SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:45 P.M. ET:

GALLUPING – Gallup has now switched to the "likely voters" model for its presidential tracking poll, and reports that likely voters support Romney, 49-47%.  Registered voters support Obama 49-46%.  I'd rather have the likelies.  Gallup has registered voters preferring the Dems for Congress by one point, 47-46%.  Of course, you have to go into individual Congressional districts to determine how that actually plays out.  It's essentially a tie, and may mean nothing.

BIG BIRD READS THE TEA LEAVES – The intensely liberal Sesame Street is asking the Obama campaign to stop using Big Bird in an ad ridiculing Mitt Romney, noting that the organization does not endorse candidates.  Romney, as you'll recall, suggested in the debate that it might be time to cut federal spending on PBS, which airs Sesame Street.  The Street may be reading the tea leaves and concluding that it may be dealing with a President Romney rather than a President Obama come January.

ANOTHER GREAT OBAMA INVESTMENT – A Michigan battery plant that Obama visited in 2010 as a symbol of his administration's commitment to "green" energy, and which received $150-million in taxpayer funds, is furloughing workers...but has yet to produce a single battery.  It was expected to make batteries for the Chevy Volt, but they're being made in South Korea.  Another smart investment by the investment counselors at Obama, Inc.

CONFIRMATION – The State Department finally confirmed today what just about everyone already knew, that the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, was not an outgrowth of a spontaneous demonstration.  That contradicts the line the administration tried to sell in the first days after the attack, and the line parroted by our UN ambassador, Susan Rice, on TV news shows.  Rice has tried to blame intelligence officials for misinforming her.  Intelligence officials privately deny her charges.  The president has taken no responsibility at all, demonstrating his understanding of leadership.

October 9, 2012