Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama  —  TEHRAN (FNA)- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama.

In the end, it's Mitt  —  It isn't the chair or the ho-hum convention.  Or the leaked video.  Or Stuart Stevens.  Or the improving economy.  Or media bias.  Or distorted polls.  Or the message.  Or Mormonism.  —  It's Mitt.  —  With Republicans everywhere wondering what has happened …

ANOTHER MSNBC SCANDAL?  BLAZE READERS AT CAMPAIGN EVENT CLAIM NETWORK MISLED IN VIDEO OF RALLY CHANT (WITH AUDIO COMPARISON)  —  On Wednesday, MSNBC aired a clip of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney leading what looks like a failed “Romney-Ryan” chant at a campaign stop in Ohio on Tuesday …

Sept. 27: The Impact of the ‘47 Percent’  —  After a secretly-recorded videotape was released on Sept. 17, showing Mitt Romney making unflattering comments about the “47 percent” of Americans whom he said had become dependent on government benefits, I suggested on Twitter that the political impact …

Akin consultant compares his fortitude to cult-leader David Koresh  —  • BY KEVIN McDERMOTT > kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8268  —  UPDATE 1:48 p.m.: Akin spokesman Ryan Hite has responded with a one-line written statement: “It was a stupid comment to make.”

Go large, Mitt  —  In mid-September 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the financial system.  Barack Obama handled it coolly.  John McCain did not.  Obama won the presidency.  (Given the country's condition, he would have won anyway.  But this sealed it.)

Just How Racist Is the ‘Obama Phone’ Video?  —  There was a video leading the Drudge Report on Thursday afternoon of a poor black woman with messed-up teeth saying she's voting for President Obama because he gave her a free phone, and perhaps you have some questions about it.  Questions like: Is this video racist?

Todd Akin Suggests Employers Should Be Able To Pay Women Less  —  Todd Akin appeared to endorse allowing employers to pay women less than men at a town hall on Thursday.  —  Gender discrimination in compensation has been illegal in the United States since the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act.

Muslims in Michigan to Rally Against First Amendment  —  Muslim Americans in Michigan, including a local newspaper editor, will be rallying Friday in Dearborn to protest the YouTube film, “Innocence of Muslims” and advocate for blasphemy laws.  Here's an image of a poster advertising the rally:

Top intelligence official backtracks on Libya story, says initial assessment premature  —  The office of the United States' top intelligence official appeared to take the blame Friday for the Obama administration's changing narrative on the U.S. Consulate attack in Libya …

George W. Bush posts better favorability ratings than Mitt Romney in new Bloomberg survey  —  Former President George W. Bush smiles as he arrives on the 18th hole at the end of the Bush Center's Warrior Open golf tournament this week in Irving.  (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Obama Cabinet Flunks Disclosure Test With 19 in 20 Ignoring Law  —  On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama ordered federal officials to “usher in a new era of open government” and “act promptly” to make information public.  —  As Obama nears the end of his term …

NYC PROHIBITS CONTROVERSIAL SUBWAY ADS IN WAKE OF ISLAMIST'S VANDALISM  —  Just one day after an Islamic activist attempted to cover over private property in spray paint (and a woman who got in her way), the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York has announced they will amend their rules …

France Raises Taxes in Tough Budget  —  PARIS—The French Socialist government on Friday unveiled the country's toughest budget in decades, hiking taxes for the rich and big business in a bid to slash its deficit while facing a stalled economy.  —  President François Hollande …

With ‘Dreams From My Real Father,’ Have Obama Haters Hit Rock Bottom?  —  A pseudo-documentary that slimes Ann Dunham, the president's late mother, is being mailed to swing-state voters.  A look at the film and Dinesh D'Souza's book, Obama's America.  —  So this is what it's come to.

The Million Wingnut March  —  There's been a steadily building discussion, albeit shrouded in some mystery, about the potential impact on Election Day (and to some extent, before it) of right-wing “volunteer poll watchers” who are promising to descend on minority neighborhoods to make sure …

Maine Voices: Asking Dill to step aside assumes King is lying about his true intentions  —  In their recent columns, both Greg Kesich and Alan Caron laid the outcome of the U.S. Senate race at the feet of the Democrats by urging U.S. Senate candidate Cynthia Dill to step aside in order for Angus King to win.

Friend of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan pleads guilty to campaign violations  —  In a stunning development just weeks before the November election, one of U.S. Rep Vern Buchanan's longtime friends and another man pleaded guilty Thursday to making illegal campaign contributions.

Matt Damon's Anti-Fracking Movie Financed by Oil-Rich Arab Nation  —  A new film starring Matt Damon presents American oil and natural gas producers as money-grubbing villains purportedly poisoning rural American towns.  It is therefore of particular note that it is financed in part …

Romney's Plan to Win Virginia: Lyme Disease  —  On Thursday evening, Anahita Nemat, a conservative PR specialist living in Northern Virginia, tweeted out this photo, with the description: “Received my first mailer from @MittRomney & @PaulRyanVP today.  It talks about Lyme Disease.  Huh?  I'm confused!

Pictured: The ‘beautiful’ family slain hours after church by ‘mentally ill father tormented by the prospect of Obama winning the election’  — Albert, Kathleen, Mathew and Christopher Peterson were found dead Tuesday in their Herndon, Virginia home  — A friend of the family …

What Cutting Medicaid Means: A Personal Story  —  TNR readers are familiar with Harold Pollack, the University of Chicago professor who writes frequently about health care and social policy.  Like all good public intellectuals, Harold is a policy omnivore—as comfortable discussing …

US immigration chief: Same-sex ties are family ties  —  Same-sex couples will be considered “family relationships” in immigration proceedings, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a move that could help stem the deportation of those in gay or lesbian binational relationships.

Inside The Planning Of A James O'Keefe “Sting”  —  The conservative provocateur planned a sting of SEIU in 2010 — based off information from a source of John Fund's, with Foster Friess as a potential investor.  It didn't end up working out.  (Updated below)  —  Source: images.politico.com

Katie Couric Voted ‘The Worst Reporter in History of Man’  —  (CNSNews.com) - At the Media Research Center's 25th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night, former CBS News anchor Katie Couric was voted “The Worst Reporter in the History of Man.”  —  Couric barely edged out fellow former CBS News anchor Dan Rather.