memeorandum: Obama needs to come clean on Benghazi (Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post)

5:05 PM ET, October 28, 2012

Top Items:

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Minnesota Poll: Obama leading, but Romney sees gains — The president's 3-point lead in state is within poll's margin of error. — As the presidential race tightens across the country, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found that it is narrowing here as well, with President Obama holding …

Discussion: Politico, Ballot Box, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, National Review and PoliPundit.com

Cincinnati.com:

Obama slips, still has lead — Poll finds Romney support growing among males while the President commands a large section of central and northern Ohio. — ZOOM — The Ohio Newspaper Poll — The telephone poll - which used both land lines and cell phones - of 1,015 likely voters across Ohio …

Discussion: WMAZ-TV, BuzzFeed, nation.foxnews.com and First Read

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Virtual tie in ... Minnesota? — I'd be the first to tell people that my state is a quadrennial sucker bet for Republicans. In 2008, no one thought we had a prayer, but in 2000 and 2004, Republicans actually thought they had a chance to break the Democrats' presidential winning streak, as the state last went to the GOP in 1972.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, small dead animals and GayPatriot

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Minnesota, Now In Play — Over the last couple of weeks we have toyed with the idea that Minnesota could be competitive in this year's presidential election. While certain data have been tantalizing, on balance we have concluded that it just isn't in the cards.

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:
Poll: Romney, Obama tied at 49-49 in Ohio

Discussion: PoliPundit.com

Rich Heldenfels / Akron Beacon Journal:
Presidential race tied in Ohio newspaper poll

Discussion: Washington Wire, American Power, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Greenroom and Philly.com

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Andrew Sullivan To ABC: If Romney Wins Florida And VA, It's The ‘Confederacy’ — During this Sunday's edition of ABC's This Week, Daily Beast writer Andrew Sullivan claimed that if Republican nominee Mitt Romney wins back Florida and Virginia in the upcoming 2012 presidential election …

Discussion: American Power, The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, NewsBusters.org, The Hinterland Gazette and nation.foxnews.com

The / TheGazette:

Gazette endorsement for president: Romney — President Barack Obama has made his mark during his historic first term. The Affordable Care Act of 2010, a massive overhaul of the health care system that has some features we support. A stimulus measure that the majority of economists …

Lee Enterprises / Quad City Times:

Our presidential endorsement: Ready for change — We invested heavily in hope back in 2008. — Our 2012 endorsement of Mitt Romney comes with an imperative for change. — The change that we'd hoped would elevate our economy wound up woefully short. The presidential gambit …

Discussion: Power Line, The Fix and National Review

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Romney Auto Bailout Ad Tells Four Myths In 30 Seconds — As Mitt Romney continues to struggle to explain his various positions on the auto rescue that saved General Motors and Chrysler, his presidential campaign has released an ad about the bailout that is littered with falsehoods and misdirections.

Discussion: Addicting Info and ABCNEWS

Bernie Becker / Ballot Box:
Gov. Kasich downplays role of auto bailout in Ohio's recovery

Discussion: The New Republic and Politico

Joshua Davidovich / The Times of Israel:

Obama offered to reestablish full ties with Iran, Israeli paper reports — Israel was told about and opposed president's diplomatic incentives package, initiated soon after he took office, and Iran rebuffed it, according to Maariv — Soon after he took office, President Barack Obama began …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Israel Matzav, The PJ Tatler and americanthinker.com

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Gingrich: Obama Cancels Campaign Trips Due to Hurricane, Didn't Cancel Them Over Benghazi — Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took quite a shot at Barack Obama Sunday. — Appearing on ABC's This Week, Gingrich said of the President, “You'll notice he's canceling his trips over the hurricane.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Why I Am Pro-Life — HARD-LINE conservatives have gone to new extremes lately in opposing abortion. Last week, Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party-backed Republican Senate candidate in Indiana, declared during a debate that he was against abortion even in the event of rape because after much thought he …

Discussion: National Review and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:

Hurricane Sandy to Bring ‘Life-Threatening’ Surge — As the National Hurricane Center warned on Sunday of a “life-threatening storm surge” that could cause record-breaking coastal flooding, tens of millions of residents from Delaware to southern New England braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.

Discussion: Poynter, This Just In, The Verge, Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog, Gawker, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Beast and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Marc Santora / New York Times:
Urgent Warnings as Hurricane Sandy Strengthens and Heads to Northeast

Discussion: The Lede, TechCrunch, Prairie Weather and The Caucus

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Obama needs to come clean on Benghazi — The Benghazi debacle has three parts: how we neglected security while al-Qaeda was building a presence in Libya; whether the administration tried to mislead the public as to the nature of the attack; and now whether the administration denied pleas …

Discussion: Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit and Doug Ross