memeorandum: DO BLACK PEOPLE SUPPORT OBAMA BECAUSE HE'S BLACK? (Jesse Washington/Associated Press)

3:05 PM ET, October 14, 2012

Top Items:

Arlen Specter dies; he was Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator — View Photo Gallery — Former senator Arlen Specter dies: Specter, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1981 to 2011, died Sunday at his home in Philadelphia from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was 82.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway, Stinque and Business Insider

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Arlen Specter, 82, Dies; Former Senator From Pennsylvania — WASHINGTON — Arlen Specter, the irascible senator from Pennsylvania who was at the center of many of the Senate's most divisive legal battles — from the Supreme Court nominations of Robert H. Bork and Clarence Thomas to the impeachment …

Discussion: Hit & Run

Joe Sterling / CNN:

Arlen Specter dead at 82 — (CNN) — Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter — who embodied a dying breed of liberal Republicanism, switching to the Democratic Party at the twilight of his political career — died after a lengthy battle with cancer, his family announced Sunday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Towleroad News #gay

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Arlen Specter, former Pa. senator, dies at 82

Discussion: Politico

Ed Henry / Fox News:

Obama camp tips hand on debate, hints president will attack Romney on Bain — FILE: Oct. 3, 2012: President Obama and Mitt Romney shake hands with Ann Romney after the first presidential debate at the University of Denver, in Denver.AP — WILLIAMSBURG, VA. - As President Obama began …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and PoliPundit.com

Ben Geman / Ballot Box:
Axelrod defends White House on Libya, says Romney seeking to ‘exploit’ issue

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Margaret Talev / Bloomberg:
Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad

Discussion: The Political Carnival, The Raw Story and Mediaite

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
What Happened In Benghazi — The State Department has released …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, National Review and BuzzFeed

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Obama bites the hand that feeds him

Discussion: Wizbang, The Gateway Pundit and Fausta's Blog

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Sen. Rob Portman: Romney ‘Probably’ Could Win Election Without Winning Ohio — Speaking to me this morning on “This Week,” Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney could “probably” win the White House without a victory in the Buckeye State, a feat that no other Republican has accomplished.

Discussion: Washington Wire and The Hinterland Gazette

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama leads 51-46 in Ohio

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, American Power, Examiner, Outside the Beltway, Ballot Box and Booman Tribune

Sam Youngman / Reuters:
Romney closing gap in Ohio as poll numbers, crowds rise

Discussion: Da Tech Guy's Blog, The Other McCain and Scared Monkeys

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:

GOP Senator Denies Indisputable Facts On Obama's Employment Record — On ABC News' This Week Sunday morning, anchor Jake Tapper pressed GOP Sen. Rob Portman (OH) on Paul Ryan's false claim during the Vice Presidential debate that the unemployment rate is higher today then when Obama took office.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

David Rose / Daily Mail:

Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released... and here is the chart to prove it — The figures reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012 there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures — This means that the 'pause …

Discussion: Power Line, Riehl World News, Chicago Boyz, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Watts Up With That? and Instapundit

Chrystia Freeland / New York Times:

The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent — IN the early 14th century, Venice was one of the richest cities in Europe. At the heart of its economy was the colleganza, a basic form of joint-stock company created to finance a single trade expedition. The brilliance of the colleganza …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Middle Earth Journal and The Mahablog

Andy Sullivan / Reuters:

Obama grabs wide lead among those who have already voted: Reuters/Ipsos poll — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are neck and neck in opinion polls, but there is one area in which the incumbent appears to have a big advantage: those who have already cast their ballots.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Romney's plan to dump Bernanke sparking anxiety on Wall Street — Mitt Romney's promise to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if elected president is stirring anxiety among some financial analysts — who fear such a move could send the nation's markets tumbling.

Discussion: bustardblog, Prairie Weather and The New Republic

Jonathan Amos / BBC:

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner lands highest ever jump — Baumgartner stood for several seconds before leaping into the stratosphere — Austrian Felix Baumgartner has broken the record for the highest ever skydive by jumping out of a balloon 128,000ft (39km) above New Mexico.

Discussion: The Agonist

Mercury News:

California's retiring state workers cash in vacation for big bucks — They could leave their hearts in San Francisco — or any of the Golden State's other big vacation spots — but thousands of California's state workers won't even leave their desks. — An analysis of the last three years …

Discussion: Doug Ross

Jesse Washington / Associated Press:

DO BLACK PEOPLE SUPPORT OBAMA BECAUSE HE'S BLACK? — Surviving slavery, segregation and discrimination has forged a special pride in African-Americans. Now some are saying this hard-earned pride has become prejudice in the form of blind loyalty to President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, Booman Tribune, Da Tech Guy's Blog, The Hinterland Gazette and iOwnTheWorld.com

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

SNL's VP Debate: Belligerent Biden, Tough Gal Raddatz, And Water-Guzzling Ryan — Tonight's Saturday Night Live opened with a spoof of Thursday night's vice-presidential debate between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP challenger Paul Ryan, sparring no one and hitting everything …

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