SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:51 P.M. ET: 

SETBACK – The Senate race in Iowa, which showed GOP candidate Joni Ernst building up a lead, has apparently settled back into a dead heat.  From The Hill:  "Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) is in a virtual tie with Rep. Bruce Braley (D), inching ahead by 1 percentage point with less than three weeks remaining until Election Day.  Des Moines Register released the Iowa poll Saturday, showing Ernst at 47 percent and Braley on her heels at 46 percent among likely voters.  In a poll conducted by the newspaper last month, Ernst led Braley 44 percent to 38 percent."  Of course, this could just be the normal fluctuation within polling, but it must be a matter of concern to us.  Apparently, undecideds are breaking mostly for Braley, who's a weak candidate.  This is one the GOP would dearly love to win, as the winner will replace liberal senator Tom Harkin, who is retiring.

DEM BASE APATHETIC – From The Hill:  "The Democratic Party's worst fears about the midterm election look to be coming true.  Polling in recent weeks suggests turnout on Election Day could be very low, even by the standards of recent midterms. That’s bad news for Democrats because core groups in the liberal base are more likely to stay home than are people in the demographic segments that lean Republican.  A Gallup poll last week found that voters are less engaged in this year's midterms than they were in 2010 and 2006. Only 33 percent of respondents said they were giving at least 'some' thought to the upcoming midterms, compared to 46 percent in 2010 and 42 percent in 2006. Even more troubling for Democrats, Republicans held a 12-point advantage when those paying 'some' attention were broken down by party.  Historically, the core Democratic constituencies of young people, minorities and single women are more likely to skip voting in midterm elections. The current projections suggest that months of effort by the Democratic Party to engage those groups on issues such as the minimum wage and women's pay may have been in vain."  Yes, it's now being reported from a number of states that the "Republican war on women" theme, a favorite of liberals, is falling flat.  Too many women are in economic trouble to believe that Democrats truly care for them.

INCREDIBLE – From AP:  "BAGHDAD (AP) — On the western edge of Iraq's capital, Islamic State group militants battle government forces and exchange mortar fire, only adding to the sense of siege in Baghdad despite airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition.  Yet military experts say the Sunni militants of the Islamic State group, who now control a large territory along the border that Iraq and Syria share, won't be able to fight through both government forces and Shiite militias now massed around the capital.  It does, however, put them in a position to wreak havoc in Iraq's biggest city, with its suicide attacks and other assaults further eroding confidence in Iraq's nascent federal government and its troops, whose soldiers already fled the Islamic State group's initial lightning advance in June."  If Islamic State forces lay siege to Baghdad, even if they don't immediately take the city, the psychological damage to our side will be devastating.  What will Obama do then?  There apparently is no real strategy.  Of course, he could always solve the problem by going on another vacation.  Thanksgiving is coming up.  Christmas.  Wonderful times to get away.

October 11,  2014