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.

Oct. 31: Obama's Electoral College ‘Firewall’ Holding in Polls  —  On Oct. 11, this blog posed the question of whether President Obama's “firewall” in battleground states was all that it was cracked up to be.  —  At that point, Mr. Obama still technically held the lead in the FiveThirtyEight forecast …

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 …

Former GOP Sen. Hagel backs Democrat Kerrey in Nebraska Senate race  —  Kerrey is in a heated battle with Republican state Sen. Deb Fischer to replace the retiring Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson.  — Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker  — Check out the CNN Electoral Map …

Former Penn State President Charged in Sandusky Case  —  Graham B. Spanier, the former president of Penn State, was charged Thursday with helping to cover up the child abuse allegations involving Jerry Sandusky that have roiled the university and its famed football program over the past year.

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.

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 …

Andrew Sullivan: 'If You Voted For Obama in 2008 and Don't in 2012, You Never Really Voted For Him'  —  As hard as it might be to believe, the Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan has become a bigger cheerleader for President Obama than virtually anyone else in the media including the shills on MSNBC.

Obama's campaign goes empty and strident  —  “It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man.”  —  Energetic in body but indolent in mind, Barack Obama in his frenetic campaigning for a second term is promising …

D.C. paparazzi fear a Mitt Romney win  —  People may have differing opinions on President Barack Obama's handling of such things as the economy, health care and foreign policy, but on one issue, the consensus is clear: He's ushered in an unparalleled wave of celebrity visits to D.C. …

It's Global Warming, Stupid  —  Yes, yes, it's unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change.  Men and women in white lab coats tell us—and they're right—that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode.  Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.

Show Me Your Model  —  It might be easy to believe we're approaching Peak Trutherism, what with good old-fashioned birthers now being supplemented by BLS truthers and poll truthers.  But just you wait—should Barack Obama win this election, we'll see an explosion of election trutherism that will be truly unprecedented in scope.

Obama's inauguration reverend: All whites are going to hell  —  All white people are going to hell, longtime African-American civil rights advocate Rev. Joseph Lowery told an audience at a get-out-the-vote event held Oct. 27 in Georgia.  —  Lowery, who gave the benediction …

NEWS FLASH  —  BREAKING: THREE BUSH-APPOINTED JUDGES GIVE THUMBS UP TO VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN OHIO |  Late last week, a federal district court ordered Ohio to stop disenfranchising voters who are directed to vote at the wrong polling place due to poll worker error.

Does Fox News Know What Media Bias Is?  —  If there's one drum the right wing likes to bang it's the one about the “liberal media”, which, by law, must appear in every right-wing editorial or come out of the mouths of every Fox News and radio show pundit at least four times a day or Rupert Murdoch strips …

Gay Left-Wing Radio Host Advises Gay Romney Supporter to Commit Suicide, Says He Should Not Be Allowed to Vote  —  Our reader Tim in MT shared this video with us that he had made after catching Michelangelo Signorile on SiriusXM radio yesterday.  —  The left-wing radio talker, twice in the segment …

International observers say states out of line  —  The group hosting international election observers said Thursday that state officials in Iowa and Texas are needlessly blocking access to the decades-old process the United States already has agreed to, an official said Thursday.

A GOP switch on Todd Akin?  —  Rep. Todd Akin and the Missouri Republican Party are launching a nearly $700,000 TV ad blitz in the closing days of his challenge to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, but the source of the funds for the effort is unclear.  —  These are the first ads run …

Should the Northeast Bury its Power Lines to Prevent Outages?  —  Underground power cables are largely protected from storms like Hurricane Sandy.  So why not bury them all and skip the blackouts?  —  After blasting the Northeast with 80-mile-per-hour winds, Hurricane Sandy has left 6 million people without power.

Is Sandy a ‘Cassandra’?  How Cities Should Prepare for Future Natural Disasters  —  Extreme storms of recent history have made local governments take notice both of their preparedness and the likelihood that climate change is making such disastrous events more and more common.

Obama widens lead in Nevada  —  President Barack Obama has expanded his lead over Mitt Romney in Nevada, according to a new poll that shows the incumbent edging his GOP challenger 50 percent to 46 percent and headed toward victory Tuesday unless Romney halts the Democrat's momentum in the state that could settle the White House race.

Koster draws fire over comments about abortion, “the rape thing”  —  Congressional candidate John Koster has been very squeamish in recent weeks when talking publicly about his views on abortion.  The Republican is a longtime foe of abortion rights, but on a KING-TV appearance he sidestepped questions …

National Polls, State Polls, and Democrat Turnout  —  NRO is back this morning!  Hurrah!  —  Also this morning, I'm scheduled to appear on Chuck Todd's “Daily Rundown” on MSNBC around 9:40 or so.