memeorandum: Live-blogging the big VP debate. (Ann Althouse/Althouse)

1:40 AM ET, October 12, 2012

Top Items:

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Sources: Ryan to be called ‘mister,’ not ‘congressman,’ at debate (Updated) — When Paul Ryan and Joe Biden take the debate stage tonight in Danville, Ky., the form of address the debate moderator is supposed to use with the VP's opponent is “mister” instead of “congressman,” two sources confirmed to POLITICO.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, The Maddow Blog, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Taylor Marsh

Joe Biden / CNN:

CNN Poll: Debate watchers split on who won VP debate — Danville, Kentucky (CNN) - Call it a draw. — Forty-eight percent of voters who watched the vice presidential debate think that Rep. Paul Ryan won the showdown, according to a CNN/ORC International nationwide poll conducted right after Thursday night's faceoff.

Discussion: American Power, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Beast, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Instapundit

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes; Update: CNN insta-poll of undecideds shows tie; Update: Ryan wins CNN insta-poll overall, 48/44 — I expected “table-pounding atmospherics” from Biden but I didn't expect him to act like a total jackhole for fully 90 minutes.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Instapundit, NewsBusters.org blogs, Associated Press, Wizbang, Mediaite, The Daily Beast and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Patrick Gavin / Politico:

Twitter frowns on Joe Biden's laugh — Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan were the two candidates on stage at Thursday's vice presidential debate, but a third character emerged: Joe Biden's laugh, which didn't escape the notice of tweeting politicos.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed, American Spectator, The Lonely Conservative, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Hot Air and The Strata-Sphere

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

MEDIA HAMMERS BIDEN: ‘STOP SMIRKING!’ ‘WEIRD,’ ‘JERK’ — We're about thirty minutes into the debate and already Vide President Joe Biden is receiveing pretty tough reviews for his bizarre smiling and smirking as debate moderator Martha Raddatz talks about issues as serious as Iran getting a nuclear weapon.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Liberal Values, Riehl World News, RNC Research and Betsy's Page

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Biden contradicts State Department on Benghazi security — Vice President Joe Biden claimed that the administration wasn't aware of requests for more security in Libya before the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi during Thursday night's debate, contradicting two State Department officials …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Michelle Malkin, iOwnTheWorld.com, News Desk and Washington Examiner

Washington Free Beacon:

Cutter: Benghazi Is Only an Issue ‘Because of Romney and Ryan’ — Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Thursday that the “entire reason” the terrorist attack at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans has “become the political topic it is” is because Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan talk about the attack.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, The Other McCain, Wake up America, Power Line, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Da Tech Guy's Blog, The Lonely Conservative and protein wisdom

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

Live-blogging the big VP debate. — 6:45 Central Time: Get ready! — 7:18: “Paul Ryan's very attractive to a lot of women,” opines David Gergen on the CNN pre-show. I have the DVR set to play the debate on CNN, but I'm thinking of changing because they're going to display focus group reactions …

Ace / minx.cc:

Debate Thoughts: Lower Expectations — Let's look at reasons why that won't be so: — 1. The Moderator Chooses The Questions and Will Presumably Attempt to Maintain “Control.” — When liberals assailed Jim Lehrer for “losing control” — that is, permitting two highly accomplished …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, Instapundit and The Other McCain

Martha Raddatz / Fox News:
Transcript of vice presidential debate

Discussion: Weekly Standard, New York Magazine, ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, Washington Examiner and Politico

Paul Ryan / CNN:
Ryan aide says magazine used ‘poor judgment’ printing photos

Discussion: LightBox, New York Magazine and Election 2012

Bruce Kesler / Maggie's Farm:
Rude Biden Turns Off Many Independents

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite and GayPatriot

Tom Cohen / CNN:
Biden, Ryan slug it out in vice presidential debate

Discussion: PolicyMic, The Reaction, The Daily Beast and New York Magazine

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line: Thoughts on the vice-presidential debate

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
What I learned debating Paul Ryan

Discussion: ProPublica, PolicyMic, The Daily Caller, GOP 12, New York Times and No More Mister Nice Blog

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
Thoughts on the vice presidential debate

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed and GayPatriot

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: Biden Bombed — You don't win a nationally televised debate by being rude and obnoxious.

