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3:45 PM ET, October 12, 2012

Top Items:

Poll: Biden takes debate over Ryan, uncommitted voters say — Fifty percent of uncommitted voters who tuned into Thursday night's vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky., said they see Vice President Joe Biden as the winner over Mitt Romney's GOP running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., according to an instant poll taken by CBS News.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Politico, CNN, The Daily Beast, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, Forbes, Power Line, BuzzFeed, The Maddow Blog, Infidel753, AEIdeas, Capital New York, Capital Tonight, Daily Kos, PolicyMic, Prairie Weather and Business Insider

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.

Alex Wong / Rolling Stone:

The Vice Presidential Debate: Joe Biden Was Right to Laugh — I've never thought much of Joe Biden. But man, did he get it right in last night's debate, and not just because he walloped sniveling little Paul Ryan on the facts. What he got absolutely right, despite what you might read this morning …

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Raddatz Visited Biden at His Residence in March — White House records reveal that the moderator of last night's vice presidential debate, Martha Raddatz, visited Vice President Joe Biden at his official residence on March 26, 2012. Raddatz is an employee of ABC News.

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Lonely Conservative, The Week, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Joe Biden Dispenses With the Niceties — In case you missed it, I predicted that Paul Ryan would wipe the floor with Joe Biden. That did not so much happen. Ryan did not perform quite as well as I expected - he seemed greener, younger, and he visibly gulped when challenged.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Biden rattles Ryan — In the hours before Thursday night's vice presidential debate, word leaked that the Romney-Ryan campaign had instructed moderator Martha Raddatz to address Paul Ryan as “Mister” rather than “Congressman.” — To her credit, Raddatz ignored such instructions and referred …

Discussion: The Political Carnival, The Week, Angry Bear, Prairie Weather and The Fix

Wall Street Journal:

The Bully vs. the Wonk — The Veep's strategy: Show contempt for your opponent. — So now we know what Team Obama's comeback plan was following last week's defeat in the Presidential debate. Unleash Joe Biden to interrupt, filibuster, snarl, smirk and otherwise show contempt for Paul Ryan.

Discussion: Politico, The Moderate Voice, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Week, The Daily Beast, Washington Post and GayPatriot

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America — PHOTOGRAPH BY RICK WILKING/GETTY IMAGES … For the second time in as many presidential elections, Joseph Biden got to debate a young, attractive Republican candidate who was demonstrably less qualified to to be president than I am to be chairman of the World Bank.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog, The Maddow Blog and Balloon Juice

Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: Confusing Strength With Aggression

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice, Slate, The Week, Weekly Standard, BuzzFeed, The Caucus, Taegan Goddard's …, Power Line, Ed Driscoll, PolicyMic, Da Tech Guy's Blog and National Review

Patrick Gavin / Politico:
Twitter frowns on Joe Biden's laugh

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast, Michelle Malkin, Villainous Company, americanthinker.com, Townhall.com, Weekly Standard, Sweetness & Light, Betsy's Page, Liberal Values, National Review and American Spectator

Rick Wilson / Ricochet Conversations Feed: The Edge of Panic — Last night's performance by Biden â€" …

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
GOP not smiling over Biden's laughter at debate vs. Ryan

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Caller, National Review and Daily Kos

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Romney says Biden ‘doubling down on denial’ on Libya attacks

Discussion: Politico

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes; Update: CNN insta-poll of undecideds shows tie …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Slate, Search Engine Land, PoliticusUSA, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, WBUR, Questions and Observations, Instapundit, Hit & Run, americanthinker.com and Associated Press

Ricochet Conversations Feed:
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. : You Want To Win The Debate, But You Also Want To Win The Post-Debate

Discussion: GayPatriot

Amy Davidson / News Desk:
The Abortion Debate: Biden's Faith, Ryan's Extremism

Discussion: The Daily Beast, ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Dish and PolicyMic

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Very Quick Thoughts

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, The Week, Swampland, Guardian and National Review

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

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, American Prospect, Washington Post, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Wire, BREITBART.COM, The Jawa Report and Wall Street Journal

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
In Polls, Biden Gets a Hold

Discussion: Salon, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Colorlines, New York Times, BillMoyers.com, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Washington Monthly and Capital New York

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

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Maggie's Farm, National Review and Naked DC, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

