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By Scott Wong (
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OBAMA LINKS ROMNEY TO MOURDOCK - USA Today's David Jackson reports: "President Obama's campaign is trying to tie Republican rival Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan to embattled Senate candidate Richard Mourdock and his comments about rape. In a new video, the Obama campaign asks: 'Mitt Romney's solution to extremism against women? Promote the extremists.'
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-- Obama to Leno: 'Rape is rape": During an appearance on "The Tonight Show" in Burbank, Calif., the president panned Mourdock's remarks: 'I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. Let me make a very simple proposition. Rape is rape. It is a crime. These various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me, don't make any sense to me."
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MOURDOCK: 'ONE OF THE TOUGHEST DAYS OF MY LIFE' - POLITICO's Manu Raju catches up with the GOP Senate candidate in Carmel, Ind.: "An emotional Richard Mourdock told fellow Republicans here that this 'has been one of the toughest days of my life' as the GOP Senate candidate acknowledged creating 'quite a firestorm' from his controversial comments on rape and abortion. 'Today has not been a fun day,' a teary-eyed Mourdock told a private dinner meeting of the Hamilton County Republican Party. 'Professionally, emotionally, it's been one of the toughest days of my life quite frankly.' 'What I said last night I didn't mean obviously to be mistaken but it became a news story,' he told the crowd.
'For whatever reason, it seemed to further identify me in the public's mind. And if that's the way it is, that's the way it is.'

-- "The fallout came after a Tuesday night debate in which Mourdock defended his opposition to abortion in the cases of rape by saying such pregnancies are 'something that God intended to happen.' Mourdock went into full-fledged damage control Wednesday, discussing his deep religious faith that is the basis of his anti-abortion philosophy as he repeatedly expressed remorse for women who are the victims of sexual assault. While he won support from Senate GOP leaders, several at-risk Senate candidates distanced themselves from his remarks, and Sen. John McCain said his continued support depends on Mourdock's full apology. With his race against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly going down to the
wire, Mourdock can't afford many slipups since his loss would virtually end any GOP hopes of returning to the Senate majority.

-- "So Mourdock expressed remorse to this sympathetic crowd, which gave him a standing ovation. He was introduced by tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who accused his opponents of 'twisting' Mourdock's words to distract voters. And Rep. Mike Pence, the gubernatorial candidate who called on Mourdock to apologize earlier Wednesday, stressed to the dinner crowd how important it is to elect the GOP Senate candidate, according to a source in the room."
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OTHER REPUBLICANS WEREN'T AS KIND:

-- Former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour, appearing on CBS's "This Morning," called Mourdock's remarks "kinda crazy":
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-- McCain said he's not sure if he'll stick by Mourdock: "It depends on what he does. I think it depends on what he does. If he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him, then obviously I'd be the first," McCain, who recently endorsed Mourdock, told CNN's Anderson Cooper last night. "You know, as I said, I'm not sure how big a - mistakes that I have made, but in the years I've been around - I've made a few, Anderson, and I've asked for people's understanding and forgiveness when I own up to it. It's when you own - when you don't own up to it that people will not believe in you." Watch:
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-- Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.): "Dean Heller disagrees. He does not share these views,' said campaign spokeswoman Chandler Smith, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
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-- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.): It's not what I believe," Brown told reporters at a campaign event with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the Aegean Restaurant in Watertown, according to MassLive.com. "I'm a pro-choice Republican and that's not what I believe. I disagree with what he said."
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-- Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) skipped a campaign event with Mourdock Wednesday: "She disagrees with Treasurer Mourdock's comments, which do not represent her views," spokesman Jeff Grappone said in a statement, the Concord Monitor reported.
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-- But Senate candidate Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who was abandoned by national Republicans after his "legitimate rape" remarks, downplayed the Mourdock flap. Akin spokesman Rick Tyler told Huddle:"Democrats don't have record to run on, so they take any distraction and try to make a mountain out of a mole hill. This falls somewhere between political correctness and the thought police run amok."

