Moderator Role Under Scrutiny — Before the Debate  —  In a rare example of political unity, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of the Tuesday town hall has publicly described her role, TIME has learned.

Swing States poll: Women push Romney into lead  —  IN THE SWING STATES, THE POWER OF WOMEN  —  A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of the Swing States shows Mitt Romney with a lead among likely voters as he strengthens his standing with women in the nation's top battlegrounds.

Romney not taking in ‘The View’  —  (CNN) - After criticizing chat program “The View” on a secretly recorded video, and subsequently agreeing to come on the show, Mitt Romney has cancelled his upcoming appearance citing scheduling conflicts.  —  Barbara Walters, the show's creator and co-host, announced the news Monday.

The Tea Party Will Win in the End  —  This is a nation that loathes government and always has.  Liberals should not be deluded: The Goldwater revolution will ultimately triumph, regardless of what happens in November.  —  Were the 2012 campaign a Hitchcock movie, Mitt Romney would be the MacGuffin …

Jihadists Receiving Most Arms Sent to Syrian Rebels  —  WASHINGTON — Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups …

Oct. 14: Breaking the State-National Poll Stalemate  —  For the last week or so, we have been hoping to decode a confusing polling landscape.  President Obama still appeared to hold a narrow Electoral College lead on the basis of state-by-state surveys, while national polls were suggestive …

Bush in the Wilderness  —  And should that happen, the answer in be 2016 may be a GOP nominee with the courage of his more centrist positions.  In other words: Jeb.  Even his own son, George P., acknowledges that his father's declaration that 2012 was “probably my time” contains a significant caveat.

Mitt Romney: The Great Deformer  —  Is Romney really a job creator?  Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, takes a scalpel to the claims.  —  Bain Capital is a product of the Great Deformation.  It has garnered fabulous winnings through leveraged speculation in financial markets …

How Romney can win — and how Obama can avoid it  —  One thing Obama urgently needs to prevent during tomorrow's debate is this: He can't allow Mitt Romney to become the candidate of change in this race.  And that may be in the process of happening.  —  In an interview this morning …

Gary Johnson Libertarian Candidate Worries Republicans  —  When he was running for the Republican presidential nomination last year, Gary Johnson, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, drew ridicule from mainstream party members as he advocated legalized marijuana and a 43 percent cut in military spending.

Romney Raises $170 Million to Finance Final Push  —  Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have begun a late push to raise tens of millions of dollars in the closing weeks of the election, cash that will finance a last-minute barrage of advertising that Mr. Romney's aides believe is critical to beating President Obama.

Poll finds Akin with slight lead over McCaskill  —  Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) leads Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) in his bid for the Senate by a slim margin, according to a new poll.  —  Wenzel Strategies, a Republican leaning pollster, found Akin leading McCaskill 49 to 45 percent with 7 percent undecided.

Tommy Thompson's son calls for sending Obama back ‘to Kenya’  —  Jason Thompson, the son of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, was caught on video Sunday suggesting at a Republican event that voters this fall could send President Barack Obama back “to Kenya.”  —  “We have the opportunity …

Making Mitt: The Myth Of George Romney  —  The Republican nominee's father didn't walk out of the '64 convention.  And George Romney didn't teach Mitt that you lose by being honest — he taught him that you change your positions to win.  —  Everyone agrees: Mitt Romney is not like his father.

The 3 states that may decide the election  —  With less than a month until Election Day, the primary battlefields for the presidential campaign can be found in just three states: Ohio, Florida and Virginia.  —  In these big three, home to a combined 60 electoral votes …

Biden To Appear On Network Morning Shows After Obama-Romney Debate  —  Sign of confidence from the Obama campaign.  And a correction from the first debate.  —  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the vice presidential debate last week.  —  Image by Pool / Reuters

Video: Police Brutalize Defenseless Man at Aliya  —  CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — On Monday evening, October 8, 2012, police were called about a man who was sleeping in the lounge of the Aliya Institute on East New York Ave.  The caller may have mistakenly believed that the homeless man …

Death By Ideology  —  Mitt Romney doesn't see dead people.  But that's only because he doesn't want to see them; if he did, he'd have to acknowledge the ugly reality of what will happen if he and Paul Ryan get their way on health care.  —  Last week, speaking to The Columbus Dispatch …

Feds have more than 1,900 investigations open into alleged stimulus wrongdoing  —  Tweet Widget -  —  With little notice, inspectors generals across federal agencies are piecing together criminal and civil cases into stimulus money that was misspent, wasted or defrauded.