memeorandum: Comey: Feds have roughly 900 domestic probes about Islamic State operatives (Kevin Johnson/USA Today)

3:40 PM ET, October 23, 2015

Top Items:

Jeb Bush Orders Across-the-Board Pay Cuts for Struggling Campaign — Bush's advisers, under pressure from their donors and from falling and stagnant poll numbers, came to the conclusion that a course correction was essential. — michaelcbender — MarkHalperin

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Carson surges to 9-point lead; Trump slides — Donald Trump is the biggest loser in the new Iowa Poll. — The pious Ben Carson has plowed past the braggadocious New York businessman to take the front-runner crown, unseating Trump as the most popular choice for president among …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Washington Post, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, LifeNews.com, Independent Journal, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The Week and Daily Mail

Eli Stokols / Politico:

Jeb Bush slashes pay, spending as campaign struggles — Jeb Bush on Friday ordered a wholesale restructuring of his struggling campaign after suffering miserably in the polls despite massive spending and a deep donor network.The campaign will cut payroll costs by 40 percent …

Discussion: The Federalist, Bloomberg.com news, Washington Monthly, The Daily Banter and Conservative Intelligence …

Lawrence Brinton / National Review:

Jeb Bush Is Toast

Discussion: RedState, The American Conservative, The Week, Hot Air and Real Clear Politics

Bloomberg.com news:

Ben Carson Reacts to His Lead in Iowa Polls — Bloomberg's Mark Halperin and John Heilemann sit down with Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to get his take on being the new frontrunner in Iowa and how he might handle Donald Trump. The full interview will air Friday on “With All Due Respect” at 5 p.m. ET.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

John McCormick / Bloomberg Business:

Carson Surges Past Trump in Latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has moved into a dominant position in Iowa, surpassing former front-runner Donald Trump as evangelical Christians begin to coalesce around him in the state that will cast the first 2016 nomination ballots.

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Trail Blazers Blog, Bloomberg View, RedState, Outside the Beltway, Scared Monkeys, Daily Kos and Bloomberg.com news

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Megyn Kelly to Jeb Bush: Will you drop out?

Discussion: RedState and The Week

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Insiders: Trump nomination looking more likely

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:
Jeb's Campaign Downsizes Staff At HQ And Cuts Payroll By 40 Percent

Discussion: The Week

Jason Millman / Politico:
Dr. Ben Carson's prescription: Abolish Medicare

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice and Allen B. West

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
Democrats' Iowa Dinner Will Have the Sizzle of a Convention

Discussion: Des Moines Register and Political Wire

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Conservative pundits were not impressed with the GOP's disastrous Benghazi hearing — Hillary Clinton is a top-tier politician who's been the subject of nearly constant national media scrutiny for more than 20 years. She also happens to have worked at the House Judiciary Committee during …

Discussion: Salon, Politico, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, The Week, ThinkProgress and CNN

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

She Knew All Along — The House hearing on Benghazi reveals that Hillary Clinton's spin about the attack was a politically expedient fiction. — Thanks to Hillary Clinton's Benghazi testimony on Thursday, we now understand why the former secretary of state never wanted anyone to see her emails …

Discussion: neo-neocon and The Federalist

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Trey Gowdy Says His 11-Hour Benghazi Hearing Didn't Reveal Anything New

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Ethics Alarms, Talking Points Memo, addictinginfo.org, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Benghazi bust — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, New York Times, Betsy's Page, alicublog, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg Business, Slantpoint, Daily Kos, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit and ThinkProgress

Erick Erickson / Erick on the Radio:
The Benghazi Hearing Should Not Be, But Is, A Waste of Time

Discussion: New York Post, Bloomberg.com news, Bloomberg Business, Politico, naked capitalism, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA and New York Times

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton triumphed at the Benghazi hearing by not losing her cool

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News Insider, whorunsGov and TalkLeft

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Washington Examiner's Byron York Says Benghazi Hearing Was A ‘Bust’

Discussion: The Mahablog, National Review, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Newsweek

Washington Post:
The GOP's unfortunate Benghazi hearing

Discussion: The Slot, The Week, Shakesville and Weekly Standard

Taryn Luna / BostonGlobe.com:

Staples founder Thomas Stemberg dies at 66 — Thomas G. Stemberg, who cofounded Staples Inc. and invented the office superstore, died Friday at his home in Chestnut Hill, two years after he was diagnosed with gastric cancer. He was 66. — His death was confirmed by his son, Will Stemberg.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, OnPolitics, Hit & Run, Daily Wire, Hot Air, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, Business Insider, The Week, National Review and bradford-delong.com

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Lincoln Chafee ends quixotic presidential bid — Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee, always a long shot, dropped out of the race for his party's nomination on Friday morning. "As you know I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace," …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Bloomberg Business, The Week, Power Line, Bloomberg.com news, ABC News and VICE

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:
Why Did Lincoln Chafee Even Run?

Discussion: Daily Wire

CNN:
Lincoln Chafee drops out of Democratic primary race

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Forbes, Ben Swann's Truth In Media and Towleroad

Lincoln Chafee for President 2016:
CHAFEE WITHDRAWS FROM 2016 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Slantpoint, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller and Balloon Juice

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Lincoln Chafee ends Democratic bid for president

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Front Page Magazine and American Spectator

The Weather Channel:

Catastrophic Landfall Expected in Mexico Friday; Patricia Becomes Strongest Hurricane Ever Recorded — {{wxnodeVideo.video.current.description + " “}} — A potentially catastrophic landfall is expected Friday evening as a very powerful and dangerous Hurricane Patricia moves towards Mexico's Pacific coast.

Discussion: Vox, Mother Jones, Mashable, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and KFOR-TV

NBC News:

Hurricane Patricia: Strongest Storm Ever Measured to Hit Mexico — Hurricane Patricia became the strongest storm ever measured on the planet early Friday with experts warning it could trigger 39-foot waves along Mexico's coast and “life-threatening” flash flooding.

Discussion: Shakesville, Common Dreams and Towleroad

Greg Botelho / CNN:
Patricia, strongest hurricane ever recorded, menaces Mexico

Discussion: ThinkProgress, WTVR-TV, Independent Journal, The Daily Caller, Mashable, CityLab, NPR, Climate Desk and NBC News

Evan Perez / CNN:

First on CNN: DOJ closes IRS investigation with no charges — The Justice Department is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted tea party groups — The IRS mishandled the processing of tax-exempt applications in a manner that disproportionately …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, RedState, Hit & Run, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Federalist, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

Conservative PACs Attack Republicans, and It Pays — WASHINGTON — The petitions that started surfacing online over a year ago were as incendiary as they were urgent, begging recipients to sign up to “Boot Boehner,” “Dump McConnell,” “Drop a Truth-Bomb on Kevin McCarthy” and “Fire Paul Ryan.”

Discussion: Jay Bookman and Althouse