Sarah Parnass / ABCNEWS:
Getting to Know ABC News VP Debate Moderator Martha Raddatz

Discussion: PolicyMic, Politico, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Daily Beast, Boston Globe, The Daily Caller, CNN, ABCNEWS and Election 2012, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Live-Blogging The Biden-Ryan Debate

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and Mother Jones

David Weigel / Slate:
Can Joe Biden Save Barack Obama?

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Daily Dish, Liberal Values, Washington Post, The Week, The Atlantic Online, Newsy, PolicyMic and Business Insider

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Did Stephanie Cutter Just Win The Foreign Policy Debate For Romney? — In case you haven't seen the video, watch it. Drink it in. Obama campaign Deputy Communications Director Stephanie Cutter, in a craven and flailing attempt to salvage the White House's ebbing credibility surrounding …

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

Exclusive Video: Cutter Stands by Libya Comments, Refuses to Resign — DANVILLE, KY - Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter said she would “absolutely not” resign over comments she made earlier today on CNN, asserting that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are the “entire reason” …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

Wall Street Journal:
Obama and the L-Word — ‘Liar’ is potent and ugly—with a sleazy political pedigree.

Discussion: NO QUARTER USA NET, Washington Monthly, his vorpal sword, The Agonist, The Week, The Maddow Blog, GOP 12, Donklephant, The Impolitic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Instapundit

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Stephanie Cutter Says Libya Is A Political Topic “Because Of Mitt Romney And Paul Ryan”

Discussion: The Spectacle Blog, Politico, Mother Jones, The PJ Tatler and GOP 12

Trip Gabriel / The Caucus:
Romney Offers Sharp Criticism of Obama's Handling of Libya Terrorist Attacks

Discussion: New York Times, CNN and The Page

Adam C. Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Times/Bay News 9/Herald exclusive Florida poll: Romney 51, Obama 44 — Barack Obama's lackluster debate performance last week has dramatically altered the presidential race in Florida, with Mitt Romney opening up a decisive 7 percentage point lead, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/Miami Herald poll.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, Politico, Gretawire and The PJ Tatler

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Oh my: New Florida poll shows Romney up by seven overall — and up two among Latinos

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Very Quick Thoughts — I'll keep it brief. — I'd call the first exchange on foreign policy basically a draw. Biden was on uncomfortable terrain on the Libya story. On each successive encounter, Biden was on the offensive and owned the conversation. I don't think it was close.

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Matthews Confronts Lady Who Tells Him To Do His Homework, ‘Obama Is A Communist, Buddy’ — As MSNBC host Chris Matthews talked to people in the crowd outside the Danville, Kentucky location for tonight's vice presidential debate, he was interrupted by an older woman who insisted President Barack Obama is a communist and un-American.

Discussion: Gawker

Talking Points Memo:

Obama: Romney Now ‘Severely Kidding’ About Past Positions — In a notably sharper stump speech on Thursday, President Obama attacked Mitt Romney for his shifting positions on taxes, health care and education by using the Republican's own descriptor as “severely conservative.”

Discussion: GOP 12, Discourse.net, The Reality-Based Community and Taylor Marsh

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Why Wasn't Libya Hearing on Page A1 of The Times? — Stories about Wednesday's Congressional hearing on Libya were prominently displayed on the front pages of major newspapers throughout the United States on Thursday morning. — The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, for example …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NewsBusters.org blogs, National Review, Mediaite and New York Times

Dylan Byers / Politico:
New York Times: Nothing ‘significantly new’ in ‘politicized’ Libya hearings

Discussion: Hot Air and “The Lid”

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

We've Gotten To The Bottom Of The Mysterious Jobless Claims Report! — After this morning's surprisingly positive jobless claims number was released, three things happened: — Lots of people felt better about the economy — Democrats cheered because they thought the number would help Obama

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Newsy, iOwnTheWorld.com, Wall Street Journal and Instapundit

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, The Daily Beast and Shakesville

Joe Vardon / The Columbus Dispatch:
He tells ‘Dispatch’ those with pre-existing condition would have chance to get insurance

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Wonkette, Swampland, ABCNEWS, New York Times, theGrio, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Gawker, Wonkblog, The Maddow Blog, Washington Wire, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette, Election 2012 and The Raw Story

Tyler Durden / Zero Hedge:

Data Massaging Continues: Initial Claims Tumble To 339K Lowest Since 2008, Far Below Lowest Expectation — This is just getting stupid. After expectations of a rebound in initial claims from 367K last week (naturally revised higher to 369K), to 370K (with the lowest of all sellside expectations at 355K) …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, protein wisdom, The PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop and The Lonely Conservative

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.