memeorandum: Dems Lead GOP in Battleground Voter Registration (Julie Pace/Associated Press)

2:30 PM ET, October 11, 2012

Top Items:

Domenico Montanaro / First Read:

NBC/WSJ/Marist poll: Romney gains in key swing states — A week after President Barack Obama's lackluster debate performance, Republican challenger Mitt Romney has made some gains in three key swing states among those most likely to vote, according to the latest round of NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Fix, theGrio, The Week, Hot Air, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, AEIdeas, Public Policy Polling, Planet Washington, Election 2012, Da Tech Guy's Blog, Fox News and Ballot Box

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Oct. 10: Is Romney Leading Right Now? — Polling since the debate in Denver last week has generally been very strong for Mitt Romney. But there have also been a couple of rays of hope for Democrats and President Obama. — One hypothesis is that Mr. Romney's debate bounce was initially very strong, but has since faded some.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, Taegan Goddard's …, The New Republic and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal:

Obama and the L-Word — ‘Liar’ is potent and ugly—with a sleazy political pedigree. — The election campaign of the 44th U.S. president is now calling another candidate for the American presidency a “liar.” This is a new low. It is amazing and depressing to hear this term being used …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, GOP 12, The Maddow Blog, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Week and Instapundit

New York Times:

Voters Give Romney Better Grades for Leadership, Polls in 3 States Find — WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is seen by more voters in three battleground states as a strong leader after his dominant debate performance last week, but perceptions that the economy is improving remain a buttress …

Discussion: The Caucus, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Hullabaloo, Washington Wire, Jammie Wearing Fools and Prairie Weather

CBS News:

Poll: Romney edges Obama in Colo., narrows gap in Wis. — On the heels of last week's presidential debate, Mitt Romney has emerged with a one-point edge over President Obama in Colorado and has cut the president's lead in half in Wisconsin, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll.

Discussion: Gallup, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Fix, Politico, Weasel Zippers and Outside the Beltway

Jparkercbs / CBS San Francisco:

CBS 5 Poll: Romney Gains 8 Points On Faltering Obama In California — SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) — The effects of President Barack Obama's falter in the first debate with Mitt Romney are not just being felt in battleground states, according to KPIX-TV CBS 5′s latest tracking poll of California …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Scared Monkeys, The New Republic, Jammie Wearing Fools and Riehl World News

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Letting us in on a secret — When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA's cover. — The purpose of Wednesday's hearing of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee …

Discussion: The Agonist, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, The Week, emptywheel, AMERICAblog, New York Times, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, News Desk, Weekly Standard, Wired, The Hill and Taylor Marsh

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

An ‘Appropriate’ fiasco — Bizarre testimony on Libya — At yesterday's incendiary, four-hour hearing in Washington, congressional Republicans ripped into two high-ranking State Department officials who struggled to explain away the administration's utterly baffling behavior …

Discussion: Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, Power Line, ABCNEWS, americanthinker.com and Betsy's Page

Sarah Bufkin / The Huffington Post:
Jason Chaffetz Admits House GOP Cut Funding For Embassy Security: ‘You Have To Prioritize Things’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, Liberty Street, CNN and The Lede

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Mother of Slain State Dept. Official Tired of Being Lied To and Stonewalled by Obama Administration

Discussion: CNN, protein wisdom, Politico, The PJ Tatler and The Lonely Conservative

Rep. Mike Kelly / Washington Times:
Libya security cut while Vienna embassy gained Chevy Volts

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Wizbang, Weasel Zippers, The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

What I learned debating Paul Ryan — In February 2010, I sat down to talk health-care policy with Rep. Paul Ryan. Ryan wasn't yet the lion of the right that he is today, but he had a reputation as an unusually wonkish legislator, and he didn't disappoint.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Mike Allen / Politico:
Biden seeks to calm left — Ryan to claim misrepresentations by Obama — New swing-state polls …

Discussion: New York Times, Boston Globe, First Read and americanthinker.com

Dana Bash / CNN:
CNN exclusive: Ryan's debate prep as meticulous as he is

Discussion: PolicyMic, Althouse, Capital Tonight, Politico and No More Mister Nice Blog

Politico:
5 things to watch in VP debate

Discussion: CNN, Politicker, Pirate's Cove and Reuters

Joe Vardon / The Columbus Dispatch:

