The Daily Caller

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Really, Scott Brown? — I've been wondering about this for a few days.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Althouse, Blue Mass Group, The Mahablog and WCVB.com

New York Post:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Woman defaces ‘anti-jihad’ ad in Times Square station — Cops busted a lone protester — angry with subway ads equating enemies of Israel as “savages” — as she spray-painted over one of the controversial signs today. — A Post camera crew captured the bizarre conflict …

Discussion: Guardian, ABCNEWS, Gawker, Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, New York Magazine, Belmont Club and Jammie Wearing Fools

Philip Weiss / Mondoweiss:
‘Savage’ NY subway ads get a make-over- revealing their true character

Discussion: Jihad Watch, ThinkProgress, Gawker, Colorlines, Feministing, The New Republic and Mediaite

Robert Gehrke / Salt Lake Tribune:

Love Claims The Lead — Well, this is an interesting turn of events. — Mia Love's campaign released internal polling numbers that show the race for Utah's 4th District seat have taken a dramatic swing, giving her a big lead over Democrat Jim Matheson. — Love's polling firm …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Gateway Pundit

Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:

Police investigating racist pictures sent to Mia Love — SARATOGA SPRINGS — A packet of information sent to Mayor Mia Love's office that city officials described as racist launched a police investigation Tuesday. — City Manager Mark Christensen described the contents of the thick envelope as “disturbing” and “pretty creepy stuff.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fools, Mother Jones and The Lonely Conservative

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA TO UN: IT'S NOT MY FAULT STEVENS IS DEAD — Passing the buck in dramatic fashion on the world stage, President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly this morning that the U.S. government was not responsible for the anti-Islam video that he once again blamed for recent attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East.

Discussion: MRCTV, Washington Post, Macsmind, Nice Deb, First Draft, The Lonely Conservative and Hot Air

CNN:
What we learned from our interview with Mitt Romney

Discussion: Hot Air and Politico

Associated Press: Romney, Obama Descend on Battleground Ohio

Eric Posner / Slate:

The World Doesn't Love the First Amendment — The vile anti-Muslim video shows that the U.S. overvalues free speech. — The universal response in the United States to the uproar over the anti-Muslim video is that the Muslim world will just have to get used to freedom of expression.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Pirate's Cove, New York Times, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Opinionator, The Crawdad Hole, National Review, The Other McCain, The Agonist and The Daily Dish

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: Are the Polls Tilted Toward Obama? — Republicans, by and large, are frustrated with recent polls of the presidential election because they think Democrats are being oversampled. Many pollsters respond by saying that “weighing” the polls for partisan identification creates …

Discussion: National Review and Gallup

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Rep. Griffin: Obama running a ‘lockout’ on foreign leaders — Republicans on Tuesday tweaked the president over his appearance on “The View” and concern over the NFL lockout. — Republicans on Tuesday charged President Obama with paying more attention to anything but foreign policy during …

Discussion: Political Capital

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Romney Negativity Muddies Message as Obama Leads in Poll — Republican Mitt Romney's negative ratings are preventing him from capitalizing on President Barack Obama's vulnerabilities in the race for the White House, according to a new poll that gives the incumbent a lead heading into the first of three presidential debates.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Political Capital, Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice and American Prospect

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

CNN's Acosta to Romney: ‘If You Somehow Beat Obama,’ How Would You 'Assure Blacks You'd Be Their President Also?' — CNN's Jim Acosta on Tuesday's Situation Room asked what many will think was a truly offensive question. — “If you were to somehow beat the first African-American president …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit

NBC / World News:

Libyan president to NBC: Anti-Islam film had ‘nothing to do with’ US Consulate attack — Updated at 7:59 a.m. ET: An anti-Islam film that sparked violent protests in many countries had “nothing to do with” a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month, Libya's president told NBC News.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Foreign Policy, Jihad Watch and Freedom's Lighthouse

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:

Exclusive Video: Obama meeting ACORN in 2007: 'You know that you've got a friend in me' … In a previously unreleased video footage recently obtained by the Washington Examiner, candidate Barack Obama is featured in a 2007 interview with ACORN, while he was seeking the organization's endorsement during his campaign for president.

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:

Va. GOP orders affiliate to remove offensive Obama photos — RICHMOND — Virginia Republican Party officials on Tuesday ordered their Mecklenburg County affiliate to remove photos portraying President Obama as a witch doctor, a caveman and a thug from its Facebook page.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Criticism of Romney's Campaign Grows; Six in 10 Rate His Efforts Negatively — Public criticism of Mitt Romney's race for the White House has risen sharply, with six in 10 Americans expressing a negative opinion of how he's handling his campaign and a majority responding unfavorably to his comments on people who don't pay income taxes.

Discussion: Political Capital and Rising Hegemon

Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:

Barack Obama Floating Like A Butterfly: Countdown Day 43 … Barack Obama 2012 , Elections 2012 , 2012 Countdown , Barack Obama Floating Like a Butterfly , Obama Cassius Clay , Obama Floats Like a Butterfly , Obama Floats Like a Butterfly Stings Like a Bee , Obama Muhammad Ali , Obama Sting Like a Bee , Politics News

Discussion: Campaign Stops and The Daily Caller

Leo Traynor / Traynor's Eye:

Meeting A Troll... I'm back on Twitter. — I can imagine the cries of 'I knew he wouldn't last!' from the Twitterati. — But give me a few minutes of your time and I'll tell you why I'm back and the real truth about exactly why I left in the first place.

Discussion: TechCrunch and Shakesville

Christi Parsons / Los Angeles Times:

Obama getting less debate practice than Romney — Obama's schedule makes it hard to find time to prepare for the debates, but aides say they are taking Romney's skills seriously. — WASHINGTON — President Obama has blocked out three days to prepare for the October debates …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker:

Mitt Romney Stops Supporters from Chanting ‘Ryan’ to Ensure They Say His Name Too — In Vandalia, Ohio, today, after Mitt Romney thanked running mate Paul Ryan for his stump speech, rally attendees instinctively began chanting “Ryan, Ryan,” as rally attendees are wont to do.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Towleroad News #gay and Wonkette

MiamiHerald.com:

Rivera ran secret campaign, Sternad tells FBI — Justin Lamar Sternad told federal law enforcement authorities that U.S. Rep. David Rivera was behind his failed Democratic primary campaign. — MCAPUTO@MIAMIHERALD.COM — Justin Lamar Sternad, whose failed congressional campaign became …

Discussion: Riptide 2.0

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Allen West to U.N.: U.S. ‘Angel of Death’ — Florida Rep. Allen West ripped President Barack Obama's United Nations speech Tuesday, saying he would have told the U.N. that America would be an “Angel of Death” that wreaks “havoc and destruction” on anyone who attacks the U.S.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, No More Mister Nice Blog, Dependable Renegade, Mediaite, Facebook, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos, Business Insider, BuzzFeed and Influence Alley

Reuters:
U.S. will “do what we must” on Iran, U.N.'s Ban opposes threats

Discussion: The Raw Story

Chris Ziegler / The Verge:

Apple had over a year left on Google Maps contract, Google scrambling to build iOS app — Apple's decision to ship its own mapping system in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 was made over a year before the company's agreement to use Google Maps expired, according to two independent sources familiar with the matter.

Discussion: New York Times, Mashable! and TechCrunch