The Commentariat -- Oct. 29, 2012

CW: For those of you in or near the path of the storms, heed the warnings & stay safe. On the West Coast of Florida, I'm nowhere near the epicenter of Sandy, yet the wind has been blowing strongly & non-stop for at least four days.

... Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "In coping with Hurricane Sandy, New York metropolitan area utilities will be mindful that many in the region were left without electricity for a week or more after Tropical Storm Irene." CW: that would include Dave S. (not sure if he lives in New York) and me. I was without water & power for 5+ days at my Upstate New York cottage. ...

... Alan Boyle, the science editor of NBC News, explains the factors that made Sandy a superstorm.

Presidential Race

My column for the New York Times eXaminer is on the lead op-ed in Sunday's New York Times, a piece by Frederick Harris claiming that "the Obama presidency has already marked the decline ... of a political vision centered on challenging racial inequality." I guess picking on professors is my new thing.

Michael Shear & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday morning abandoned political campaigning in the face of the huge storm barreling down on the East Coast, canceling an event in Florida and quickly heading back to Washington to coordinate emergency response from the White House."

Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "The federal government's ability to respond to natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy currently bearing down on the East Coast, would be significantly hindered under a Romney-Ryan administration. At least three times, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have publicly demanded that the federal government only disburse disaster relief funding if Congress agreed to offsetting budget cuts elsewhere. This would hold desperately-needed disaster relief funding hostage unless Congress agreed to cuts elsewhere in the budget, an extraordinarily difficult prospect even in normal circumstances." ...

... Ryan Grim of Huffington Post: "During a CNN debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA's cash crunch, whether the agency should be shuttered so that states can individually take over responsibility for disaster response. 'Absolutely,' he said. 'Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better.'" With video. CW: so next hurricane or tornado, we can all write checks to Disasters R Us & Survival Suppliers, Inc. & hope they save us. Say your neighbor's tree fell across the road & he won't pay up, so you can't get to your house. Too bad. At some point, "the market" will work things out. Ain't capitalism grand? ...

"The War on Objectivity." Paul Krugman: "... the right -- and ... we're talking about mainstream commentators and publications -- has been screaming 'bias'! They know, just know, that Nate [Silver] must be cooking the books. How do they know this? Well, his results look good for Obama, so it must be a cheat. Never mind the fact that Nate tells us all exactly how he does it, and that he hasn't changed the formula at all.... This is really scary. It means that if these people triumph, science -- or any kind of scholarship -- will become impossible. Everything must pass a political test; if it isn't what the right wants to hear, the messenger is subjected to a smear campaign." ...

... NEW. The latest from unreliable weasel Nate Silver: "The conventional wisdom about this year's presidential race is that it has broken out of stasis to become wildly unpredictable. And yet, after a period of polling turmoil following President Obama's convention in Charlotte, N.C., and Mitt Romney's sharp rebound after the first presidential debate in Denver, the polling in most swing states now looks very similar to the way it did for much of the late spring and summer." CW: thanks, Nate! ...

... NEW. ALSO from Silver: "Hurricane Sandy is just too large a storm to make reliable guesses about where the vote might be depressed. And academic studies on the effects of natural disasters upon elections produce somewhat ambiguous results." ...

... NEW. BUT Adam Serwer has some intelligent thoughts and data on weather effects on elections.

In his column, Krugman writes, "If [Romney] wins, Medicaid -- which now covers more than 50 million Americans, and which President Obama would expand further as part of his health reform -- will face savage cuts. Estimates suggest that a Romney victory would deny health insurance to about 45 million people who would have coverage if he lost, with two-thirds of that difference due to the assault on Medicaid."

Best Romney ad ever. Stephen Webster of Raw Story has the raw story:

Jeremy Peters, et al., of the New York Times: "Despite repeated warnings from President Obama and his party that a flood of unrestricted donations from conservatives to outside groups would swamp them, the White House and its allies are at least holding their own. Over the last month, the pro-Obama forces have run more ads and, more critically, have reached audiences in roughly the same numbers as Mitt Romney and the group of well-financed conservative super PACs working to elect him."

NEW. Matt Viser of the Boston Globe highlights some of the dramatic shifts in Romney's stated policy preferences.

** Penn Bullock of The New Republic on on Stuart Stevens, the unscrupulous thug who runs Romney's campaign. Romney boasts about Stevens' resume'.

