Comedic relief: Obama, Romney bring on the jokes at annual dinner  —  New York (CNN) - President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were within arm's length for the second time this week, as they shared the stage at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner Thursday and delivered feisty quips at each other's expense.

Gallup vs. the World  —  Our regularly scheduled forecast update for Wednesday slipped through the cracks.  The FiveThirtyEight forecast was not much changed based on Wednesday's polls, however, with Barack Obama's chances of winning the Electoral College increasing incrementally to 65.7 percent from 64.8 percent.

Parsing Obama on Guantanamo  —  What exactly did President Barack Obama mean when he suggested Thursday that Congress needs to do more to establish a “legal architecture” to govern aspects of the war on terror?  —  “One thing we have got to do is put a legal architecture in place …

U.S. description of Benghazi attacks, at first cautious, changed after 3 days  —  Glass, debris and overturned furniture are strewn inside a room in the gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 |  WASHINGTON — In the first 48 hours after the deadly Sept. 11 attacks …

Our pick for president: Romney  —  (Rainier Ehrhardt, Getty Images / October 11, 2012)  —  Two days after his lackluster first debate performance, President Barack Obama's re-election hopes got a timely boost.  The government's monthly jobless report for September showed …

Suspect in Libya Attack, in Plain Sight, Scoffs at U.S.  —  BENGHAZI, Libya — Just days after President Obama vowed to hunt down and bring to justice those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the American diplomatic compound here, Ahmed Abu Khattala, one of those considered a ringleader …

Fidel Castro suffered a stroke, Venezuelan doctor says  —  A Naples doctor said former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is near ‘a neurovegetative state’ after suffering a stroke.  —  JCCHAVEZ@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM  —  Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and his state …

Arrest made in Harrisonburg voter registration case  —  The Rockingham County Sheriff's office has arrested a Pennsylvania man and charged him with attempting to throw away filled out voter registration forms.  —  Colin Small, 31 year old male from Phoenixville, PA has been charged …

Walsh, Duckworth clash on Medicare, abortion  —  Republican Rep. Joe Walsh and Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth used the final face-to-face meeting of their campaign Thursday night to stress differences over the future of Medicare, a program she said should be a “guarantee” but one he said “would end as we know it” unless reformed.

Snow Job on Jobs  —  Mitt Romney talks a lot about jobs.  But does he have a plan to create any?  —  You can defend President Obama's jobs record — recovery from a severe financial crisis is always difficult, and especially so when the opposition party does its best to block every policy initiative you propose.

Casey finds himself in tight race; Pa. in play for president  —  What once seemed inconceivable to Democrats now has shifted into the realm of the possible.  —  U.S. Sen. Bob Casey could lose his re-election bid and a Democratic presidential candidate, President Barack Obama, could lose Pennsylvania for the first time since 1988.

Video: Let's ask young Obama supporters what they think about Benghazi  —  I can't resist this delicious piece of video from an Obama rally at a Ohio university from our friends at Revealing Politics.  The way Kelly Maher tells it, this endeavor started innocently as a project to determine whether rank …

GOP Senate Candidate Admits To Owning Stock In Companies That Do Business With Iran  —  Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson (R) acknowledged during a debate on Thursday that he recently sold stock in a company that did business with Iran, only after news reports highlighted his interests in the companies.

Poll shows Romney leading in blue Pennsylvania … A new poll shows Republican Mitt Romney leading in Pennsylvania, a state that Republicans had all but written off just weeks ago but which is now listed as a toss up by the Real Clear Politics website.  —  Susquehanna Polling and Research provided …

Newsweek CEO: Dumping Print ‘Liberates Us’  —  Plans to Charge $24.99 For an Annual Digital-Only Subscription  —  There's been a deathwatch for the print edition of Newsweek ever since IAC CEO Barry Diller hinted in July that print would go away or be scaled back in 2013.

Minnesota Gives Coursera the Boot, Citing a Decades-Old Law  —  Coursera offers free, online courses to people around the world, but if you live in Minnesota, company officials are urging you to log off or head for the border.  —  The state's Office of Higher Education has informed …

Is This Really Goodbye?  —  Much has been said of Hillary Clinton (and little spared) during her two decades in the public eye.  Now, as she prepares to step down as secretary of state, the most accomplished and, arguably, misunderstood woman in recent history insists she's done with public life for good.

Akin, McCaskill get testy in final debate  —  For all the controversy surrounding the Missouri Senate seat, the final debate in this crucial race came down to one basic question: Is Rep. Todd Akin a political extremist, or is Sen. Claire McCaskill attached to President Barack Obama's hip?