memeorandum: Trump: Middle East Would Be More Stable With Hussein and Gadhafi (Ali Vitali/NBC News)

12:35 PM ET, October 4, 2015

Top Items:

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Chaffetz enters speaker's race, pans McCarthy — <p>Rep. Jason Chaffetz has officially launched his dark-horse campaign for House speaker, arguing he's a better choice to unite the fractious Republican conference and that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy lacks the communication skills …

Discussion: Fox News, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, Guardian, 89.3 KPCC, Prairie Weather, The Week and The Hill

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Benghazi panel talking point proven false — Democrats claimed this week that the House's special committee investigating the 2012 violence in Benghazi, Libya, was the longest inquiry of its kind, but fact-checkers on Friday proved them wrong. — In fact, there have been at least four …

Discussion: Viking Pundit

Bradford Richardson / The Hill:
Chaffetz announces bid for Speaker

Discussion: Politico and Outside the Beltway

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Polls: Trump Still Leads in IA and NH, But Loses Ground — Donald Trump remains ahead in the early Republican nominating contests of Iowa and New Hampshire, but his lead has shrunk from a month ago, according to brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of these two states.

Discussion: Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, SaintPetersBlog, OnPolitics and Political Wire

Ali Vitali / NBC News:

Trump: Middle East Would Be More Stable With Hussein and Gadhafi — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, when asked if he believes the Middle East would be better today if Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq were still in power, responded, “It's not even a contest.”

Discussion: Daily Mail

James Pindell / BostonGlobe.com:
Sanders draws big crowds in Mass. campaign swing

Discussion: Political Wire

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Democrats Find That Anti-Establishment Isn't Just a G.O.P. Theme

Discussion: Liberaland

John Wagner / Washington Post:
BOSTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Saturday that he opposes …

Discussion: Liberal Values

Sundance / The Last Refuge:

The Curious Case of Oregon Shooter Chris Harper-Mercer - A Social Media Profile Shaped, Modified and Deleted... The Oregon Shooter is a 26-year-old black male. — Birth Certificate Name is: Christopher Sean Mercer - 07/26/1989. — Mother: Laurel Margaret Harper - 04/05/1951 Dad: Ian Bernard Mercer - 05/15/1960

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Pirate's Cove

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:

Ore. Shooter's Dad: If He Hadn't Had Access To The Guns, It Wouldn't Have Happened — Ian Mercer, the father of the man who shot and killed nine people and injured nine others at a community college in Oregon last week told CNN Saturday that, had gun laws prevented his son from accessing the guns, the incident wouldn't have happened.

Discussion: Mediaite

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Biden Backs Transgender Military Service As US Considers Policy — WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is throwing his unequivocal support behind letting transgender people serve openly in the U.S. military, as the Obama administration considers whether and when to lift the longstanding ban.

Discussion: Slantpoint and The Week

Bradford Richardson / The Hill: Biden celebrates gay rights activists for changing course of America

CBS News:
Joe Biden could decide presidential run in the next week

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Algemeiner.com and addictinginfo.org

Jessica Contrera / Washington Post:

She was a conservative pundit. He was a liberal activist. At home, none of that mattered. — It was so Washington, the way they met. She was on the dais at a panel discussion on media and politics, holding forth knowledgeably; he was in the audience, smitten.

Tim Devaney / The Hill:

Trump: Teachers with guns could have prevented Oregon shooting — Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said armed teachers could have protected the students who were killed in a mass shooting at a community college in Oregon this week. — “This is in light of what's gone on in Oregon …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Politico and CNN

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:

McCain: GOPers' Use Of Derogatory Language Is Hurting The Republican Party — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Sunday that the Republican presidential candidates who use — or don't correct — those who use derogatory language are hurting the GOP's chances at the White House.

Discussion: Political Wire

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Prepares to Take On Politically Charged Cases — WASHINGTON — The last Supreme Court term ended with liberal victories, conservative disarray and bruised relations among the justices. The new one, which starts on Monday, marks the start of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s second decade …

Discussion: Bloomberg View

Annie Karni / Politico:

Clinton mocks Trump in SNL premiere — <p>For the first time since her 2008 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton on Saturday evening returned to the set of “Saturday Night Live," starring in a skit as “Val,” an easy-to-talk-to barkeep giving advice to the former secretary of state …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Bloomberg Business and The Daily Beast

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:

A New Way to Tackle Gun Deaths — We've mourned too often, seen too many schools and colleges devastated by shootings, watched too many students get an education in grief. It's time for a new approach to gun violence. — We're angry, but we also need to be smart.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, ThinkProgress and Pirate's Cove