Jesse Drucker of Bloomberg News discovers another tax dodge Romney uses which allows him "to take advantage of the exempt status of charities without actually giving away much money.... In 1997, Congress cracked down on" this popular tax shelter, but those who had already established them -- like Romney -- are allowed by the 1997 law to retain them. And he does.

Where's Willard? Bill Carter of the New York Times: President Obama has appeared on a number of late night and other talk shows, but Mitt Romney's campaign has refused to book the GOP candidate. Romney said Dave Letterman "hates me." "Since then Mr. Letterman has waged an on-camera campaign to get Mr. Romney onto his visitors' couch, at one point even telling his viewers not to vote for the Republican unless he turned up. He hasn't."

Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "President Obama is far and away the best president for corporate profits since 1900." In addition, "... real GDP growth per capita is far higher under Obama than it was under either Bush administration."

Episode 1,397,426 of "Our Deplorable Mainstream Media." With extras Rachel Maddow & E. J. Dionne. In this fingernails-on-blackboard segment, David Gregory invites Carly Fiorina to appear on his gag-inducing show "Press the Meat" so he and his buddy David Brooks can look downright reasonable:

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic on Romney's "Desperate, Deceptive Gambit" in Ohio. ...

... Sam Stein of the Huffington Post analyzes Romney's totally misleading auto bailout ad.

Charles Pierce does just an excellent job of taking down the Des Moines Register's devil-may-care endorsement of the bullshitter guy, then goes on to eviscerate the Sunday morning talkshow crowd -- even tho this is not really necessary to do because this is a gang that is exceptionally adept at self-parody.

Our Well-Informed Electorate. Andrew Kirell of Mediaite: "According to a new Associated Press survey, more Americans believe President Barack Obama is Jewish than believe that the president is a Muslim; while a plurality of the surveyed individuals believe he has 'no religion.'"

You'll notice [President Obama] has canceling his trips over the hurricane. He did not cancel his trips over Benghazi. -- Newt Gingrich

Dear Newt: Shut the hell up. On September 20, 1984, there was a truck-bomb explosion at the U.S. embassy annex in Aukar, Lebanon, just outside Beirut. Twenty-four people were killed.... On September 21, 1984 [Ronald Reagan] made three campaign appearances in Iowa -- at an airport rally, a farm, and a church picnic -- despite the fact that a Des Moines Register poll showed him leading Walter Mondale in the state by 23 points.-- Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog

Expect an Election as Disastrous as the Storms. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Early voting, which Mr. Obama has counted on to bolster his chances of a second term, will most likely grind to a halt in some places along the Eastern Seaboard, while power failures could last much of the week.... Virginia, among the most tightly contested states, may be among the most affected.... On Election Day, the winner may not be known right away; results in one or more states may be close enough to merit recounts. In Ohio, which could decide the election, so many provisional ballots may be cast -- and by law are not counted right away -- that it may be mid-November before a winner is declared." ...

... Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Across Florida, black churches have responded with ferocity to changes that Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and the Legislature made to eliminate six days of early voting this year -- including the Sunday before Election Day, which had been the traditional day to mobilize black congregations. In 2008, black voters cast early ballots at twice the rate of white voters, and turned out in significant strength on the Sunday before Election Day to help propel Mr. Obama to victory here.... Obama supporters are counting on a newly energized black base to put them over the edge despite the tighter window for early voting."

Other Stuff

Thomas Edsall has an interesting piece in the New York Times which highlights how the once-authoritarian, hierarchical Republican party is losing control to a few extremist billionaires.

Geraldo tells "Fox & Friends" to STFU on Libya conspiracy theories. Of course then he gets it wrong about Ambassador Susan Rice. That's Geraldo. What a bunch of losers. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link:

New York Times Editors: "In 2010, a group now called American Tradition Partnership brought a lawsuit against Montana, seeking to throw out the state's anticorruption law.... In June, the Supreme Court's conservative majority obliged and handed the group a big victory by blocking the state law. Now a report by ProPublica shows that this group, which supports development of natural resources, apparently misled the Internal Revenue Service when it applied for and received tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' group. It said it would not try to influence elections for public office, yet it has done so repeatedly."