SENATE RACES TIGHTEN, GOP HOPES RISE -- Rosalind S. Helderman and Jason Horowitz write on A1 of the Washington Post: "In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate, there are now at least eight critical contests in which polling shows essentially a dead heat, encouraging Republicans' hopes that they may yet snag the chamber, which very recently seemed beyond their reach. Some of the GOP boost is coming from the top of the ticket in the form of Mitt Romney, whose recent surge in the polls seems to be helping Republican candidates across the country. Democrats still have an edge in their effort to keep control of the Senate, and they may have been helped Tuesday when Republican candidate
Richard Mourdock in Indiana suggested that pregnancies resulting from rape are God's will, possibly damaging his chances to succeed Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R). But both parties agree that many of the most important races have become more competitive in recent days, and their outcomes harder to predict."
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-- But Bloomberg's Kathleen Hunter writes that the election year math isn't adding up to a GOP-run Senate.
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The Wall Street Journal took a more neutral view: The headline on A6 was "Number of Competitive Senate Races Rises."
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Wall Street Journal, A1, 4-col. lead, "CEOs Call for Deficit Action," By David Wessel: "Chief executives of more than 80 big-name U.S. corporations, from Aetna Inc. to Weyerhaeuser Co., are banding together to pressure Congress to reduce the federal deficit with tax-revenue increases as well as spending cuts. The CEOs, in a statement to be released on Thursday, say any fiscal plan 'that can succeed both financially and politically' has to limit the growth of health-care spending, make Social Security solvent and 'include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit. The declaration differs sharply from those of
several other business groups, which urge Washington to deal with the deficit and avoid across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases set for year-end-but avoid any stance on the politically charged issue of raising taxes.

-- "The CEOs who signed the manifesto deem tax increases inevitable no matter which party succeeds at the polls in November.'There is no possible way; you can do the arithmetic a million different ways' to avoid raising taxes, said Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna. 'You can't tax your way to fix this problem, and you can't cut entitlements enough to fix this problem.'"
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-- Public Notice Executive Director
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Gretchen Hamel wrote letters to Obama and Speaker John Boehner urgingthem to quickly start negotiations and identify cuts to replace the sequester. Read the letters:
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POWELL BLAMES CONGRESS FOR INACTION ON 'FISCAL CLIFF' - In an interview this morning on CBS, Colin Powell endorses Obama for president, then blasted Congress for failing to meet its responsibilities:

CHARLIE ROSE: So you blame the failure to find a grand bargain on the congress and not on the president?

POWELL: Why do we need a grand bargain? Why do we need Simpson-Bowles? This is work the Congress is supposed to be doing. You're not supposed to need special committees to come along. We have a congress of 535 people with dozens and dozens of committees. Why can't they up on the Hill start talking to one another, reach across the aisle? But it will take greater presidential leadership and I think what the president said in one of his remarks yesterday is that he intends to spend more time trying to bring that leadership up to the Hill and get both parties both sides to start talking to one another. But every candidate can say, "I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.' But in reality
it's the Congress that actually does it or doesn't do it and I don't think the Congress has been meeting its responsibilities." (h/t Kevin Robillard)

THE REID MACHINE FACES TEST - The New York Times' Adam Nagourney writes on A1: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "has spent the last 10 years building a political machine that helped Mr. Obama win Nevada in 2008 and carried Mr. Reid to a re-election victory two years ago that stunned many pollsters. It is widely praised - even by Republicans - as one of the most effective voter-organizing and money-raising political organizations. But the Reid machine is facing its biggest test yet.

-- "Mr. Reid's organization is a large reason that Mr. Obama is favored by many analysts to win narrowly in Nevada, despite what may be the worst economic climate in the nation and a sizable population of voters who, like Mitt Romney, are Mormons. Mr. Reid, who has long been strongly supportive of Mr. Obama in Washington - he maneuvered the president's health care bill through legislative hoops to an unlikely victory in the Senate - has made it clear that he views a victory for Mr. Obama in his state as a personal mission. This reflects not only his admiration for the president but also his visceral dislike for Mr. Romney, expressed in constant needling and attacks for almost six months.

