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By Scott Wong (
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BERMAN VS. SHERMAN: LET'S GET PHYSICAL - If you thought Thursday night's Biden-Ryan debate got heated, wait 'til you watch the replay of the Howard Berman-Brad Sherman debate. The two California Democrats, forced to face each other in the general election because of House redistricting, nearly came to blows during a debate in San Fernando Valley yesterday. Now each side is blaming the other for starting it.

-- Perhaps the real culprit was the rowdy crowd at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, which gave the debate the feel of an MMA cage match. Roll Call's Kyle Trygstad happened to be in the room when the "stuff" went down: "Things escalated toward the end of the debate, during an argument over Berman's leadership on the DREAM Act. The debate was held in front of a largely Hispanic crowd of more than 200 enthusiastic Pierce College students and members of the community. With Berman already standing, Sherman stood up and shouted into the microphone that Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) sponsored the bill. Berman stepped toward Sherman so they were nearly nose to nose and said Sherman was wrong.

-- "'Don't you dare stand up here ... and get in my face,' Sherman said. He then wrapped his arm around Berman's shoulder, looked him in the eye and - still holding the microphone to his mouth - said: 'You want to get into this? Get out of my face.' The already boisterous crowd went wild. That's when a member of the sheriff's department stepped in to make sure the two were separating, which they were voluntarily."
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-- The Berman campaign initially sent reporters an edited clip showing Sherman initiating the confrontation but later sent out a longer clip revealing that Berman had stepped up to Sherman. Watch here:
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THE OTHER DEBATE - POLITICO's Jonathan Martin and John Harris give Joe Biden and Paul Ryan a mixed verdict in this morning's lede: "Vice President Joe Biden gave Democrats what they needed most from the debate here Thursday night - a jolt of energy that came from hitting Republicans in all the places they are presumed to be most vulnerable and chasing away memories of President Barack Obama's flaccid debate performance the week before. But Biden didn't do much more than that.

-- "It is clear that Biden's substantive high points ... will be partly shadowed by his nonstop succession of incredulous smiles, sneers, taunts and guffaws that were apparently intended to show self-confidence and fighting spirit but struck many viewers as undignified and rude. Paul Ryan, for his part, gave Republicans the minimum they needed. He turned in a passable performance with no big errors and with very occasional - and very faint - flashes of the energetic young domestic policy activist that first won him the national spotlight. But Ryan didn't do much more than that. His earnest-but-bland performance rarely if ever dominated the evening, and it is unlikely that he left many
Republicans fantasizing about the day when it is Ryan himself running for president and taking the fight to Democrats. If he didn't do any damage to Romney, it is possible he did himself some slight damage to his own long-term reputation. If all this sounds like a pretty mixed verdict, that's exactly right."
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CONGRESSMAN RYAN - POLITICO's Dylan Byers notes that, per debate rules, moderator Martha Raddatz was suppose to call Ryan "Mr. Ryan" rather than congressman but didn't do so.
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ON TWITTER, JFK LINE MOST POPULAR - Biden's "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy" line generated 58,000 tweets per minute, writes CNET's Daniel Terdiman. "For the second time, JFK may have been the star of a vice presidential debate, and Twitter was all over it.During tonight's debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the two got into a brief skirmish over former President Kennedy, leading Biden to say, disbelievingly to Ryan, 'Now you're Jack Kennedy?' The line brought to mind then Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen's famous moment in his 1988 debate against Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, who had compared his level of
experience to that of JFK prior to Kennedy becoming president. Bentsen's immediate reply: 'Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.'"
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WAPO LEDE EDITORIAL: DEBATE 'UNILLUMINATING' - "IF LAST WEEK'S presidential debate was so restrained as to be soporific, the vice presidential debate was a rumble of cross talk and interruption that was much livelier - but similarly unilluminating. The conversation Thursday night on domestic issues was both disappointingly narrow - issues such as education, immigration and climate change never came up - and infuriatingly dodgy."
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RAND RIPS GRAHAM FOR AIDING DEMS - Manu Raju explores the bad blood between the two senators: "Sen. Rand Paul accused fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday of providing aid and comfort to Democrats in the fall battle for Senate control. An outside spending group controlled by Paul, a Kentucky Republican, launched an ad this week attacking Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for opposing Paul's bill to block foreign aid to Libya, Egypt and Pakistan. Graham quickly came to Manchin's defense, prompting a sharp retort from Paul, a tea party freshman who's considered an isolationist on foreign policy.

-- "'I don't see myself campaigning against a Republican in a general election ever, that's why I think it's extraordinary that Graham is supporting a Democrat in a general election,' Paul told POLITICO. 'That's fairly extraordinary to do that.' Paul added, 'Which is more important: Defending, I think, a failed policy of foreign aid or getting a Republican majority? And I personally think getting a Republican majority, from my perspective, is very important.'" Graham declined to comment.
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Boston Globe, A1, "For Brown, politics and military entwine," By Glen Johnson: "Tanned, his hair cropped closely on the sides, and dressed in fatigues, Senator Scott Brown looked every bit the dashing soldier coming home from war when he returned from National Guard duty in Afghanistan a year ago. His wife, Gail Huff, raced to meet him in a crowded terminal at Logan International Airport. Photographers captured their kiss and long embrace. ... Brown, though, returned not as a veteran of a protracted period of duty but after a 14-day Army National Guard assignment he requested. During that span, he spent seven days in Afghanistan itself. ...

