Virginia News Headlines: Friday Morning

by: lowkell

Fri Oct 12, 2012 at 07:09:09 AM EDT

*Biden did his job ("Biden gave Democrats hope tonight.")
*VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America ("for his entire political career up to that point, on critical economic issues, Paul Ryan was an extremist even by the standards of the modern Republican party, which are considerably high indeed.")
*Biden rattles Ryan ("Vice President Biden was not about to let people forget that Ryan, and by extension Mitt Romney, are inextricably bound to the unpopular House Republican leadership.")
*VP debate: Biden seemed real, Ryan plastic
*Biden talks the base off the ledge
*And now, Joe Biden's turn ("Bottom line: It was probably a night that put Democrats, especially those dedicated enough to watch, in a much better mood than they had been for the last week. It's possible that might even move the needle a bit by pushing them to answer pollsters with a bit more enthusiasm. But soon enough, the nominees will be back onstage, and if Obama wants to keep any gains with Democrats that Biden may have made tonight, he's going to have to do it himself.")
*Democrats are in the center of 'polarized' U.S. (Andy Schmookler writes: "Too often I hear that American politics has become polarized between the extreme left and extreme right. To those expressing this notion, I say: Get real.")
*Andy Schmookler on 'The Chris Graham Show'
*George Allen dodges NPR (Sad, but not surprising; Allen's been dodging the media the entire campaign, obviously terrified of another "macaca" incident. He's also terrified of answering substantive questions about Social Security and Medicare, as his blowoff of a forum in Fairfax demonstrated.)
*Manchin travels into Virginia to campaign for former Gov. Kaine at Pyott-Boone
*Allen internal poll shows him ahead in Virginia (Yeah right, whatever George.)
*Polls paint muddled picture in Virginia
*September decline puts state tax collections behind forecast
*Allen, Kaine detail dueling economic development philosophies at Hotel Roanoke
*Retired Marine stumping for Obama in Virginia Beach
*Allen reads "Carl the Rottweiller" to home-schoolers in Blue Ridge
*Libertarian presidential nominee visits Richmond
*Freeze watch north and west of D.C.
*NLDS Game 4: Jayson Werth homer wins it for the Nationals in the bottom of the ninth (Wow, what a game! Now, on to the deciding Game #5 in D.C. Go Nats!)

P.S. Also see Paul Krugman's Triumph of the Wrong?, in which he writes: " If you look at the track record, the Obama administration has been wrong about some things, mainly because it was too optimistic about the prospects for a quick recovery. But Republicans have been wrong about everything." Also: "if Mitt Romney wins the election, the G.O.P. will surely consider its economic ideas vindicated. In other words, politically good things may be about to happen to very bad ideas. And if that's how it plays out, the American people will pay the price."