memeorandum: Oct. 21: Uncertainty Clouds Polling, but Obama Remains Electoral College Favorite (Nate Silver/FiveThirtyEight)

4:50 PM ET, October 22, 2012

Top Items:

James Hohmann / Politico:

Battleground Tracking Poll: Mitt Romney takes lead — DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney has taken a narrow national lead, tightened the gender gap and expanded his edge over President Barack Obama on who would best grow the economy. — A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, AEIdeas, Weasel Zippers, LifeNews.com, Washington Examiner, The PJ Tatler, White House Dossier, Taylor Marsh, American Power and Wall Street Journal

CBS News:

Poll: Obama's lead in Ohio narrows — President Obama is holding on to a five-point lead over Republican Mitt Romney in Ohio, but that margin has been cut in half since September, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News poll. — Mr. Obama holds a 50 to 45 percent lead …

Discussion: The New Republic, National Review, The Fix, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Colorlines, GayPatriot, American Prospect, Election 2012 and The Raw Story

Politico:

Obama vs. Romney: How they plan to win — It's momentum vs. the map. — With a little more than two weeks left until judgment day, Barack Obama's campaign is embracing a fundamentally defensive strategy centered on winning Ohio at all costs — while unleashing a new barrage of blistering attacks …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh and Telegraph

Quinnipiac News + Events:
Release Detail — October 22, 2012 - Women Put Obama Up 5 Points …

Discussion: The Caucus and National Review

Marjorie Connelly / The Caucus:
Ohio Race Tightens in New Poll

Discussion: Washington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Capital New York, Jammie Wearing Fools, American Power and Taylor Marsh

Andrew Fifield / Twitchy:

Spelling is hard: Obama supporters wear ‘Foward’ T-shirts at Biden rally, tweet #Foward; Update: #Foward hashtag hilarity … Oh, dear! Seriously, our aching sides can't take much more. But, wait, there's more! It wasn't just one woman who was wearing a T-shirt reading “foward”; it was two!

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and GayPatriot

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Oct. 21: Uncertainty Clouds Polling, but Obama Remains Electoral College Favorite — The bad news for President Obama: it's been almost a week since the second presidential debate, in Hempstead, N.Y., one that instant-reaction polls said was a narrow victory for him.

Discussion: ACS Blog, Booman Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog and Princeton Election Consortium

Molly Ball / Associated Press:

Revenge of the Soccer Moms: Why Are Women Abandoning Obama? — CHANTILLY, Virginia — Remember the War on Women? — A few months ago, it seemed like the battle for women's votes was one Democrats had decisively won. While (male) Republican politicians talked about transvaginal ultrasounds …

Discussion: Riehl World News, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Hot Air

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
‘Gender Gap’ Near Historic Highs

Discussion: OpenSecrets.org, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Guardian, Balloon Juice, Althouse, The Raw Story, Prairie Weather and The Mahablog

Wall Street Journal:

Intelligence Stressed Libya Protest Scenario — In Reports to Obama, CIA Didn't Alter Assessment of Trigger for Violence for 10 Days, Even as Witness Accounts Disputed It — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama was told in his daily intelligence briefing for more than a week after the consulate siege …

Discussion: Video Cafe blogs, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and The Hill

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

Explanation for Benghazi Attack Under Scrutiny — WASHINGTON — Even as Susan E. Rice took to the Sunday talk shows last month to describe the Obama administration's assessment of the Sept. 11 attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, intelligence analysts suspected that the explanation was outdated.

Discussion: Taking Note, NewsBusters.org blogs, The PJ Tatler, Lawfare, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, American Power, Capital New York, The Daily Beast and The Caucus

Rick Tyler / Talking Points Memo:

Akin Adviser: If A Dog, McCaskill Would Be A ‘Bullshitsu’ — Rick Tyler, an adviser to Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin in Missouri, tweeted Monday that if Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill were a dog, she would be a “Bullshitsu.” … The comment comes after Akin drew fire …

Discussion: PoliticMo

BuzzFeed:
Akin Camp Runs With “Dog” Remark

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

John Eligon / New York Times:
G.O.P.'s Beleaguered Akin Draws Ire Over ‘Fetch’ Talk

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Roll Call, Politico, msnbc.com, The Hill and The Maddow Blog

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Russell Means, Who Revived Warrior Image of American Indian, Dies at 72 — Russell C. Means, the charismatic Oglala Sioux who helped revive the warrior image of the American Indian in the 1970s with guerrilla-tactic protests that called attention to the nation's history of injustices …

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and Colorlines

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Biden blasts Romney, Ryan in Ohio — CANTON, Ohio - As President Obama headed to Boca Raton, Florida, for the final debate on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day tour of crucial battleground state Ohio. — At his first event at a community center here in Canton …

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Reporter ‘not allowed’ to talk to voters at Biden event

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Weasel Zippers

Michelle Malkin:

The bias of Bob Schieffer: Top 7 moments — In August, I blasted the Commission on Presidential Debate's choices of three Beltway lib journo-tools — CNN's Candy Crowley, PBS's Jim Lehrer and CBS's Bob Schieffer. So far, they've acted just as expected and predicted. As I noted:

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and LifeNews.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Wow, CNN ... Check out the front page feature story on CNN right now. A eye-popper even in the long sad tale of CNN's decline. Screen cap after the jump ... CNN front page, 9:14 AM, October 22nd, 2012. — I'll note that the piece itself is not nearly as bad as the headline.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Brian Truitt / USA Today:

Clark Kent makes a major life change in new ‘Superman’ — Mild-mannered reporter leaves The Daily Planet — 2:22PM EDT October 22. 2012 - The Daily Planet has a new job opening. — In Superman issue 13, the Man of Steel's alter ego, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jim Romenesko:
Clark Kent quits the Daily Planet in Superman #13 — and he doesn't go quietly.

Discussion: Mashable!, more at Mediagazer »

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Soledad O'Brien to Rudy Giuliani: ‘Let me finish’ — CNN host Soledad O'Brien and Rudy Giuliani clashed on Monday, with the the former New York City mayor accusing O'Brien of trying to blame George W. Bush for the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Giuliani, O'Brien take part in fiery debate

Discussion: The Political Carnival

nbcmiami.com:

Blimp-Like Aircraft With Mitt Romney Ad Crash Lands in Davie — Aircraft carrying GOP presidential hopeful's message goes down in South Florida — A blimp-like aircraft bearing a message from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney crash-landed in Davie Sunday night, officials said.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Towleroad News #gay and Election 2012

Elizabeth Harrington / CNSNews:

Michelle: Vote Early Because Your Toilet May Be Overflowing on Election Day — (CNSNews.com) - First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged her husband's supporters to vote early, because you may find your “toilet overflowing” on Election Day. — “You can also tell people that they don't have to …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller and iOwnTheWorld.com

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Ohio Secretary of State Says Restoring Early Voting Is ‘Un-American’ — During his keynote speech at an election law symposium at University of Toledo on Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) claimed two recent court decisions restoring early voting on the last three days before the election was “un-American.”

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and Booman Tribune

Bobby Cervantes / Politico:

Donald Trump claims Barack Obama bombshell — Donald Trump said Monday that he will reveal “very big” news about President Barack Obama by Wednesday but declined to give any hints about his plan, he said on “Fox & Friends.” — “Something very, very big concerning the president of the United States,” he said.

Discussion: Telegraph, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and Business Insider