Ann Romney, to critics in GOP: “You want to try it?  Get in the ring.”  (AUDIO)  —  Ann Romney says fellow Republicans who've criticized her husband need to “stop it” and realize “how lucky” the party is to have Mitt Romney as its nominee.  —  Ann Romney spoke late this afternoon to about 200 people …

In crucial first debate, Scott Brown challenges Warren's Native American heritage claim  —  Republican US Senator Scott Brown questioned Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren's claim of Native American heritage in the opening moments of a lively high-stakes television debate tonight.

U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High  —  Fewer Americans closely following political news now than in previous election years  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' distrust in the media hit a new high this year, with 60% saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

What John McLaughlin Sees in the Polls Right Now  —  I reached out to Republican pollster John McLaughlin for yesterday's piece on how undecided voters are likely to break, and he made some separate comments about polls, their impact on motivation for each side, and how the campaigns …

Disdain for Workers  —  By now everyone knows how Mitt Romney, speaking to donors in Boca Raton, washed his hands of almost half the country — the 47 percent who don't pay income taxes — declaring, “My job is not to worry about those people.  I'll never convince them that they should take …

Why Does Everybody Hate Mitt Romney?  —  No other presidential candidate has racked up unfavorable ratings this high during a campaign, according to a Pew Survey.  Why is Romney so disliked?  It's not personal, it's business.  —  Less than 50 days from the election, it's still Mitt Romney's biggest mystery.

Sept. 20: Obama's Convention Bounce May Not Be Receding  —  President Obama's position inched forward in the FiveThirtyEight forecast on Thursday.  His chances of winning the Electoral College are 76.1 percent, according to the forecast, up from 75.2 percent on Wednesday.

Life Expectancy for Less Educated Whites in U.S. Is Shrinking  —  For generations of Americans, it was a given that children would live longer than their parents.  But there is now mounting evidence that this enduring trend has reversed itself for the country's least-educated whites …

TRENDING: Cain says he'd be winning  —  (CNN) - Herman Cain, the one-time frontrunner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, offered reporters in Florida Thursday some speculation on what could have been if he had remained in the race.  —  According to the Gainesville Sun …

Obama's Shaky Libya Narrative  —  In the days after the consulate assault in Benghazi, the administration insisted a spontaneous protest got out of hand.  Then it slowly transitioned into calling the events a ‘terrorist attack.’ Eli Lake on how the story changed.

Pakistan TV Airs Obama Ad Denouncing Anti-Islam Video  —  Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf appealed for calm as security forces bid to counter violent protests against an anti-Islam film that continues to spark demonstrations in the Muslim world.

Andrew Mitchell insults police at Downing Street by calling them ‘f***ing plebs’  —  Chief Whip's rant just one day after cop killings  —  Rant ... Conservative cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell pushing his bicycle  —  A MILLIONAIRE Cabinet minister was threatened with arrest …

More Americans Added to Food Stamps Than Find Jobs  —  An alarming data point from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee: More Americans are being added to food stamps than are finding jobs.  The data is detailed in this chart, provided by the committee:

Obama pressed on failures at Univision forum  —  CORAL GABLES, Fla. - President Barack Obama on Thursday faced some of the toughest questioning of his reelection campaign to date, pressed repeatedly on his failure to achieve comprehensive immigration reform and other unmet promises from his 2008 run.

Heartland Monitor Poll: Obama Leads 50 Percent to 43 Percent  —  President Obama has opened a solid lead over Mitt Romney by largely reassembling the “coalition of the ascendant” that powered the Democrat to his landmark 2008 victory, the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has found.

First on CNN: Clinton to remove Iranian exile group from terror list  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to notify Congress as early as Friday that she intends to take the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, off a State Department terror list, three senor administration officials told CNN.

Home To Roost  —  As a useful corrective to the Beltway tendency to over-attribute political trends to the last two or three things that have happened, but without falling prey to the zombie-eyed indifference to actual politics of the social science Fundamentalists, Ron Browstein's latest column …