News Ledes

NBC News: "A search was under way Monday for two crew members of the stricken ship HMS Bounty, which sank off the coast of North Carolina, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Earlier Monday, two Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.... It is unclear why the boat set out to sea with Sandy bearing down." The ship was built in 1962 for the film "Mutiny on the Bounty" & has been used in several films since.

President Obama spoke from the White House's Brady Press Room re: storm preparation:

New York Times: "Hurricane Sandy grew stronger before dawn on Monday as it churned northward through the Atlantic Ocean en route to what forecasters agreed would be a devastating landfall, possibly within 100 miles of New York City. At 5 am, the huge storm was producing sustained winds of 85 miles an hour after turning due north, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to veer again to the northwest later Monday morning and take dead aim at the coastline of New Jersey." ...

... The New York Times has live updates for the New York area here. The Weather Channel has links to city-by-city impact forecasts here. Sandy is predicted to hit land at Southern New Jersey, but the effects will be greatest north of there. ...

... Not surprisingly, the Weather Channel seems to be overloaded this morning, & I got a lot of linkage errors. The New York Times has state-by-state updates here. The Times has more live updates here. ...

... New York Times: "All United States stock and options markets will close on Monday as Hurricane Sandy approaches, as Wall Street braces for the storm to barrel through the heart of the country's financial center." ...

... Update: the Washington Post now has a liveblog of the storms. ...

... Update: Daily Kos publishes this list of links to sites livestreaming Sandy coverage.

The Commentariat -- Oct. 28, 2012

Nicholas Kristof: "... rape kits are routinely left untested in the United States.... The lackadaisical attitude toward much sexual violence is seen in another astonishing fact: Sometimes, women or their health insurance companies must pay to have their rape kits tested.... In 31 states, if a rape leads to a baby, the rapist can get visitation rights.... One way to start turning around this backward approach to sex crimes would be to support the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (Safer) Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress that would help local jurisdictions count and test their rape kits."

Once again Maureen Dowd trashes all comers, but she's harder on Republicans today. And she does write this: "... rapists can assert parental rights in 31 states." Seems to be the theme for the day, & for me, both informative & shocking.

Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic:

1. [Richard Mourdick] believes that whenever conception occurs, God intended it and it is a gift.
2. He further believes that rape is one way in which conception sometimes occurs.
3. Thus he believes that conception through rape is a gift from God and furthermore intended by God.
4. Mourdock believes that life begins at conception.

    ... Thanks to contributor Diane for the link. Read Coates' entire post. As Diane writes, "Ta-Nehisi Coates dealt with the issue of the extreme pro-life position in a succinct, meaningful way. Taking down the flawed logic in a couple paragraphs."

Tom Friedman: "... you don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and be against common-sense gun control.... You don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and want to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency, which ensures clean air and clean water, prevents childhood asthma, preserves biodiversity and combats climate change that could disrupt every life on the planet. You don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and oppose programs like Head Start...." CW: if you'd like to think Friedman got it right for once, you might want to skip the last major paragraph.

** Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will soon take on a new role as the sponsor of at least two nationwide health insurance plans to be operated under contract with the federal government and offered to consumers in every state. These multistate plans were included in President Obama's health care law as a substitute for ... the public option.... Supporters of the national plans say they will increase competition in state health insurance markets, many of which are dominated by a handful of companies."

Presidential Race

Nate Silver: "The FiveThirtyEight forecast model has found the past several days of battleground state polling to be reasonably strong for Barack Obama, with his chances of winning the Electoral College increasing as a result. The intuition behind this ought to be very simple: Mr. Obama is maintaining leads in the polls in Ohio and other states that are sufficient for him to win 270 electoral votes." ...

... "Fortune Favors the Brave." Paul Krugman: "... what the auto rescue and the bin Laden strike have in common is that they were both very courageous decisions -- decisions that could easily have gone wrong, that faced lots of second-guessing. You can criticize Obama for many things (and I have, and will in future), but he showed true grit when it mattered, and now seems likely to reap the reward.... If Romney has Big Mo, it looks like this:

John Heilemann of New York magazine: "... there is a small but nontrivial possibility that come November 7, we will find ourselves facing an outcome that would trigger a national political meltdown, in which a large portion of each side decries the election result as illegitimate." Heileman presents four possible nightmare scenarios. ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM on the "illegitamacy" of a president who wins the Electoral College but not the popular vote: "... to those making these arguments I would make the following points: Get over it and most of all STFU." ...

