Final CBS/NYT/Q-polls in OH, FL, VA show Obama up ...  We're down to the final week of the election, where we'd normally expect to see pollsters fine-tuning their samples in order to get the most predictive survey results ahead of the election.  It's refreshing, therefore …

Opinion: Here comes the landslide  —  Voters have figured out that President Obama has no message, no agenda and not even much of an explanation for what he has done over the past four years.  His campaign is based entirely on persuading people that Mitt Romney is a uniquely bad man …

The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event  —  A scramble to depoliticize a political campaign, and $5,000 in supplies from Wal-Mart.  “Just grab something.”  —  Image by Brian Snyder / Reuters  —  DAYTON, Ohio — The last-minute decision by Romney high command Monday to suspend politics …

Lingering questions about Benghazi  —  The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi has become a political football in the presidential campaign, with all the grandstanding and misinformation that entails.  But Fox News has raised some questions about the attack that deserve a clearer answer from the Obama administration.

Big Storm Opportunism  —  Did you know Hurricane Sandy favors higher marginal tax rates?  —  Our former editor Robert Bartley once quipped (fondly) about the writer Jude Wanniski that he thought a capital-gains tax cut could intercept a Soviet SS-20 missile in mid-flight.

1 week, 2 versions of reality  —  As if Hurricane Sandy weren't doing enough to muddle the presidential race a week before the election, the two campaigns now seem to be embracing two sharply different versions of political reality.  —  The Mitt Romney narrative: The electoral map is expanding and we are on the march.

Anti-Obama texts traced to conservative activist  —  The spate of unsolicited anti-Obama text messages that have hit hundreds of cellphones in recent days appears to be the work of conservative activist Jason Flanary and his Virginia-based communications firm, ccAdvertising.

What's Behind the State-National Poll Divergence?  —  The Hurricane Sandy-related lull in tracking polls gives us a good opportunity to look at one of the more interesting aspects of polling to develop this month: the divergence between national and state polls.

Axelrod wagers to shave mustache  —  David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said Wednesday he will shave off his mustache “of 40 years” on national television if Obama loses Minnesota, Michigan or Pennsylvania on Election Day.

Outrage In The Powerless Zone: A Dispatch From Downtown Manhattan  —  Mayor Bloomberg said last night that we've come to “the end of the downside” of Hurricane Sandy—hey, if you can spare $150 and a cab ride, you can join him at the very first Brooklyn Nets game tomorrow.

Wasserman Schultz Involved in Police Altercation Outside Voting Precinct  —  A group of sign-waving campaign ralliers comprised of both Democrat and Republican supporters outside an Aventura, Florida polling location witnessed Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz get involved in a heated altercation …

Poll: Romney closes gap on Obama in Michigan  —  Mitt Romney is within striking distance of Barack Obama in Michigan in the final days before the election, buoyed by more who are convinced the Republican is a viable alternative to the president, with the ability to turn around the economy.