A Vote for a President to Lead on Climate Change  —  The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday's presidential election into sharp relief.

Oct. 31: Obama's Electoral College ‘Firewall’ Holding in Polls  —  On Oct. 11, this blog posed the question of whether President Obama's “firewall” in battleground states was all that it was cracked up to be.  —  At that point, Mr. Obama still technically held the lead in the FiveThirtyEight forecast …

Two women from the Dominican Republic told The Daily Caller that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez paid them for sex earlier this year.  —  In interviews, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000 acre resort in the Dominican Republic.

D.C. paparazzi fear a Mitt Romney win  —  People may have differing opinions on President Barack Obama's handling of such things as the economy, health care and foreign policy, but on one issue, the consensus is clear: He's ushered in an unparalleled wave of celebrity visits to D.C. …

Exclusive: Classified cable warned consulate couldn't withstand ‘coordinated attack’  —  The U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” less than a month before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, because Al Qaeda had training camps …

Former Penn State President Charged in Sandusky Case  —  Graham B. Spanier, the former president of Penn State, was charged Thursday with helping to cover up the child abuse allegations involving Jerry Sandusky that have roiled the university and its famed football program over the past year.

Does Fox News Know What Media Bias Is?  —  If there's one drum the right wing likes to bang it's the one about the “liberal media”, which, by law, must appear in every right-wing editorial or come out of the mouths of every Fox News and radio show pundit at least four times a day or Rupert Murdoch strips …

Akin ad features rape victim  —  Rep. Todd Akin is out with a new ad featuring a supporter who says she was raped and had an abortion.  —  Akin, who is trying to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in Missouri, found his campaign in turmoil and faced a wave of criticism …

Sifting the Numbers for a Winner  —  A crucial element: the mix of Democrats and Republicans who show up this election.  —  It comes down to numbers.  And in the final days of this presidential race, from polling data to early voting, they favor Mitt Romney.  —  He maintains a small but persistent polling edge.

Romney ad pins Obama to Chavez and Castro  —  (CNN) - A television ad from Mitt Romney's campaign airing in Miami pegs President Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, notorious dictators widely reviled among Cuban Americans.  —  The ad spotlights endorsements from Chavez …

Andrew Sullivan: 'If You Voted For Obama in 2008 and Don't in 2012, You Never Really Voted For Him'  —  As hard as it might be to believe, the Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan has become a bigger cheerleader for President Obama than virtually anyone else in the media including the shills on MSNBC.

Obama's campaign goes empty and strident  —  “It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man.”  —  Energetic in body but indolent in mind, Barack Obama in his frenetic campaigning for a second term is promising …

Withdrawal of a Congressional Research Report on Tax Rates Raises Questions  —  WASHINGTON — The Congressional Research Service has withdrawn an economic report that found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, a central tenet of conservative economy theory …

Former GOP Sen. Hagel backs Democrat Kerrey in Nebraska Senate race  —  Kerrey is in a heated battle with Republican state Sen. Deb Fischer to replace the retiring Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson.  — Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker  — Check out the CNN Electoral Map …

Gay Left-Wing Radio Host Advises Gay Romney Supporter to Commit Suicide, Says He Should Not Be Allowed to Vote  —  Our reader Tim in MT shared this video with us that he had made after catching Michelangelo Signorile on SiriusXM radio yesterday.  —  The left-wing radio talker, twice in the segment …

Show Me Your Model  —  It might be easy to believe we're approaching Peak Trutherism, what with good old-fashioned birthers now being supplemented by BLS truthers and poll truthers.  But just you wait—should Barack Obama win this election, we'll see an explosion of election trutherism that will be truly unprecedented in scope.

International observers say states out of line  —  The group hosting international election observers said Thursday that state officials in Iowa and Texas are needlessly blocking access to the decades-old process the United States already has agreed to, an official said Thursday.