memeorandum: Islamic Inscriptions On Obama's Wedding Ring, And Other Things I Learned At A Romney Debate Watch Party (Scott Keyes/ThinkProgress)

9:30 AM ET, October 18, 2012

Top Items:

A TURN OF THE PAGE FOR NEWSWEEK — After 80 years in print, the newsmagazine adopts an all-digital format. — We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013.

Discussion: Washington Wire, New York Magazine, This Just In, Media Decoder, The Verge, Deadline.com, Outside the Beltway, Agence France Presse, The Daily Caller, Gawker, Telegraph and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Tagg Romney jokes about ‘swing’ at Obama — Mitt Romney's eldest son joked in a radio interview that he wanted to “take a swing” at President Barack Obama after Obama called his father a liar. — “Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the stage and take a swing at him,” Tagg said, laughing.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite and Towleroad News #gay

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog, New York Magazine, The Hinterland Gazette and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

GottaLaff / The Political Carnival:
AUDIO: Tagg Romney says he wanted to take a swing at President Obama

Discussion: MoveOn.Org, The Moderate Voice, theGrio and Election 2012

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Tagg Romney Says He Wants To ‘Take A Swing’ At Obama

Discussion: The Raw Story and Business Insider

Mike Elk / Working In These Times:

In Conference Call, Romney Urged Businesses To Tell Their Employees How to Vote — In a June 6, 2012 conference call posted on the anti-union National Federation of Independent Business's website, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instructed employers to tell their employees how to vote in the upcoming election.

Discussion: Sky Dancing, New York Magazine, The Hinterland Gazette, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars and Mediaite

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Leaked Audio Captures Romney Asking Employers To Tell Their Employees How To Vote — Newly-discovered audio from a conference call in June captures Mitt Romney asking business owners to urge their employees to vote for him. — Romney, speaking on a call to the very conservative National Federation …

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Team Romney won't rein in GOP nominee during third debate — Mitt Romney's campaign indicated Wednesday they have no plans to rein in the GOP nominee during the third and final presidential debate. — Romney's aggressive performance Tuesday night — directly challenging President Obama …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

CNN Explains — TMZ says it has obtained an email from CNN's Managing Editor, Mark Whitaker, to CNN personnel. The email sets out talking points in response to criticism of Candy Crowley's performance as a debate moderator last night. It is pretty funny; this is the complete email, according to TMZ:

DrewM / minx.cc:
Crowley On September 30th: Administration Took Weeks To Admit Benghazi Might Be A Terrorist Attack

Discussion: CNN, The PJ Tatler, Mediaite and Jammie Wearing Fools

New York Post:

Terrorist attempts to blow up Federal Reserve Bank — A Bangladeshi terrorist tried to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan this morning using a 1,000-pound bomb, according to a criminal complaint. — Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, of Jamaica, Queens …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Jawa Report, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative, New York Magazine, Gothamist and National Review

New York Times:
Man Accused of Plot to Blow Up Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Newsy and FP Passport

Fox News:
Bangladeshi man arrested after allegedly trying to blow up Fed building in NYC

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, This Just In, Jihad Watch and The PJ Tatler

nbcnewyork.com:
Suspected Terrorist Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack Federal Reserve in NYC

Discussion: Gawker, The Agonist, Mediaite, FBI, Jihad Watch, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and Newsy

ABC 7 Eyewitness News:
Plot foiled to attack Federal Reserve in Manhattan

Discussion: Forbes, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch and LewRockwell.com Blog

Politico:

GOP's problems exposed in struggle for Senate — In 2010, when Republicans stumbled on what had been a clear path to winning control of the Senate, GOP operatives comforted themselves with a defiant vow: Just wait 'til next time. — Now, next time is here — and the GOP is in danger …

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box: Senate candidates in tough races raise $57M

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Report: Obama campaign turning grim on Florida, Virginia, North Carolina — and Colorado? — You need to read way, way, way down into this National Journal piece to find the key bit, but it's worth it. Says Jay Cost, “I've never seen anybody bury a lede like Major Garrett here.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Major Garrett / NationalJournal.com:
The Four Ls and Four States: What's Next in the Obama-Romney Duel