He tells ‘Dispatch’ those with pre-existing condition would have chance to get insurance — A Mitt Romney administration overhaul of President Barack Obama's health-care law would provide those without insurance who have a pre-existing condition the opportunity to gain coverage …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wonkblog, ThinkProgress, New York Times, The Maddow Blog, Guardian, Daily Kos, Gawker, The Raw Story, The Hinterland Gazette and Election 2012

Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:

Romney: 'We Don't Have People Who Die Because They Don't Have Insurance' — Mitt Romney doubled down on his suggestion that uninsured Americans can find the care they need in emergency rooms, telling The Dispatch that people will always receive the treatment they need, and do not die or suffer because they can not pay for care.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Beast and Shakesville

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: Politics and the Gallup Poll — Since about the beginning of President Obama's tenure, the Gallup poll has generally been one of the least positive polls for the Democratic party. This has prompted outrage and pressure from the left—even from presidential advisor David Axelrod.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Ricochet Conversations Feed and americanthinker.com

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Obama gets a boost after Gallup tweaks polling methodology

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Frank Newport / Gallup.Com:
Survey Methods, Complex and Ever Evolving

Discussion: The New Republic

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Bus Driver Tells 12 Year-Old He Should Have Been Aborted Because of Romney Yard Sign — A bus driver told a 12 year-old student that he should have been aborted because his family had a Romney-Ryan sign in their yard. — Freedom Eden reported: … UPDATE: The bus driver was fired after the report on Mark's show.

Discussion: LifeNews.com and Weasel Zippers

Mary / FREEDOM EDEN:

New Berlin School Bus Driver Tells Child He Should Have Been Aborted — Mark Belling discussed this story on his radio program yesterday. It's another tale of a Leftist behaving badly. — The Leftist, a 78-year-old woman, a New Berlin school bus driver, has been harassing a student …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Wake up America and Riehl World News

Associated Press:

Yemen security chief at US Embassy killed in Sanaa — SANAA, YEMEN - A masked gunman assassinated a Yemeni security official at the U.S. Embassy in a drive-by shooting in the capital Sanaa on Thursday, officials said. — The Yemeni officials said the killing bore the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda attack …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report

Nasser Arrabyee / New York Times:
Yemeni Employee at U.S. Embassy in Sana Is Shot Dead

Discussion: CNN, Newsy and BBC

Mohammed Ghobari / Reuters:
Gunmen kill U.S. embassy employee in Yemen

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, The Heritage Foundation and The Agonist

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Jobless Claims Fall — The number of U.S. workers filing applications for jobless benefits fell last week, a hopeful sign for the job market following the recent drop in the unemployment rate to its lowest level since January 2009. — Initial jobless claims—a measure of layoffs …

Discussion: Business Insider, “The Lid” and Hit & Run

Associated Press: Fewest Americans since Feb. 2008 seek jobless aid

Sean Higgins / Washington Examiner:

Obama campaign refers to liberal bloggers as “tinfoil hat crowd” — The Obama campaign referred to several major liberal bloggers as the “tinfoil hat crowd” in a statement to Fox News Wednesday. The campaign was responding to the cable channel's request for a comment on an Internet conspiracy theory many of them had promoted.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Fox News, NewsBusters.org blogs, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Dan Miller / XBIZ Newswire:

Poll: Adult Industry Backs Obama, Romney Limps — LOS ANGELES — The adult entertainment industry overwhelmingly favors re-electing Barack Obama to a second term as president, according to the results of a new industry poll conducted by media organization XBIZ.

Discussion: Politico and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Lai / Philly.com:

Romney calls girl at center of T-shirt controversy — Mitt Romney called Samantha Pawlucy on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the campaign confirmed by email this morning. — The Romney campaign will not be issuing a formal statement, according to spokeswoman Kate Meriwether, who declined to provide details.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Riehl World News and Election 2012

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

Lena Dunham Is Not Your Problem — The Girls creator and her $3.7 million book advance have come under intense scrutiny they don't quite deserve. — Lena Dunham — Andrew Sullivan rounds up two differing opinions on the $3.7 million book advance given to Lena Dunham.

Discussion: Salon and Taylor Marsh

RealClearPolitics Video Log:

Wasserman Schultz: Wrong Statements About Libya Doesn't Mean They Were False — Piers Morgan, CNN: The really important horse that should be flogged is the behavior and the statements of those who are in positions of responsibility and we would assume knowledge.