memeorandum: Ohio provisional ballot voting order criticized (Andrew Welsh-Huggins/Associated Press)

2:20 AM ET, November 4, 2012

Top Items:

Last-Minute Ohio Directive Could Trash Legal Votes And Swing The Election — A last-minute directive issued by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) could invalidate legal provisional ballots. Ohio is widely viewed as the most critical state for both presidential campaigns and …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Taylor Marsh

Andrew Cohen / The Atlantic Online:

Ohio's Provisional Ballot Order: The Biggest Legal Story of the Weekend — A late voting directive from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted begets an “emergency motion” about how to count provisional ballots. — Associated Press — With just a few dozen hours left before polls open on Election Day …

Discussion: dispatchpolitics.dispatch.com and theGrio

Andrew Welsh-Huggins / Associated Press:

Ohio provisional ballot voting order criticized — COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voter advocates on Saturday criticized an order by Ohio's elections chief dealing with the casting of provisional ballots, saying it increases the likelihood that votes could be wrongly rejected.

Discussion: The Raw Story, The BRAD BLOG, theGrio, Balloon Juice and The Reality-Based Community

Washington Post:

Ohioans line up for early voting in the battleground state — CLEVELAND — Democrats fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won to keep Ohio polls open to all voters this weekend, and they were making the most of it in this Democratic stronghold Saturday.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Obama campaign struggles to explain ‘revenge’ remark — CINCINNATI — A seemingly offhand utterance from President Obama has turned into a major point of contention between the two campaigns, as Team Obama tries to explain what the president meant when he told a crowd of supporters that “Voting is the best revenge.”

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hot Air, his vorpal sword, The Lonely Conservative, Riehl World News and American Power

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Obama's November Blunder — One of Barack Obama's problems is that he is not a very accomplished public speaker. When he veers away from his teleprompter, which you pretty much have to do on the stump, his instincts are poor and he tends to get into trouble.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner, Scared Monkeys, National Review, Washington Post, GayPatriot and Weekly Standard

Jeremy Herb / Ballot Box:
Obama assails Romney on Jeep ads in Ohio

Discussion: CNN and Taylor Marsh

UTSanDiego.com:

MOTHER OF SEAL: ‘I BELIEVE THAT OBAMA MURDERED MY SON’ — A father and a mother used the word “murder.” A brother said he won't second-guess decisions made in the heat of battle. — The families of three Americans killed in the Sept. 11 U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Gateway Pundit and National Review

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
News Outlets Held Back Detail Of Benghazi Attack At CIA's Request

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Beast and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:
The Fog of Benghazi — What we now know—and still don't—about President Obama's 9/11.

Discussion: Free Beacon, Weekly Standard, Power Line and Rush Limbaugh

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard: Mysteries of Benghazi

Roger Simon / Politico:
‘Swift-Boating’ of Obama fails

Discussion: Liberal Values, Riehl World News, The Hinterland Gazette, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Alexander Burns / Politico:

AFF poll: Minnesota a toss-up — Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are separated by just 1 point in Minnesota, effectively making the race there a toss-up, according to polling taken for the conservative American Future Fund. — Romney takes 46 percent of the vote to Obama's 45 percent in the poll …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Battleground Watch, Riehl World News and GayPatriot

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama leads in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — PPP's final polls of the 2012 election cycle in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin find Barack Obama favored to win both states, although by margins a good deal closer than he won them by in 2008. In Pennsylvania Obama leads 52-46, while in Wisconsin his advantage is 51-48.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and JSOnline

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama up 8 in Minnesota, amendments may be going down

Discussion: MN Progressive Project

Guardian:

Iran suspends uranium enrichment — Move intended as gesture of goodwill before negotiations with US over nuclear programme begin next week — Iran has suspended the enrichment of uranium stockpiles to the 20% purity needed to bring it a short step from building a nuclear device, news services in the region have reported.

Discussion: The Agonist

Tom Blumer / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Thursday Report: Bloomberg Wouldn't Let Guard Into Brooklyn Over Their Possession of Guns — A Philly.com report tells us that “National Guard plays key role in N.J. relief efforts.” The LA Times has reported that “More than 10,000 National Guard troops in 13 states have been mobilized …

Discussion: Philly.com, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Syracuse Post-Standard

Miguel Llanos / U.S. News:
Sandy death toll in US rises to 109; ‘there could be more,’ Bloomberg warns

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Booman Tribune

Joe Nocera / New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist: Mayor Bloomberg's Barrier

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Via Meadia, Nation and Firedoglake

New York Times:

In Ohio, a Study in Contrasts as 2 Campaigns Get Out Vote — CINCINNATI — Inside a peeling former nightclub here, Obama volunteers are perched on any seats they can find, trays of half-eaten sandwiches line an old mirrored bar and a hand-scrawled list of “office needs” includes toilet paper and Teddy Grahams.

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

BREAKING: NAACP Takes Over Houston Polling Station, Advocates for President Obama — HOUSTON, TX - Friday afternoon at an early polling place located at 6719 W. Montgomery Road in Houston, NAACP members were seen advocating for President Barack Obama according to volunteer poll watchers on location at the time.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Romney closes big: ‘Love of country’ vs. ‘Revenge’ — About midway through Mitt Romney's speech to a crowd of as many as 30,000 who had gathered for a chilly, outdoor, red-white-and-blue Friday night rally in this suburb of Cincinnati, close Romney aide Stuart Stevens wandered through the throng by himself …

Discussion: Power Line and GayPatriot

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

The Vanishing Battleground — IN the razor-thin 1960 presidential election, John F. Kennedy campaigned in 49 states. Richard M. Nixon visited all 50. — The current contest is just as close and intense, but the candidates have campaigned in only 10 states since the political conventions.

Discussion: Politico, The Reality-Based Community, The Daily Beast and Poynter

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Oregon County Elections Official Under Investigation For Ballot Tampering — The Clackamas County Elections Office is under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice for possible ballot tampering, reports the Oregonian. A temporary election worker allegedly filled in a straight Republican ticket …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA'S CLEVELAND RALLY ATTENDANCE 20X LOWER THAN 2008 — Last night, in the cold and with long lines, 30,000 people showed up in Ohio to see Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. That same day, Obama attracted a meager 2,800. But enthusiasm for President FailureTeleprompter can be judged by more than comparisons with Romney.

Discussion: GayPatriot, National Review, The Greenroom and Power Line

Aamer Madhani / USA Today:
Obama, back in Ohio, slams Romney for auto ad

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and GayPatriot

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Nov. 2: For Romney to Win, State Polls Must Be Statistically Biased — President Obama is now better than a 4-in-5 favorite to win the Electoral College, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast. His chances of winning it increased to 83.7 percent on Friday, his highest figure since …