How Mitt Romney Won The First Debate  —  By standing on the stage with the president as an equal.  —  Image by Rick Wilking / Reuters  —  Mitt Romney, trailing in the polls, needed to prove tonight that he could stand on stage with President Barack Obama as an equal and a plausible president of the United States.

Conservative media coordinates on release of old Obama video  —  (CNN) - On the eve of the first presidential debate, conservative media outlets seized on footage of a five-year-old, widely covered speech by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, who argued at the time that the federal …

Romney Backs Away From Own Tax Plan  —  At the first presidential debate in Colorado Wednesday night, former Gov. Mitt Romney disputed a central criticism of his tax reform plan — and appeared to disavow one of its central features.  —  Responding to President Obama's description of Romney's proposal …

Akin's Campaign Stands By Claim Of Abortions On Women Who “Are Not Actually Pregnant”  —  Cites “ample evidence” of doctors deceiving women into thinking they're pregnant.  Another detour in to women's health in the still-competitive Missouri race.  —  Image by Jeff Roberson / AP

Drudge  —  For years, I was a big reader of Drudge.  Was never a fan of Drudge, though I recognized his entrepreneurial acumen.  In fact, I despised most everything that he stood for, from rancid politics to integrity free journalism, the endless lying.  But I visited the site ALL THE TIME.

Restaurant worker goes wide-eyed for Mitt at Denver Chipotle  —  The eyes have it for Marty Arps, right, as he meets Mitt Romney at a Chipotle restaurant in Denver.  —  Call the Secret Service, Mitt Romney just got photo-bombed.  —  A restaurant manager at a Chipotle in Denver …

Sensitive documents left behind at American mission in Libya  —  BENGHAZI, Libya — More than three weeks after attacks in this city killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, sensitive documents remained only loosely secured in the remains of the U.S. mission here on Wednesday …

Philly teacher: Student's Romney T-shirt like wearing a KKK sheet  —  Last Friday was dress-down day at Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond — a day for students to leave their uniforms at home and wear whatever they liked.  —  One young woman chose to wear a shirt showing her support …

Al-Qaeda blamed for Europe-wide forest fires  —  Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a recent series of forest fires across Europe, as the head of Russia's Federal Security Service claimed they were set by arsonists as part of the group's low-cost attack strategy.  —  “One should note that setting fires …

Exclusive: President Obama Considered Putting Osama bin Laden on Trial if Taken Alive … In an adaptation from his new book, The Finish—first reported for Vanity Fair—magazine contributing editor Mark Bowden reveals that President Obama intended to put Osama bin Laden on trial …

Spin Room  —  I gather from brief glances at Twitter and initial reaction at NBC that Mitt won pretty big on style points.  —  A lot of progressives are beside themselves that Obama didn't mention Bain Capital, didn't mention the 47%, didn't mention the Ryan Budget (except indirectly) …

MSNBC President Phil Griffin on Whom He'd Poach From Fox News and Why Obama Avoids the Network (Q&A)  —  “We are not going to do an easy interview, and President Obama knows it,” he says.  —  Like many political junkies, Phil Griffin starts his day with Morning Joe, which he watches while running three miles on the treadmill.

Turkey hits targets inside Syria after border deaths  —  Akcakale has been fired on several times over the past few weeks  —  Turkey says it has fired artillery against targets inside Syria after Syrian shells killed five people in a Turkish border town.  —  The Turkish military shelled …

State Supreme Court Tosses Sex Assault Conviction  —  The state Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a Bridgeport man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a severely handicapped woman.  —  Justices ruled, 4-3, that despite evidence that the 26-year-old woman cannot speak …