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.

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 …

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.

Volt no jolt: LG Chem employees idle  —  Factory has yet to ship out a single battery  —  HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games …

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.

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 …

GOP seizes Obama ‘optimal’ moment  —  Republicans on Friday pounced on President Barack Obama for saying that the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi were not “optimal” -the latest instance of a candidate's choice of words becoming an issue in the race - while Paul Ryan used the opportunity …

The Possibility of a Popular, Electoral Vote Split is Very Real  —  Don't be too surprised if Romney wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College in this presidential race.  —  Nail-biter: George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.  —  Partisans still hoping that their candidate will build …

Latinos, Religion and Campaign 2012  —  Catholics Favor Obama, Evangelicals Divided  —  Navigate this page:  —  Partisanship  —  Latinos are divided by religion in their preferences in the upcoming presidential election, according to the latest survey by the Pew Hispanic Center …

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 …

You thought the whole ‘EUSSR’ thing was over the top?  Have a look at this poster  —  Take a close look at this promotional poster.  Notice anything?  Alongside the symbols of Christianity, Judaism, Jainism and so on is one of the wickedest emblems our species has conceived: the hammer and sickle.

Polls: Obama holds his lead in Iowa, Wisconsin  —  With fewer than three weeks until Election Day, new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls show President Barack Obama maintaining his lead over Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground states of Iowa and Wisconsin.

MSNBC Host Challenges Romney Son to Fight  —  MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell challenged Republican nominee Mitt Romney's son, Tagg, to a fight at the conclusion of his program Thursday evening:  —  LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Okay, Taggert, let's have a little talk, just you and me.

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 …

Man registering voters for GOP accused of tossing forms in trash  —  A man who was being paid to register voters by the Republican Party of Virginia was arrested Thursday after he was seen dumping eight registration forms into a dumpster.  —  Colin Small, 31, was working as a supervisor …

Romney ‘Super PAC’ Makes $12 Million Ad Buy  —  The “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney is making its most aggressive and expensive push yet in the advertising wars with a $12 million ad buy in nine states.  —  The expenditure represents a significant expansion of the group's advertising campaign …

Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary  —  Technical information:  —  Employment: (202) 691-6559 * sminfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/sae  —  Unemployment: (202) 691-6392 * lausinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/lau  —  Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov

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.

Obama leads by 1 point in tracker  —  PPP's three day rolling national tracking poll finds Barack Obama pulling slightly ahead of Mitt Romney based on interviews conducted between Tuesday and Thursday.  Obama's at 48% to 47% for Romney after leading by small margins with voters polled on each …

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 …

Endorsement: Barack Obama for president  —  With the nation mired in two wars and amid an economic meltdown, we endorsed a largely untested young senator from Illinois for president in 2008.  —  Four years later, the Iraq war is over, the war in Afghanistan has a conclusion in sight …

Why the chill on climate change?  —  Not a word has been said in the presidential debates about what may be the most urgent and consequential issue in the world: climate change.  —  President Obama understands and accepts the scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is trapping heat …