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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

Why the early vote looks good for Democrats  —  It's still very early in the early voting process, but at least for now, Democrats can be optimistic that they are building a lead in the 2012 presidential race.  —  Absentee and early voting data from nine states that are generally viewed …

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.

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.

Michelle Obama: ‘We Are in the Midst of a Huge Recovery’  —  (CNSNews.com) - First Lady Michelle Obama said in a radio interview on Friday that the United States is in the “midst of a huge recovery” because of what “this president has done.”  —  Pablo Sato, co-host of Pablo & Free on WPGC 95.5 …

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.

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.

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 …

Our Awful Economy, In One Chart  —  Michelle Obama says we are “in the midst of a huge recovery.”  That claim is laughable to anyone who has lived through the last four years; this simple chart from the Senate Budget Committee highlights one of the central failings of Obamanomics …

NEWS FLASH  —  PENNSYLVANIA GOP CANDIDATE: ‘WE HAVE TO BE A CHRISTIAN ARMY’ |  GOP candidate Diana Irey Vaughan spoke to ACTION, a conservative Christian activist group, in Lancaster County this weekend, to explain why she is running for state treasurer of Pennsylvania.

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 …