-- "During his 32 years of Guard service, which started long before he entered the halls of government, Brown has established a strong record bolstered by consistently high officer evaluations.But since being elected to the Senate in 2010, his service has taken on a political patina, with the Guard providing him unusual opportunities that he has used as fodder for his campaign, as well as the flexibility necessary to participate in one of the country's most hotly contested elections."
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ROUND 2 IN CONN. SENATE RACE -- Daniela Altimari writes for the Hartford Courant: "When the bell for round two rang Thursday evening, Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Chris Murphy began the pummeling again, turning their second debate of the U.S. Senate campaign into a nasty and sometimes ugly scrap. They talked issues - from birth control and Afghanistan to taxes on the wealthy - but the two candidates used much of the 60 minutes of brisk back-and-forth to relentlessly hammer each other in front of a large crowd at the University of Connecticut's Jorgensen Auditorium in a debate sponsored by The Courant and FOX CT. The evening left little doubt that both Murphy, a three-term
congressman from Connecticut's 5th District, and McMahon, the former CEO of the wrestling entertainment company WWE, plan to steadily slam each other until Election Day."
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LIGHTS GO OUT AT NEVADA DEBATE - "In the second debate of the U.S. Senate campaign, incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller and his Democratic rival, Rep. Shelley Berkley, sparred over online poker, a mining project in rural Nevada and financial reform, laying out the final campaign themes just weeks before early voting begins. Then the power went out," writes the Las Vegas Sun's David McGrath Schwartz. "A hailstorm cut power to the studio once, just as the candidates began to joust over energy policy. The television stations twice lost their feeds amid the turbulent weather. ... Throughout the debate, Heller attempted to strike a bipartisan tone, casting himself as a pragmatic
problem-solver. And in a departure from the last debate, Heller passed on some easy shots at Berkley, particularly the ongoing ethics investigation into whether Berkley advocated policies to financially benefit her husband."
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GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, October 12, 2012, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
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My new followers include but are not limited to @FreedomAttorney and @johncolbertdc.

DesJARLAIS: MISTRESS WASN'T PREGNANT - AP reports: "A Tennessee congressman, in his first public comments since reports that he once urged a mistress to get an abortion, said Thursday that the woman turned out not to be pregnant. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a freshman Republican who opposes abortion, did not dispute a transcript of a recorded phone conversation in which he appears to urge the woman to terminate the pregnancy. His remarks came in an interview Thursday with WTN-FM host Ralph Bristol. 'I don't mind telling people that there was no pregnancy, and no abortion,' said DesJarlais, who is seeking re-election. 'But I also don't mind telling people that this was a protracted two-year
divorce back in 1999 and 2000. There was some difficult times, for sure.'"
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CARMONA STRIKES BACK - "Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), running for a U.S. Senate seat, released an ad earlier on Thursday that attacks Democratic opponent Richard Carmona for alleged anger issues. Now the Carmona campaign is hitting back," Elise Foley writes for the Huffington Post. "The campaign will begin airing an ad Friday that calls Flake's ad 'despicable.' Carmona's spot mimics the style of Flake's: Both feature female former bosses of Carmona's who talk about working with him. In the Flake ad, Cristina Beato, who was an official at the Department of Health and Human Services when Carmona was U.S. surgeon general, says he has problems working with women. Carmona's
former SWAT team commander, retired Capt. Kathleen Brennan, defends him in the new 30-second ad, which will air statewide in Arizona."
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KING GIVES HIMSELF A HAND - POLITICO's Emily Schultheis writes: "Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King debated his Democratic opponent, Christie Vilsack, on Tuesday night - and it looks like he brought notes. In footage of the debate, King opens his hand and there are handwritten notes on it. The debate rules said neither candidate was allowed to bring notes. King campaign spokesman Jimmy Centers said he had 'no idea' what the notes on King's hand actually said that night, but that the congressman has a 'habit' of writing himself reminders on his hand and that Tuesday was no different."
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INQUIRER POLL: CASEY UP 10 - Recent polls showed Democratic Sen. Bob Casey's race with Republican Tom Smith had narrowed considerably, but a new Philadelphia Inquirer poll still gives him a double digit lead: "Bob Casey holds a 10-point lead over Tom Smith in the battle for the U.S. Senate, but fails to stir strong feeling among the electorate, according to the latest Inquirer Pennsylvania Poll. Four weeks before the Nov. 6 election, a bipartisan team of national pollsters found Casey, the Democratic incumbent, with 48 percent of the vote. Smith, the Republican nominee, was getting 38 percent. ... Casey's lead was about half of his margin in an August Inquirer poll, and he has fallen
below the 50 percent support level needed to win. Jeffrey Plaut, leader of Global Strategy Group, the Democratic half of the Inquirer polling team, said that while the race 'has definitely tightened,' Casey still appeared 'in good shape to win.'"
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THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - For his second consecutive win, Tom Flanagin was first to correctly answer that former Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson later unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Republican in Maryland. The year was 1940.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Nationals rookie Bryce Harper, whom Harry Reid has called "the most powerful man in Washington," became only the third teenager to suit up for the All-Star Game in the history of the Mid-Summer Classic. Who were the other two? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com .

THE NATS LINE: WAS 2, STL 1; SERIES: 2-2 - Jon Allen writes: Jayson Werth kept the Washington Nationals alive -- and screaming -- by crushing a no-doubt-about-it homer into the left field seats for a thrilling bottom-of-the-ninth victory. Werth, a power hitter turned lead off man, played both roles in a gritty at-bat, fending off 12 pitches before taking Cards pitcher Lance Lynn out of the yard. It was one of only three hits for the Nats and six hits overall in the contest. The victory set up a decisive Game 5 tonight at Nats Park, with Gio Gonzalez on the hill for the home team and Adam Wainwright pitching for the Cards. Start time: 8:37 p.m. It'll cost you a minimum of $100 for a seat
on stubhub, but some folks are selling standing room only tickets for $75. The winner faces the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series.

WEATHER - Sunny, breezy and cool, according to ABC7's Brian van de Graaff.

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