memeorandum: Morning Jay: This Race Has Just Begun (Jay Cost/Weekly Standard)

11:00 AM ET, October 3, 2012

Top Items:

Exclusive: In heated '07 speech, Obama lavishes praise on Wright, says feds 'don't care' about New Orleans [VIDEO] — In a video obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama tells an audience of black ministers, including the Rev. Jeremiah Wright …

Dan / Riehl World News:

Obama's incredibly weak response to newly released audio — From a report by Jake Tapper at ABC. Given how much time they had to prepare, you'd think Team Obama could craft something akin to a response to the newly reported video. — Evidently all they can do is be non-responsive and go on the attack.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Is This The Video Drudge Is Teasing? — It's from an Obama speech at Hampton University. It has been online since 2007, and was widely circulated in the conservative blogosphere at the time. — Source: youtube.com — The YouTube clip above is not complete.

Discussion: rubber hose, Business Insider, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, Gawker, Connecting.the.Dots, The Hinterland Gazette, JustOneMinute, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Riehl World News, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Instapundit and The PJ Tatler

Mary Bruce / ABCNEWS:

Full 2007 Video of Obama Emerges of Then-Senator Obama Claiming Federal Discrimination Against New Orleans — On the eve of the first presidential debate, the conservative website The Daily Caller Tuesday circulated previously unreported clips of a five-year-old speech in which then-Senator …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Weasel Zippers, Riehl World News, Balloon Juice, “The Lid”, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:
Obama campaign: Video touted on Drudge Report a ‘desperate attack’

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette and Election 2012

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
The Daily Caller Video, President Obama and the Race-Obsessed Right

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Althouse

Dylan Byers / Politico:
The Drudge hype falls flat

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Balloon Juice and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
In New ‘Bombshell’ Video, Obama Criticizes Federal Response To Hurricane Katrina

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Daily Caller, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Gawker

BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Denies Involvement In Obama Video

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and Business Insider

Tucker Carlson / The Daily Caller:
Exclusive: In heated '07 speech, Obama lavishes praise on Wright, says feds 'don't care' about New Orleans [VIDEO]

Discussion: Power Line, theGrio and Instapundit

CNN:

CNN Poll: Big shifts on role of government — Denver (CNN) - Hours before the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a showdown that will focus on domestic issues, a new national survey indicates that Americans have undergone some major changes …

Discussion: Politico

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Obama camp presses Romney to share policy details in first debate

Discussion: CNN

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Michelle Obama praises the president's skills ahead of debate

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Denver Post

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Tax plan specifics! From Mitt Romney!

Discussion: ABCNEWS, New York Times and A plain blog about politics

Gregory J. Krieg / ABCNEWS:
Romney Talks Tax Break Before Debate

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Firedoglake, Slate and Daily Kos

Domenico Montanaro / First Read:

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama holds lead in Ohio; statistical tie in Va., Fla. — Slideshow: On the campaign trail — In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters. — Launch slideshow

Discussion: Ballot Box, theGrio, Election 2012 and Taegan Goddard's …

Roanoke College:
Roanoke College Poll: Obama opens significant lead over Romney; Kaine outpolls Allen in Senate race

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, American Spectator and The Argo Journal

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Paul Ryan: 30 Percent ‘Want Their Welfare State,’ 70 Percent ‘Want The American Dream’ (VIDEO) … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Paul Ryan, Video, 30 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, Mitt Romney 2012 …

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Colorlines, The Maddow Blog, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Sky Dancing, theGrio, Philly.com, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

Mike Allen / Politico: DEBATE DAY! 34 days to Nov. 6, 90 days to fiscal cliff …

Reuters:

U.S. had early indications Libya attack tied to organized militants — (Reuters) - Within hours of last month's attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama's administration received about a dozen intelligence reports suggesting militants connected to al Qaeda …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Clinton promises answers on Benghazi attack

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Right Wing News, americanthinker.com, Power Line, Guardian, GayPatriot, The Daily Beast, NewsBusters.org blogs, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Wired, Villainous Company, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run and National Review

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Mitt's ‘W’ problem — DENVER — It's a matter of when, not if, President Barack Obama turns to Mitt Romney at the first face-off here Wednesday night and repeats some variation of the same line the president and his campaign have used all year: Mitt, electing you would mean a return …

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Obama aide denies Bush bashing — President Barack Obama's reelection effort is not blaming the sputtering economic recovery of the past four years on former President George W. Bush, his deputy campaign manager insisted Wednesday. — “We're absolutely not doing that,” Stephanie Cutter said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Michelle Malkin and Ballot Box

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:

Obama, Romney Tied Among Likely Voters — President Obama and Mitt Romney are deadlocked among likely voters as they prepare to square off in their first presidential debate, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway, Examiner, FiveThirtyEight, Weasel Zippers, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Hot Air, The Argo Journal, GayPatriot, Associated Press and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: This Race Has Just Begun — The most recent RealClearPolitics average of the national polls shows President Obama holding a 3.3 point lead over Mitt Romney, 49.1 to 45.1. Additionally, his net job approval rating is now back to about even, 48.8 approve to 48.5 disapprove.

Discussion: Riehl World News and American Thinker

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

In 90-Minute Debate, 2 Candidates Stand on Equal Footing — DENVER — President Obama will have the first word at the presidential debate. Mitt Romney will have the last word. But even before they step onto the stage and shake hands here Wednesday evening, voters across the country are already starting to have the final word.

Discussion: First Read, New York Magazine, Taegan Goddard's … and The Talking Dog

NPR:

On Eve Of First Debate, NPR Poll Shows Romney Within Striking Distance — Early voting has begun in the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia and Iowa. Voting booths are set up for early voting at the Black Hawk County Courthouse last Thursday in Waterloo, Iowa.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Catherine Rampell / Economix:

The Math on the Romney-Ryan Tax Plan — On Fox News Sunday, Paul Ryan said that he didn't have time to explain the math behind his tax proposal. Fortunately I have a few minutes to spare, so I thought I'd pitch in. — Mr. Ryan and Mitt Romney have proposed a tax plan that would lower everyone's tax rates by 20 percent.