-- "Even more ambitiously ... Mr. Reid is determined, friends say, to lift Representative Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, to victory over Senator Dean Heller, a Republican, as he seeks to make sure that he does not return to Washington next year as the Senate minority leader."
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RIVERA FACES 11 ETHICS COUNTS -- Scott Hiaasen and Patricia Mazzei write on A1 of the Miami Herald: "Already facing FBI probes and a daunting re-election, U.S. Rep. David Rivera was charged Wednesday by state authorities with 11 counts of violating ethics laws for filing bogus financial disclosure forms, misusing campaign funds and concealing a $1 million consulting contract with a Miami gambling business while serving in the state Legislature. Investigators with the Florida Commission on Ethics found that Rivera's secret deal to work as a political consultant for the Magic City Casino - formerly the Flagler Dog Track - created a conflict of interest for the lawmaker. The ethics panel
also found that the Republican broke state ethics laws by failing to fully disclose his finances from 2005 to 2009."
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MORAN'S SON RESIGNS OVER FAKE BALLOT ISSUE - Errin Haines writes on B1 of the Washington Post: "The son of 11-term Rep. James P. Moran Jr. resigned from his father's campaign Wednesday hours after an
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undercover video showed him discussing possible voter fraud with an activist posing as a campaign worker. In the video, dated Oct. 8 and posted by conservative activist James O'Keefe, Patrick Moran does not explicitly advocate or condone the worker's suggestion to cast ballots on behalf of 100 voters he says are unlikely to show up Nov. 6. Moran, who appears not to know that he is being recorded, attempts to discourage the worker from carrying out the scheme, saying he should instead join get-out-the-vote efforts. But Moran, a campaign field director, also offers guidance on how to possibly skirt Virginia's new voter identification laws. He also doesn't tell the worker not to proceed with
his plan."
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GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, October 25, 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
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com . If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include but are not limited to @RepTomGraves and @lindavanderwerf.

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND: FINANCIAL FIRMS BACK BROWN - Jim Puzzanghera writes for the L.A. Times: "Wall Street's philosophy in one of the nation's most hotly contested Senate campaigns could be boiled down to an old proverb: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The financial industry has poured more than $6.2 million in contributions into the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts between incumbent Republican Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, who has made the fight against Wall Street greed and corruption a cornerstone of her campaign. Nearly $9 of every $10 have gone to Brown, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That money has helped Brown
stay competitive with Warren, a darling of liberal donors from Harvard to Hollywood, in one of the nation's most expensive Senate races. Altogether, Brown had raised about $27.5 million through last month, compared with about $36.6 million by Warren, the latest filings show."
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HARKIN'S TRIBUTE TO PAUL WELLSTONE - Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) writes in a POLITICO op-ed: "Ten years ago today, en route to a campaign event less than two weeks before Election Day 2002, Sen. Paul Wellstone's plane crashed, killing the senator, his wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, three campaign staffers, and two pilots. A decade later, there is a void in the Senate that still has not been filled. It is as though we are suffering from phantom limb syndrome. Whenever an issue of moral urgency, an issue of conscience, comes before the Senate, I still expect to see Paul holding forth on the floor, chopping the air with his hands, speaking with his special passion, urging us to do the right
thing."
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-- Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken remember Wellstone in a piece for the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
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--Wellstone will be remembered at a ceremony today at the crash site near Eveleth, the AP reports.
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BUSY VAN HOLLEN EYEING LEADERSHIP? - Roll Call's Jonathan Strong and Abby Livingston report: "As speculation continues about the House Democratic leadership structure in the next Congress, Rep. Chris Van Hollenhas been particularly busy. The Maryland lawmaker is a regular presence on the cable news channels. He has appeared on the stump with President Barack Obama, and during those trips he has been featured at local fundraisers and press conferences on behalf of House candidates in competitive races. It's enough to make people think Van Hollen might be positioning himself to run for something besides re-election to his own House seat. While Van Hollen is often considered part of Democratic
leadership, and sometimes attends leadership meetings, he has no formal leadership position - and there's no apparent opening for him to fill when Democrats elected to the 113th Congress hold leadership elections five weeks from now."
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-- Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi set Nov. 29-30 as the date House Democrats will meet to organize for the next Congress and hold leadership elections.
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PELOSI, LAWMAKERS BET CHOCOLATES, CONEY DOGS - Francis X. Donnelly writes for the Detroit News: "At least six Michigan pols have been swept up in a wagering frenzy with their California counterparts over the World Series ... The Tigers are playing the San Francisco Giants. During this season of partisan sniping, it's good to see election officials battling over something that doesn't involve the presidential election. 'You don't mess with Motown,' said Rep. Hansen Clarke. He told Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he would treat her to coney dogs if the Giants won. She offered Ghirardelli chocolates, which originated in San Fran, if the Tigers won. Clarke said the chocolates
'will be an excellent complement to the sweet taste of victory.' Pelosi is something of a serial bettor. She also made wagers with Reps. John Dingell and Sander Levin."
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WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Ross Kapilian was first to correctly answer that Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes for president in 1800. The tie was resolved by the House of Representatives.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Kapilian asks: Who were the only presidents to hold no other elected office? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com .

WEATHER - Partly sunny with highs between 73 and 79 degrees, according to ABC7's Brian van de Graaff.

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