Free Republic

Original title:Ghost of an over-confident Al Gore will haunt smirking Vice President Joe Biden who tried too hard to make up for his boss' weakness . . . and was caught fibbing about the U.S. intelligence community ------------------------ Joe Biden came out swinging at Paul Ryan, flailing wildly and landing a few punches on his own jaw as well as his opponent's. He showed the kind of spirit and populist anger that President Barack Obama was so conspicuously lacking and has cheered up many demoralised Democrats. But Biden's performance here in Danville, Kentucky was both comical and self-defeating. Just as...

Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the country, a beautiful singer at the top of her profession. She isn't an A-list movie star... yet. Her work in the celebrated "Dreamgirls" didn't make that happen, nor did appearances in "The Pink Panther," "Obsessed" or "Austin Powers in Goldmember." Clint Eastwood could have changed all that. The actor/director wanted Beyoncé to star in his planned remake of "A Star Is Born." Any Eastwood project is instantly Oscar bait, and his track record suggests he could have transformed the stunning chanteuse into an A-lister with just one film. Now, we'll never...

The Big Bird ad stays. Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he didn't know of any plans to take down the controversial ad featuring the famous feathery star, despite a request by Sesame Workshop. Gibbs made the comment on NBC's "Today" show, a day after campaign officials said they were reviewing Sesame Workshop's appeal. The satirical TV ad featured a menacing voiceover warning of Mitt Romney's anti-Big Bird agenda, playing off the Republican nominee's debate claim that he wants to cut funding to PBS. "Big, yellow, a menace to our economy. Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you...

The Democratic National Committee had more debt than cash on hand when the general election started in September, a troubling fact few people have noticed to this point in the campaign. We already knew that the Republican National Committee had more than 10 times as much cash as the DNC while the party’s were holding their conventions, but a closer look at the DNC’s August report shows it also took out $8 million in loans during that month — which means it had more debt ($11.8 million) than cash on hand ($7.1 million).

Original title: Suffolk pollster: We’re not polling Florida, Virginia, or North Carolina anymore, because Romney’s going to win them ------------------------ Via Gateway Pundit, I’ll give you the RCP averages tonight and leave you to judge. They’ve got Romney by three points in NC (although the latest poll has him up nine), Romney by less than a point in FL, and Obama by less than half a point in VA. See Guy Benson for more good news in various state polls. Ohio and Pennsylvania are getting tighter.

Mitt Romney's post-debate surge appears to have all but wiped out President Obama's once double-digit lead among women voters. A new Pew Research Center survey depicted a remarkable swing in the numbers, with Romney pulling even among women in polling late last week. In September, the same polling outfit showed Obama leading by 18 points among women. Among all likely voters surveyed, Romney climbed from an 8-point deficit last month to a 4-point lead. There's little question that his debate performance has played a role. A separate Gallup survey showed registered voters deemed Romney the winner by 72-20 percent, marking...

Obama’s 10 percentage point lead (47%-37%) in a poll conducted last month by EPIC-MRA of Lansing dropped to 3 points (48% to 45%), according to the poll of 600 likely voters conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing. The gap between Romney and Obama was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points… “Romney has come back like gangbusters,” said EPIC-MRA President Bernie Porn. “Whether or not it’s long-lasting, only time will tell, but probably the remaining debates will be key.” Conducted in the three days following the Wednesday debate, the poll showed more than five times...

President Obama’s re-election campaign on Monday launched a pre-emptive strike ahead of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s planned foreign policy address, arguing that Mr. Romney has failed the the commander-in-chief test on the global stage — in part by staking out positions to the right of former President George W. Bush. The Obama camp released a new television advertisement and issued a memo on Monday criticizing Mr. Romney’s bumpy overseas trip this summer as well as his response to the assaults on the U.S. diplomatic post in Libya— highlighting how a national security adviser to GOP Sen. John McCain’s 2008...

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is a professed heavy metal fan, but he’ll be getting a little help on the campaign trail from a musician known more these days for his guitar-heavy rock tunes than his headbanging prowess. Michigan native Kid Rock will appear and introduce the Wisconsin congressman at a Monday rally in the rocker’s home state, according to the local news site mlive.com.