... Steve M. of No More Mr. Nice Blog agrees with Marshall.: "Yes, it's true that the Electoral College is ridiculous. But it's also true that both campaigns have been trying to win 270 electoral votes, not 50% of the popular vote plus 1 -- and Mitt Romney is on the verge of losing that contest. If this were a popular vote race, the candidates wouldn't be practically living in Ohio and other swing states...."

Welcome to Climate Change. Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "With Hurricane Sandy heading toward a collision with an early winter storm and expected to reach the East Coast late Sunday, Mr. Obama, more than his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, must figure how to marshal the government's response while also rallying votes ahead of the Nov. 6 elections. It is a delicate balance, made more so by the fact that some of the swing states necessary to Mr. Obama's re-election hopes -- Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire -- are in the storm's projected path." ...

     ... Update. Steve Peoples of the AP: both presidential candidates have altered their schedules because of the East Coast storm.

Alex Mooney of CNN: "In the latest sign of just how tight both presidential campaigns view the race, President Barack Obama rallied voters on Saturday in New Hampshire -- a battleground state that carries just four electoral college votes. Obama carried the state by a 10 points four years ago, but his fortunes in the Granite State now are considerably more in doubt."

AP: "Vice President Joe Biden says Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are fleeing from their record to appear more moderate than they are. Biden says the GOP ticket has backtracked on issues, ranging from a GOP budget he says would slash Medicare to a planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014. Biden said Romney and Ryan 'are counting on the American people to have an overwhelming case of amnesia.'"

The New York Times Editors endorse President Obama for re-election. Oh, and this about Willard: "Mitt Romney ... has gotten this far with a guile that allows him to say whatever he thinks an audience wants to hear. But he has tied himself to the ultraconservative forces that control the Republican Party and embraced their policies, including reckless budget cuts and 30-year-old, discredited trickle-down ideas. Voters may still be confused about Mr. Romney's true identity, but they know the Republican Party, and a Romney administration would reflect its agenda. Mr. Romney's choice of Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate says volumes about that."

Curtis Hubbard of the Denver Post discusses the editorial board's endorsement of President Obama & the makeup of Colorado's electorate. The endorsement, published October 19, is here:

... BUT the Des Moines Register buys the bullshit, endorses Romney, even though it was apparently not a unanimous recommendation. These people must read only one newspaper.

Frank Bruni: "I still think [President Obama will] win this thing, and I think he'll win it because he's a seriously intelligent, thoughtful leader more in tune and in touch with Americans' lives than his sheltered opponent is.... But this campaign has illuminated nothing so brightly as the limits of his magic, along with shortcomings that he would carry with him into a second term (should he get one) and would be wise to address."

For Salon readers who are somehow persuaded by Matt Stoller's nihilistic lnihilistic exhortation to vote for a third-party candidate because Obama & Romney are pretty much alike, Scott Lemieux of Lawyers Guns & Money responds: "[Stoller's] latest ridiculous argument in favor of throwing the election to Romney has all of the same transparent defects as his previous ones, the most notable being a lack of an argument for how throwing the election to someone who is far worse than Obama on most things and better on nothing will work any better than it did in 2000."

Governors' Races

Mike Baker of the AP: "Of the 11 states with gubernatorial elections in November, eight of them are currently led by Democrats. Each of the most competitive races is a GOP pickup opportunity. The numbers suggests that Republicans will soon claim 30 to 33 governorships after holding just 22 of those seats a few years ago."

Other Stuff

"Remember the Supremes." Jay Reeves & Mark Sherman of the AP: "The Supreme Court could say as early as Monday whether it will consider ending the Voting Rights Act's advance approval requirement that has been held up as a crown jewel of the civil rights era."

CW: contra Right Wing World conspiracy theorists journalists, Oliver Knox of Yahoo! News writes, "The White House on Saturday flatly denied that President Barack Obama withheld requests for help from the besieged American compound in Benghazi, Libya, as it came under on attack by suspected terrorists on September 11th. 'Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi,' National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News by email."