Discussion: Battleground Watch, American Spectator and National Review

Bruce Springsteen / The Official Bruce …:

A Message From Bruce — Dear Friends: — The election is coming up on all of us and we all have strong feelings about it. I've been getting asked a lot about where I stand, so for those who are interested, here goes. — This presidential election is different than the last one because President Obama …

Discussion: The Caucus and New York Magazine

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

At Last Night's Debate: Romney Told 31 Myths In 41 Minutes — But at his second encounter with Obama in New York, the GOP presidential candidate — who has run a post-truth campaign from day one — outdid himself and crammed 31 myths in 41 minutes: — 1) “I want to make sure we keep our Pell grant program growing.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Liberal Values, Balloon Juice, MoveOn.Org, USA Today and FactCheck.org

Wall Street Journal:

Henninger: The Un-President — Barack Obama shows an unerring instinct for policy deniability. — Conventional wisdom holds that Barack Obama “lost” in Denver because he lacked intensity. He brought his A-game to Hofstra this week. There's still a problem.

Discussion: Power Line

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Islamic Inscriptions On Obama's Wedding Ring, And Other Things I Learned At A Romney Debate Watch Party — LAS VEGAS, Nevada — If I learned anything from watching last night's presidential debate in a room full of Mitt Romney supporters, it's that President Obama cannot speak English …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dylan Matthews / Wonkblog:

Who wins under Mitt Romney's cap plan, in one chart — Despite its vagueness, Mitt Romney's proposal to cap itemized deductions is prompting some insightful analyses from reputable think tanks. On Tuesday, Third Way released a report estimating that a $25,000 cap on deductions …

Discussion: TaxVox and The Baseline Scenario

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Report: Family says former Sen. McGovern ‘no longer responsive’ — The family of former presidential candidate and Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.) said Wednesday that he was “no longer responsive” after being moved to hospice care earlier this week. — The family issued a statement through …

Discussion: Simply Left BehindThe …

Jason Noble / Des Moines Register:

In full-page newspaper ad, 13 Iowa voters apologize for supporting Obama in 2008 — A full-page Mitt Romney campaign ad in today's Cedar Rapids Gazette takes the form of an open letter from 13 Iowans who say they voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 but regret their choice and won't do so again in 2012.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Battleground Watch

Gregory J. Krieg / ABCNEWS:
Obama Mocks Romney in Iowa Over ‘Binders’

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Politico

Jeffrey H. Anderson / Weekly Standard:

The 7-Eleven Presidency — In the wake of the Treasury Department's newly released summary of federal spending for 2012, it's now possible to detail just how profligate the Obama years have been. Here's the upshot: Under Obama, for every $7 we've had, we've spent nearly $11 (or, to be more exact, $10.95).

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

Justin Sink / The Hill:

First lady: President 'didn't point fingers, didn't place blame' — First lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday that President Obama did not look to blame others for the challenges he faced as president, an apparent rebuke to Republican accusations that the White House continues to point …

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Bloomberg Jumps Into '12 Races With New ‘Super PAC’ — Seeking to reshape a national political debate he finds frustratingly superficial, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is plunging into the 2012 campaign in its final weeks, creating his own “super PAC” to direct millions of dollars …

Discussion: Capital New York, Metropolis, New York Magazine, Forbes, Politicker, Mike Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog, Newsy, Business Insider, Mediaite and Election 2012

Linda Greenhouse / Opinionator:

Reaping the Whirlwind — On reading the transcript and listening to the audio of last week's Supreme Court argument in the University of Texas affirmative action case, my primary reaction was one of embarrassment — for the court and also for Texas. — First the court.

Steve Friess / Politico:

Horsford struggles vs. Tarkanian in Nev. — NORTH LAS VEGAS — By all accounts, Democrat Steven Horsford should be on a cakewalk to Washington in Nevada's new 4th Congressional District. — The district's demographics — 36,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans …

Discussion: National Review

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

2nd Debate Also a Ratings Hit, Drawing 65.6 Million At-Home Viewers — The second debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney reached nearly as many people as the first debate, according to Nielsen, reflecting robust and sustained interest in the presidential election three weeks before Election Day.

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Daily Beast