White House: Obama and Biden were never aware of requests for more Benghazi security — Vice President Joseph Biden speaks only for himself and President Barack Obama, and neither man was aware that U.S. officials in Libya had asked the State Department for more security before the Sept. 11 attack …

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:

VIDEO CAPTURED LIBYA ATTACK — Footage from the night of Sept. 11 might be the clearest evidence yet of a military-style assault on the consulate in Benghazi. Eli Lake reports. — Video footage from the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya, taken the night of the Sept. 11 anniversary attacks …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Sen. Corker: Obama must have known what happened in Libya

Discussion: Instapundit and National Review

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Biden contradicts State Department on Benghazi security

usccb.org:

USCCB Responds To Inaccurate Statement Of Fact On HHS Mandate Made During Vice Presidential Debate — WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows: — Last night, the following statement was made during …

Discussion: CNSNews, protein wisdom, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler and FREEDOM EDEN

TWS Podcast / Weekly Standard: Kristol Reacts to the Vice Presidential Debate

Gene Maddaus / The Informer:

Brad Sherman Grabs Howard Berman At Debate, Challenges Him To A Fight — Think Biden-Ryan was a hard-fought debate? Then you missed the Berman-Sherman brawl up in the Valley today. — Congressman Brad Sherman put his arm around rival Congressman Howard Berman and challenged him to a fight, saying “Do you want to get into this?”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Influence Alley

Michael R. Blood / Associated Press:
Brad Sherman, Howard Berman Fight: California Congressional Race Turns Physical (VIDEO)

Discussion: Mediaite and National Review

Shelby Grad / PolitiCal:
Berman, Sherman get into near-altercation at forum [Video]

Discussion: CNN, Politico, The Fix, Wonkette, First Read, Hotline On Call, Business Insider, Gawker, The Raw Story and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Lindsay Lohan endorses Mitt Romney — LOS ANGELES - Four years ago, Lindsay Lohan referred to Obama's Presidential victory as “amazing,” but cut to 2012, and it seems the “Mean Girls” star has had a serious change of heart. — “I think unemployment is very important for now, so as of now I think …

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Hill, PopWatch and ABCNEWS

John Boone / E! Online:
NEWS/Lindsay Lohan: I'm Voting for Mitt Romney

Discussion: Business Insider, Reuters, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, New York Magazine, Hotline On Call and Gawker

Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:

The 6 Studies Paul Ryan Cited Prove Mitt Romney's Tax Plan Is Impossible — Romney's plan only works if you assume he has a different plan or use a magic growth asterisk — Paul Ryan finally had enough time to go through the math of the Romney tax plan during the vice-presidential debate.

Discussion: National Review

Bloomberg:
The Final Word on Mitt Romney's Tax Plan

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Daily Dish and Mother Jones

Amanda Peterson Beadle / ThinkProgress:

Todd Akin: No ‘Science’ Behind Evolution — Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has had trouble with facts about reproduction. He said in August that women cannot get pregnant from “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down.” And in 2008, Akin claimed that it is …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Friday Night Lights’ Creator Accuses Mitt Romney of Plagiarism in Threatening Letter (Exclusive) — “Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series,” Berg writes in the letter, challenging the GOP contender's use of “Clear Eyes. Full Hearts.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Gawker and Business Insider

Washington Post:

2012 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the European Union — View Photo Gallery — This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union. See a list of past Nobel Peace Prize winners honored before peacetime . . . or just aspirationally.

Discussion: PolicyMic and Simply Left BehindThe …

Nobelprize.org:
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2012

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, BBC, New York Times, National Review, FP Passport, Daniel W. Drezner, The Heritage Foundation, Business Insider, Telegraph, The Lede, FT Alphaville and Gawker

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Americans' Views of Obama More Polarized as Election Nears — Ninety percent of Democrats, 8% of Republicans approve of him — PRINCETON, NJ — Thus far in October, an average of 90% of Democrats, and 8% of Republicans, approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, ABCNEWS, Politico and Planet Washington

Lee Enterprises / Missoulian:

Grenade burns sleeping girl as SWAT team raids Billings home — A 12-year-old girl suffered burns to one side of her body when a flash grenade went off next to her as a police SWAT team raided a West End home Tuesday morning. — “She has first- and second-degree burns down the left side …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Hit & Run and The Agitator