Sifting the Numbers for a Winner  —  A crucial element: the mix of Democrats and Republicans who show up this election.  —  It comes down to numbers.  And in the final days of this presidential race, from polling data to early voting, they favor Mitt Romney.  —  He maintains a small but persistent polling edge.

Civil rights icons pump Obama in Forsyth  —  Lowery: Don't think whites going to heaven  —  UPDATED TO INCLUDE MAYOR'S COMMENTS: 5 p.m.  —  Two icons of the civil rights movement visited Forsyth on Saturday to campaign for the reelection of Barack Obama.

Storm Response Earns Obama Praise Amid the Election's Deadlock Drama  —  President Barack Obama, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, second from left, and others, speaks about superstorm Sandy during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Headquarters in Washington, Oct. 31, 2012.

Two women from the Dominican Republic told The Daily Caller that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez paid them for sex earlier this year.  —  In interviews, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000 acre resort in the Dominican Republic.

The Facebook spike  —  As John notes in the adjacent post, a group of former special operators have set up a Facebook page called SOS: Special Operations Speaks.  SOS posted the graphic below on their Facebook page:  —  Facebook took the graphic down twice on the ground that it violated …

After Brutal Polling Day, Romney Team Reassures That They'll Win  —  Mitt Romney's top staff offered reporters an endless number of reasons they're going to beat President Obama on a conference call Wednesday.  Not included on their list of Romney advantages: a clear lead in the polls.

Exclusive: Classified cable warned consulate couldn't withstand ‘coordinated attack’  —  The U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” less than a month before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, because Al Qaeda had training camps …

Biden already thinking about 2016  —  Election Day isn't for another six days, but Vice President Biden is already thinking about 2016.  —  Appearing at an eatery in Florida on Wednesday, Biden was chatting by phone with a Republican voter when the vice president half-jokingly …

Status Update on Gallup Election Polling Following Superstorm Sandy  —  Here's an update on Gallup's thinking when we suspended our national daily tracking of the presidential election campaign as of Monday, Oct. 29.  Basically, we reached the conclusion that Superstorm Sandy had compromised …

Politics can't scare off Ryan from his appointed Halloween rounds  —  Janesville, Wisconsin (CNN) - Even in an election year, Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan stuck to a family trick-or-treat tradition.  —  On Wednesday, Mitt Romney's running mate held three rallies in his home state …

You Can't Go Home Again  —  Tom Friedman ventured into the wilds this week, to his home state of Minnesota: … I wish I believed he is kidding.  But this wasn't just a routine visit home; Friedman was looking for insight into the national scene: … Which means that he found what he was looking for.

Obama's Libya stonewalling isn't working  —  President Obama is having no luck convincing voters and the media there is nothing amiss regarding his handling of the Benghazi attack.  —  My colleague David Ignatius is among the latest to acknowledge that there are real questions about what happened …

NBC/WSJ/Marist polls: Obama leads in Iowa, running neck and neck in N.H, Wis.  —  Less than a week before Election Day, President Barack Obama holds a statistically significant lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground of Iowa, while the two candidates are locked in tight races …

Florida GOP memo: Democrats are ‘cleaning our clock’  —  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A memo obtained by NewsChannel 5's Evan Axelbank, from an adviser to a Florida GOP campaign, says that the Democratic turnout effort is “cleaning our clock.”  —  The memo says, “The early and absentee turnout is starting to look more troubling.”

Why Exactly Is Chris Christie Subverting Mitt Romney?  —  Chris Christie is love-bombing President Obama — the man he labeled clueless just last week — and Maureen Dowd is asking why: … Here are three theories about Christie:  —  1) The first, most benign theory: Christie, in my experience …

U.S. yanks support for Syrian opposition group, warns of extremist takeover of uprising  —  ZAGREB, Croatia — The Obama administration on Wednesday renounced the proclaimed leaders of the Syrian political opposition and said any group seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad must reject attempts …

George Lucas Just Saved Star Wars by Firing George Lucas  —  So at long last, George Lucas has decided to get out of the moviemaking business.  He's selling out Lucasfilm, including all of its properties and moneymaking storylines, to the Mouse.  This is a good thing.  Maybe even a great thing.

Little Girl Cries Over ‘Bronco Bamma’  —  Sick of the elections yet?  So is four-year-old Abigael Evans from Colorado.  Her mother, Elizabeth Evans, 27, posted a Youtube video of her daughter saying that she is tired of “Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney.”  —  The 22-second YouTube clip …

What I'm Hearing About The Sex Scandal  —  I've heard the story, but I don't want to say what it is because, well, I have no idea if it's true.  —  But in the interests of sparing you 1 heart attacks and 2 overly optimistic guesses: What it's about, rumors say, is a Senator.

The Case for Obama: Why He Is a Great President.  Yes, Great.  —  I decided to support Barack Obama pretty early in the Democratic primary, around spring of 2007.  But unlike so many of his supporters, I never experienced a kind of emotional response to his candidacy.