Jason Deans of the Guardian: "Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman and New York Times Company, said in an internal email on Thursday that he was satisfied [incoming NYT CEO Mark] Thompson 'played no role' in the cancellation of BBC current affairs show Newsnight's investigation into the Savile sex abuse allegations in late 2011, when he was still director general. Thompson is due to begin his new job on 12 November. Thompson's knowledge of the Newsnight story and allegations about Savile has come under intense scrutiny since Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times public editor, published a blog on Tuesday saying it was “worth considering now if he is the right person for the job" in light of the scandal enveloping the BBC." CW: thanks for clearing that up, Pinch.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Massachusetts shut down another compounding pharmacy after a surprise inspection last week found conditions that called into question the sterility of its products, state officials said Sunday."

Guardian: "Detectives investigating the Jimmy Savile child sex abuse scandal have arrested Gary Glitter on suspicion of sexual offences in the first of what is likely to be a series of arrests of suspected associates of the late DJ. The glam rocker, who was a friend of Savile and appeared on his TV shows, was arrested at his London home early on Sunday by Scotland Yard officers..., which is following about 400 lines of inquiry involving 300 victims -- mostly young girls but also a few boys -- of alleged sexual exploitation by Savile and others."

AP: "As Hurricane Sandy barrelled north from the Caribbean -- where it left nearly five dozen dead -- to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn't matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes." The Weather Channel's main report is here. With video.

AP: "A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major damage.... [It was] the biggest quake in Canada since 1949.... The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles ... and was centered 96 miles ... south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland." ...

... Reuters: "A tsunami warning [triggered by the Canadian earthquake] for Hawaii has been downgraded to an advisory on Sunday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said."

AP: "Syrian troops shelled rebellious suburbs of Damascus and clashed with rebel fighters in several other areas of the country Sunday, the third day of what was meant to be a four-day holiday truce...."

AP: "Lawyers have denied a report that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's family has amassed $2.7 billion in "hidden riches," a Hong Kong newspaper said Sunday. The New York Times said in a lengthy article Friday that most of the alleged wealth was accumulated by Wen's relatives after he rose to high office in 2002."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 27, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

The transcript is here.

Presidential Race

Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Many of the black voters who gathered [in front of the main polling site in Duval County (Jacksonville)] Saturday morning, the first day of early voting in Florida, had spent the night sleeping in tents and recreational vehicles near the elections office. Their plan was to 'Occupy the Polls' in an effort to raise awareness about changes to early voting this year that shorten the number of days for casting ballots."

Nate Silver: "Thursday was a busy day for the polls, with some bright spots for each candidate. But it made clear that Barack Obama maintains a narrow lead in the polling averages in states that would get him to 270 electoral votes. Mr. Obama also remains roughly tied in the polls in two other states, Colorado and Virginia, that could serve as second lines of defense for him if he were to lose a state like Ohio."

Another October Surprise. Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "The White House is weighing the idea of a tax cut that it believes would lift Americans' take-home pay and boost a still-struggling economy, according to people familiar with the administration's thinking, as the presidential candidates continue battling over whose tax policies would do more for the country."

Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has told President Obama that she will stay in office until her successor is confirmed, but said in an interview that 'this is not an open-ended kind of time frame.'"

Kyle Clark of KUSA Denver interviews President Obama. He answers questions about Libya & that bullshitter guy:

Will Oremus of Slate: "Jim Lehrer didn't do it. Martha Raddatz didn't do it. Candy Crowley 'almost' did it. Bob Schieffer wishes he had been able to do it. Sway Calloway, a DJ and media personality known for giving rappers Eminem and Notorious B.I.G. their first radio airplay, finally did it. In an interview with President Obama that aired on MTV on Friday evening, Sway asked a question about climate change." Includes transcript of Obama's full response. Video segments of the full interview are here.

This One's for Kate. Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: The number one thing at stake in this election is the Supreme Court. Bernstein is a genuine, certified political scientist.

David Remnick & Rick Hertzberg of the New Yorker discuss the presidential candidates with Dorothy Wickenden:

Steve Benen chronicles -- and refutes -- 36 lies in this week's edition of "Mitt's Mendacity." Benen begins with this (I've altered it slightly for brevity's sake):

St. Peter stands at the Pearly Gates, a huge wall of clocks behind him. A new arrival asks what the clocks are for. St. Peter says, "These are lie clocks. Every time a person lies, the clock hands move." St. Peter points out Mother Teresa's clock. The hands have never moved. Then he points to Honest Abe Lincoln's clock. The minutes hand had ticked twoice. "Where is Mitt Romney's clock?" the new arrival asks. "Romney's clock is in Jesus' office," St. Peter says. "He's using it as a ceiling fan."

