memeorandum: Questions on Benghazi — Where is CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus? (Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post)

9:50 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, Booman Tribune, Stinque, Business Insider and Liberty Street

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Senator, Is Dead at 82

Discussion: Democracy in America, The Other McCain, Hit & Run and Daily Kos

Joe Sterling / CNN:
Arlen Specter dead at 82

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Towleroad News #gay, Scared Monkeys and PoliPundit.com

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

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politico, Newsy and Associated Press

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Questions on Benghazi — Where is CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus? He seems to be the missing man in the unfolding Benghazi debacle. It is his agency, among others, which is being fingered by the White House for getting the Libya attack wrong. However, we know that within a very short …

Discussion: Hot Air and New York Times

Margaret Talev / Bloomberg:

Libyan Ambassador's Death Not a Political Issue, Says Dad — The father of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attack in Benghazi last month, said his son's death shouldn't be politicized in the presidential campaign. — “It would really be abhorrent …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Political Carnival, AMERICAblog, Mediaite and The Raw Story

Ed Henry / Fox News:
Obama camp tips hand on debate, hints president will attack Romney on Bain

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, PoliPundit.com and The PJ Tatler

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

Discussion: Politico and CNN

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

Discussion: Wake up America, Da Tech Guy's Blog, The Other McCain, Scared Monkeys and Public Policy Polling

Jonathan Amos / BBC:

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner breaks sound barrier — Highlights from Felix Baumgartner's leap into the record books — Austrian Felix Baumgartner has become the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound, reaching a top speed of 833.9mph (1,342km/h).

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The Impolitic, The Agonist and Planetsave

John Tierney / New York Times:

Felix Baumgartner Was Just Thinking About Coming Home — ROSWELL, N.M. — Felix Baumgartner, the professional daredevil, said he was not thinking about setting records or collecting scientific data in the moments before he jumped from a capsule more than 24 miles high.

Discussion: CNN, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and Balloon Juice

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Fear-Chucker: Fox Contributor Mark Sanford Says Obama To ‘Throw A Lot Of Spears’ At Debate — Former South Carolina Governor and Fox News contributor Mark Sanford wandered off the Appalachian Trail again Sunday morning when, in yet another completely isolated example of a Republican …

Discussion: Firedoglake

David Edwards / The Raw Story:

Mark Sanford: Obama will ‘throw a lot of spears’ at next debate — The disgraced former Republican governor of South Carolina on Sunday used a racially-coded term in his prediction that the nation's first African-American president would go on attack and “throw a lot of spears” at Tuesday's town hall debate.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Wisconsin Senate Candidate's Son Says We “Have The Opportunity” To Send Obama Back To Kenya — Jason Thompson, the son of former Governor and Wisconson Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, speaking this morning at a brunch attended RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said that “we have the opportunity …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Political Carnival and The Reality-Based Community

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

Another CEO Threatens To Fire Employees If Obama Wins — Last week, billionaire CEO David Siegel, who runs a timeshare empire, threatened to fire employees if President Obama is reelected in November, saying in an email, “the economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Up with Chris Hayes

Mike Elk / In These Times:
Koch Sends Pro-Romney Mailing to 45,000 Employees While Stifling Workplace Political Speech

Discussion: Up with Chris Hayes, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Raw Story

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: Riehl World News, Weasel Zippers, Power Line, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Chicago Boyz, Conservatives4Palin, Watts Up With That? and Instapundit

Jennifer O'Mahony / Telegraph:

Muslims protest ‘age of mockery’ as thousands descend on Google HQ — Thousands of Muslims have pledged a series of protests against Google HQ for a “hateful and offensive” anti-Islam video, saying they now live in an “age of mockery”. — A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices …

Discussion: Jihad Watch

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

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: Obsidian Wings, Hullabaloo, Middle Earth Journal, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly 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