Hurricane Sandy: 5 political questions  —  The presidential campaigns are publicly hitting pause on East Coast electioneering as Hurricane Sandy spirals toward Atlantic beaches, but privately political professionals are starting to assess important questions about how it might affect next week's elections up and down the ballot.

A Desperate, Deceptive Gambit for Romney in Ohio  —  How desperate is Mitt Romney to win Ohio?  Before you answer, pay attention to what he and his campaign have been saying about the auto industry in the last few days.  —  As you may have heard, Romney on Thursday scared the bejeezus …

Andrew Sullivan: Mitt Romney ‘Like an Alien That Ripped Off His Mask’ at Debates  —  The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan blasted Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a “brand new candidate” following this month's presidential debates, saying on the “This Week” roundtable that Romney …

MEDIA BLACKOUT: ASIDE FROM FOX, SUNDAY NEWS HOSTS FAIL TO RAISE BENGHAZI  —  The mainstream media's silence on the Benghazi disaster reached deafening levels on Sunday, as hosts of four out of the five major news shows—with the exception of Fox News Sunday—failed to raise the issue.

Romney Campaign Brushes Off “538” Projections  —  Nate Silver's newest reader: Stu Stevens.  —  Source: charlierose.com  —  CELINA, Ohio — As Mitt Romney's campaign works to exude confidence in the home stretch, one wonky, liberal, self-made New York Times election forecaster has emerged as a particularly tricky obstacle.

al Qaqaa and Benghazi: That Was Then, and This Is Now  —  I wrote yesterday about the media effort to help the Obama administration cover up the Benghazi scandal.  That scandal includes at least three elements: 1) the administration's failure to provide adequate security for our personnel there …

Obama's independent problem  —  President Obama has a problem with independents.  And it's not a small problem.  —  In the last three releases of the tracking poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News, Obama has trailed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney among independent voters by between 16 and 20 percentage points.

Mitt Romney In GOP Debate: Shut Down Federal Disaster Agency, Send Responsibility To The States … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Video, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Politics News, Fema, Frankenstorm 2012, Hurricane Sandy 2012, Hurricane Sandy Fema …

The Obama Curse strikes again: Detroit Tigers lose the world series  —  Not only did the Detroit Tigers lose the world series, they lost spectacularly, with the Giants winning in a solid four game streak.  I predicted this outcome a few days ago, not because I know anything about baseball …

inequality: Living in the Second Gilded Age  —  For the San Francisco Chronicle:  —  A third of a century ago, all of us economists confidently predicted that America would remain and even become more of a middle-class society.  The high income and wealth inequality of the 1870-1929 Gilded Age …

October 28:Kasich, Walker, Hickenlooper, Dionne, Maddow, Fiorina, Brooks and Todd  —  Below:  —  MR. DAVID GREGORY: This morning on MEET THE Press, just nine days to go.  A special focus on the battleground states where this election will be won.  —  The final push has President Obama …

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 …

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.