"Memo from the Boss." Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times on employers urging their employees to vote for Mitt Romney, legalized by our favorite Supreme Court decision, Citizens United. "In these letters [to employees], the executives complain about the costs of overregulation, the health care overhaul and possible tax increases. Some letters warn that if President Obama is re-elected, the company could be harmed, potentially jeopardizing jobs.... Larry Gold, associate general counsel of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said some of the recent employer letters, by hinting at the possible loss of employees' jobs, appeared to cross the line into improper coercion. Federal law and the laws of several states bar anyone from coercing or intimidating voters into voting a certain way." ...

... Wendy Gittleson of Addicting Information: Bishop David L. Ricken of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Roman Catholic Diocese "warned his parishioners that their souls might be in danger if they vote for Obama.... Not only is the Bishop threatening his congregation's souls, he's threatening the community, by saying that the Church will withhold healthcare services." Includes copy of the bishop's full letter. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Strange But True. Lee Ferran of ABC News: Romney bundler & billionaire Paul Singer holds Argentine naval ship, economy hostage.

Not surprisingly, in the last few weeks of the campaign Romney & Congressman Creepy have been drawing bigger crowds. But apparently not big enough! So they just photoshopped a buncha people into a "panoramic shot" of a campaign event for use in an official Instagram.

Congressional Races

Gail Collins: Indiana's Richard "Mourdock is the only Senate candidate for whom Romney has appeared in a TV ad, although there are lots of beleaguered Republicans who could use his help: the guy in Montana who had a fire on his property and then sued the local fire department that worked to put it out; the guy in Florida who used to do promotional work for 'Hooters'; the woman who's running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York. She's against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but, so far, very few New Yorkers know it because they have yet to learn more basic information, such as her name." ...

... Mark Leibovich of the New York Times profiles the Hooters guy, my own Congressman, Connie Mack IV a/k/a CoMa. If you'd like to know what species of lowlife the average GOP Congressman is, look no further than CoMa.

Ed Kilgore: "... the biggest defeat the Right has already suffered (other than the failure to recruit and/or unite behind a presidential candidate less weaselly than Romney) was to take a Senate victory for granted. They've got no one but themselves to blame for that mistake."

Right Wing World ...

... Is apoplectic to find that "we live in a fallen world destined for hell fire..., [where] people ... have no problem with the President of the United States, via a campaign ad, ridiculing virgins and comparing sex to voting." See yesterday's Commentariat for the "offending" video by Lena Dunham.

Other Stuff

Sabrina Tavernise & Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "An FDA inspection of the New England Compounding Center, "whose tainted pain medicine has caused one of the worst public health drug disasters since the 1930s, found greenish-yellow residue on sterilization equipment, surfaces coated with levels of mold and bacteria that exceeded the company's own environmental limits, and an air-conditioner that was shut off nightly despite the importance of controlling temperature and humidity.... Instead of producing tailor-made drugs for individual patients, as the law allowed, the company turned into a major drug maker that supplied some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, including ones affiliated with Harvard, Yale and the Mayo Clinic, all with minimal oversight from federal regulators."

John Cushman of the New York Times: "The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements.... The project is run by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and NASA. The outside review team ... called the management of the program 'dysfunctional.'"

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The two big weather models that track storms came to a consensus Friday that the storm [Sandy] would turn inland somewhere to the east of the Chesapeake Bay and drench at least eight states as it drives across the Great Lakes into Canada. It is expected to turn into a blizzard before it gets there, dropping up to a foot of snow. Although Sandy's top winds diminished Friday and the National Weather Service downgraded it to tropical storm status at 5 a.m. Saturday, that loss of power was seen as temporary." The Weather Channel story is here.

Reuters: "Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, join Syria's rebellion and to ensure Egypt implements sharia, SITE Monitoring reported on Saturday, citing a two-part film posted on Islamist websites. The Egypt-born cleric, who became al Qaeda leader last year after the death of Osama bin Laden, spoke in a message that lasted more than two hours."

ABC News: Frank Tanabe, "a World War II veteran whose effort to vote from his deathbed inspired thousands, has died a week after casting his final ballot.... Honolulu elections officials say Frank Tanabe's vote will be counted unless they receive his death certificate before the Nov. 6 election and they're able to find his ballot from among the tens of thousands of ballots mailed in." (CW: sorry, late with this story.)