Sarah Palin’s leadership political action committee “spent more than $774,000 during the year’s third quarter after taking in more than $843,500 — the bulk of it from donors who contributed $200 or less,” Politico reports.

A New York Magazine poll of political insiders, asked to predict the winner of the presidential election, finds President Obama overwhelmingly favored over Mitt Romney, 82% to 18%.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney among likely voters, 49% to 46%, “basically unmoved from the poll two weeks ago, just before the two candidates met in Denver for their first debate.”

“Nearly two-thirds say they do not need any more information before Election Day, and barely one in eight is undecided or says there is a chance he could change his vote. Even as voters overwhelmingly perceive that Romney won the first debate, the vast majority say their opinion of the president did not shift as a result.”

“But more people changed their views of Romney, largely in a positive direction. Overall, more than twice as many say their opinions of the former Massachusetts governor improved than say they worsened as a result of the debate. The strongest reaction is among Romney backers, 70 percent of whom say Denver made them think more highly of the GOP nominee.”

A Politico/GWU poll finds Obama ahead 48% to 47%.

A Newsmax/Zogby poll shows Obama leading 47% to 44%.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows President Obama leads Mitt Romney by a 59% to 31% among those who have already voted.

With the November 6 election just more than three weeks away, 7% of those surveyed said they had already voted either in person or by mail.

Here are the latest polls from the battleground states:

Colorado: Obama 48%, Romney 46% (Gravis)

Florida: Romney 49%, Obama 48% (Public Policy Polling)

North Carolina: Romney 49%, Obama 47% (Public Policy Polling)

The father of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attack in Benghazi last month, told Bloomberg his son’s death shouldn’t be politicized in the presidential campaign.

Said Jan Stevens: “It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue.”

Saturday Night Live gets the debate right again.

[Read more…]

“The endless presidential campaign is about to enter its last lap, and with it will come a final fusillade of TV ads as both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama seek to make closing arguments for why the country would be better off with them, and worse off with the other guy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“If you live in a battleground state, brace yourself. Another couple hundred million dollars in ad spending is about to rain down on your living rooms in the last weeks of the campaign.”

New York Times: “Strategists affiliated with the Obama and Romney campaigns say they have access to information about the personal lives of voters at a scale never before imagined. And they are using that data to try to influence voting habits — in effect, to train voters to go to the polls through subtle cues, rewards and threats in a manner akin to the marketing efforts of credit card companies and big-box retailers.”

Here are the latest polls from the battleground states:

Arizona: Obama 44%, Romney 42% (Rocky Mountain Poll)

Ohio: Obama 51%, Romney 46% (Public Policy Polling)

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) told CNBC he would not endorse Mitt Romney for president, “arguing that neither he nor President Barack Obama would make necessary cuts to public spending that would avert a fiscal catastrophe.”

Said Paul: “I’ve been in this business a long time and believe me there is essentially no difference from one administration to another no matter what the platforms. The foreign policy stays the same, the monetary policy stays the same, there’s no proposal for any real cuts and both parties support it.”

Denver Post: “Police say someone fired a shot at an Obama campaign field office in Denver on Friday afternoon. No one was injured, though people were inside the office when the incident occurred.”

The Chicago Sun Times reports Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-IL) is being treated for bipolar disorder,
had a highly publicized extramarital relationship, has been repeatedly linked to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and is now the target of a federal investigation into “suspicious activity” into his congressional finances.

Yet most think he’s going to be easily re-elected on November 6.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) “has raised a whopping $4.5 million in the last three months,” The Hill reports.

“The three-month total could prove to be the largest of any House member this cycle, topping that of fellow conservative Rep. Allen West (R-FL), who exceeded $4 million in his own quarter. Bachmann’s campaign did not say how much she has left in the bank, but it’s likely to be substantial.”

New York Times: “During Mr. Romney’s four-year term as governor of Massachusetts, he cumulatively spent more than a year — part or all of 417 days — out of the state, according to a review of his schedule and other records. More than 70 percent of that time was spent on personal or political trips unrelated to his job.”

“Mr. Romney, now the Republican presidential nominee, took lengthy vacations and weekend getaways. But much of his travel was to lay the groundwork for the presidential ambitions he would pursue in the 2008 election, two years after leaving office.”