The Obama campaign has been reeling since losing the first Presidential debate of this election cycle in front of 67 million viewers. They've tried--and thus far failed--to craft a narrative to explain away the debacle in Denver. Previously, we reported to you that Obama Senior Advisor David Plouffe, who ran the President's successful 2008 campaign, (falsely) accused Mitt Romney of lying. In a rare comedic moment from the typically robotic former Vice President Al Gore, he suggested on Current TV that the Mile High City's altitude was the reason Obama was low on energy and enthusiasm. Neither of those caught...

Have you noticed that we've seen a lot less of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recently? Since getting caught misrepresenting her own statements caught on tape in early September, she seems to have been relegated to the back bench. Wednesday night was the first presidential debate, and Democrats had their various surrogates on hand to talk to the media. Rep. Wasserman-Schultz gave interviews to Univision, 7 News Colorado, and what appears to be a pre-debate interview with an ABC affiliate. She'll appear on Bloomberg TV this Sunday and she has a new profile in Vogue of all places, but these...

Mitt Romney's campaign is shooting down a simmering online theory the Republican nominee used a "cheat sheet" in Wednesday night's debate against President Barack Obama. The theory — extensively documented by the liberal blog Daily Kos and picked up on the Daily Beast and elsewhere — focuses on a brief moment as Romney took the stage, pulled something out of his pocket, and put it on the podium. But according to a Romney aide the object was simply a handkerchief, not an illicit list of zingers. "It's a handkerchief," the aide said simply in response to the post. Romney can...

Suspicion about the federal government's September jobs report has fallen on Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who appeared on CNBC this morning and defended the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming--falsely--that upward revisions of 86,000 jobs were from the private sector. In fact, the new number is entirely accounted for by upwards revisions to state and federal government payrolls. The BLS reported that while only 114,000 jobs were created in September--which would have translated into a rise in unemployment from 8.1% to 8.2%--the unemployment rate fell dramatically to 7.8%. That unusual drop is the fastest in nearly...

a rally in Denver on Thursday, President Obama argued the "spirited fellow" he met on stage at the first presidential debate the night before wasn't "the real Mitt Romney."

MICHELLE OBAMA ON The TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW: Well, we’re understanding that, you know, you can have a president you love, but if you don’t have a congress that’s willing to work, you know, you wind up stalled in so many ways. And I think that Barack has done a phenomenal job working around a congress that has never been willing to help move the country forward on so many different issues. But I think he’s done everything humanly possible to get things passed around the margins. But, you know, just imagine where this country will be when we have...

Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway endorsed Mitt Romney ahead of Wednesday's presidential debate in Colorado. “Governor Romney is a proven leader with the experience and background to turn around our struggling economy,” Elway said in a statement. “In these tough economic times, we need a president who understands how to get America working again – by standing on the side of taxpayers and small-business owners who do the real job creating. I am endorsing Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan for President and Vice President because I know having the courage to make decisions and tackle challenges is what leads...

Jets owner Woody Johnson was asked if it was more important for him that his team have a winning season or Romney wins next month’s presidential election. “I think you always have to put country first,” said Johnson, who is the chairman of Romney’s campaign in New York, on Bloomberg TV’s “Money Matters.” “I think it’s very, very important not only for us, but for our kids and grandkids that this election come off with Mitt Romney and Ryan as president and vice president.”

In CNN’s last poll, taken soon after the Democratic convention, O led by six among likely voters. That lead’s now cut in half, to within the margin of error, despite weeks of media doomsaying about Romney’s campaign. In fact, the last four national polls all have the race within two or three points with a bounce opportunity for Romney looming 48 hours from now. I think the first debate will essentially be an audition for him: Obama’s the ultimate known quantity but, for millions of low-information voters, this’ll be the first time they see Romney in action. If he’s as...

President Barack Obama arrived in Nevada last night to begin three days of debate preparation at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort, a luxurious golf community just a few miles from the Las Vegas strip. According to the White House pool report, the "resort is a strange mix of desert sand pits, green lawns, palm trees and new homes. We passed a replica of the Ponte Vecchio and some luxurious lakeside estates, also unfinished lots and a browning golf course. The president's hotel has a Middle Eastern theme and a view of the lake from the lobby."

It's a further lowering of expectations ahead of the first debate in Denver next week. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse tells Fox News he thinks Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will win. Woodhouse says the way the DNC sees it, challengers win the first debate when they are up against incumbents. "Mitt Romney has had a lot more time to debate, the president has not debated in the past four years in terms, of a campaign debate. I think the president will hold his own, but he's not known for sound bites. And these are 60 second, 90 second...