House GOP Preparing to Give Up  —  I'm being told by several sources that Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are plotting to give up trying to either defund or delay Obamacare.  —  This comes at the same time the Obama administration admits it will be months before their Obamacare website …

Scarborough: A NYT Editor Told Me Krugman's Column Is ‘Their Biggest Nightmare’ (VIDEO)  —  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday that a public editor at the New York Times considers liberal columnist Paul Krugman's work to be an ongoing “nightmare.”  —  During a segment on “Morning Joe …

CBS' Jan Crawford: Obama Rollout “Nothing Short of Disastrous”  —  From Tami.  Jan Crawford is one of the few reporters in the media who calls things as they are, without prejudice or favor.  —  This is a tough report.  Tough, but honest.  Look below the fold for it.

Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low  —  Falls 10 percentage points from September's 38%  —  This article is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling are affecting Americans' views of government, government leaders …

GOP quietly backing away from Obamacare  —  A fight over Obamacare?  That's so last week.  —  With the government shutdown firmly in its second week, and the debt limit projected to be reached next Thursday, top House and Senate Republicans are publicly moving away from gutting the health care law …

Indiana Sues To Prevent Its Own Residents From Receiving Obamacare's Insurance Subsidies  —  Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller (R)  —  This week, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenging its authority …

Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P.  —  WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country's most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight …

Charlie Crist's Lead Within Margin of Error Against Rick Scott in New Poll  —  A new poll released Thursday finds Gov. Rick Scott at the heels of former Gov. Charlie Crist, the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, in a possible 2014 match-up.

WE PAID $634 MILLION FOR THE OBAMACARE SITES AND ALL WE GOT WAS THIS LOUSY 404  —  It's been one full week since the flagship technology portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) went live.  And since that time, the befuddled beast that is Healthcare.gov has shutdown, crapped out …

Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started  —  Azerbaijan's big presidential election, held on Wednesday, was anticipated to be neither free nor fair.  President Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father 10 years ago, has stepped up intimidation of activists and journalists.

The Obama Administration and the Press  —  Leak investigations and surveillance in post-9/11 America  —  U.S. President Barack Obama came into office pledging open government, but he has fallen short of his promise.  Journalists and transparency advocates say the White House curbs routine disclosure …

Rebels kidnap Libyan PM Ali Zeidan, his office says  —  (CNN) — Armed men kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan at dawn Thursday and took him to an undisclosed location, his office said.  —  The gunmen escorted the prime minister from the Corinthian Hotel in Tripoli into a convoy of waiting cars …

Alice Munro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature  —  Alice Munro, the renowned Canadian short-story writer whose visceral work explores the tangled relationships between men and women, small-town existence and the fallibility of memory, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

Virginia governor election: Less money, more problems for Cuccinelli  —  Ken Cuccinelli is getting crushed on the Virginia airwaves, and it's probably only going to get worse - a major factor thwarting the Republican's hopes of a comeback in a governor's race that's been slipping away.

Documents: Va. gov. candidate misled investigators  —  NOTE: The Associated Press has retracted this earlier story, which USA TODAY ran online.  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Documents in a federal fraud case allege that Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe lied …

When Does Wall Street Cast Its Vote?  —  NOTABLES  — A GLIMMER OF A DEAL?:  A House Republican leadership source says House GOP leaders are coalescing around a plan to provide a six-week extension of the debt limit - putting off the threat of default until early December and allowing …

The Final Insult in the Bush-Cheney Marriage  —  In the final days of his presidency, George W. Bush sat behind his desk in the Oval Office, chewing gum and staring into the distance as two White House lawyers briefed him on the possible last-minute pardon of I. Lewis Libby.  —  “Do you think he did it?”

Most Utahns disapprove of Sen. Mike Lee, want him to compromise  —  Public opinion » The senator says his position won't change.  —  | The Salt Lake Tribune  —  More than half of Utah voters now disapprove of the performance of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, with support for the junior senator …

A few Iowans able to get through health exchange  —  Insurance carrier reports five have enrolled in plans  —  At least five unusually persistent Iowans have managed to sign up for health insurance on the government's balky new online marketplace.  —  Let's call them the Hardy Handful.