Obama on ACA website: ‘No excuse for these problems’  —  President Barack Obama on Monday tossed aside months of messaging about how easy it would be to sign up for health care under his signature law and sought to remind Americans that the Affordable Care Act has benefits far beyond the chance to apply for insurance online.

Republican Mega-Donors Quietly Celebrate Chris Christie's Marriage Surrender  —  Activists are angry, but GOP elites are praising Christie's step away from culture war.  “I mean, he's a rare guy who's been able to appeal to people with sincerely held beliefs on both sides of this issue.”

Medicaid expansion funding gets approval  —  Ending months of debate, a legislative oversight panel approved spending $2.56 billion in federal money today to expand Medicaid coverage to about 275,000 low-income Ohioans.  —  Almost immediately after the bipartisan 5-2 vote …

GOP, Boehner take shutdown hit in new CNN poll  —  Washington (CNN) — Just over half the public says that it's bad for the country that the GOP controls the House of Representatives, according to a new national poll conducted after the end of the partial government shutdown.

Shooting this morning at Sparks Middle School  —  Police: Shooting at Sparks Middle School: 10/21/13 8:18 AM  —  Sparks police will hold a press conference at around 9 a.m. on the shooting at Sparks Middle School.  —  Vickie Campbell of the Washoe County School District said Agnes Risley and Sparks Middle School closed.

There's a New Political Story Line—and it's Good for Republicans  —  Better to be two warring tribes than a single reviled one.  —  The story most Democrats and progressive have long told about the GOP is that it's a party that has been captured by its right wing.  It's a fairly simple story to tell.

As Obamacare runs into problems, Americans still want to give it a chance  —  A new Washington Post/ABC News poll once again drives home a core truth about our politics right now: Disapproval of Obamacare does not translate into support for GOP tactics against the law.  We've long known that to be the case.

Lonegan: The government shutdown cost me the election  —  Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan (Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)  —  Though Republican Steve Lonegan publicly supported the shutdown of the federal government during his campaign for U.S. Senate …

Of the 13 people who flanked President Obama during his speech defending Obamacare in the Rose Garden Monday, just three had successfully registered for the new Obamacare exchanges.  —  A list of the people who joined Obama on stage provided by the White House included people who have or …

Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law Changes  —  Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.

Associated Press Fires Two Journalists Over Erroneous Terry McAuliffe Report  —  NEW YORK — The Associated Press has fired a reporter and editor over an erroneous Oct. 9 report that Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe lied to an investigator in a federal fraud case, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Food stamp benefits going down before the holidays  —  Cheyenne Phillips, 17, Angela Phillips, 44, and Cassidy Phillips, 14, stand outside their home in Knoxville, Tenn. Phillips used SNAP from from July 2012 to February 2013, and will be applying for the benefit again on Monday because her temp job ended on Friday.

Local elected official to switch parties  —  SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County judge elected during the 2010 election's “red tide” is switching parties.  —  County Court-at-Law No. 11 Judge Carlo Key will announce that he is joining the Democratic Party, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.

Stop enabling the right: The media just makes dysfunction worse  —  Our politics are a disaster because the media — and the president — pretend conservatives are dealing with facts  —  The study of logical and rhetorical fallacies dates back to the ancient Greeks, but for all that studying …

‘Airpocalypse’ Hits Harbin, Closing Schools  —  School was canceled, traffic was nearly paralyzed and the airport was shut down in the northeast Chinese city of Harbin on Monday as off-the-charts pollution dropped visibility to less than 10 meters in parts of the provincial capital.