SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:15 P.M. ET: 

ROBERTS GAINS IN KANSAS – In what has become, unexpectedly, a key test in GOP efforts to take the Senate, veteran Republican Senator Pat Roberts is closing the gap with an independent who became a sudden frontrunner.  From The Hill:  "Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has narrowed independent Greg Orman's lead in the Kansas Senate race according to a new Democratic poll that shows him consolidating the GOP base. The survey, from firm Public Policy Polling, gives Roberts 41 percent support to Orman's 44 percent support, with Libertarian Randall Batson taking 5 percent.  It marks a substantial improvement for Roberts from the last PPP poll, conducted a month ago, which gave Orman a 10-point lead over the senator. That gain for Roberts has come largely from a significant improvement with Republicans."  The base is coming home.  We'll need more to put this one away, but I'm hopeful that Roberts, who is lackluster, will squeeze by on election day.

NICE TO KNOW – From Buzzfeed:  "The extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group admits to and justifies the enslavement of hundreds of Yazidi girls and women as concubines in the fourth issue of its online English publication Dabiq.  In an article titled  'The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour,' ISIS says that enslaving families of the apostates such as the Yazidi and taking their women as concubines or sex slaves is a 'firmly established aspect of the Sharia.'"  We have yet to see "women's rights advocates" on the American left show the slightest interest.  It's scandalous.

OPENING FOR OUR SIDE? – Aside from Republican troubles in Kansas, another unpleasant surprise has been the tightness of the senatorial race in South Dakota, which the GOP candidate, former Governor Mike Rounds, was supposed to have put to bed easily.  But, as in Kansas, an "independent" has upset things.  Former Republican Senator Larry Pressler entered the race as an independent and is now within shooting distance of Rounds.  Pressler is a turncoat who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.  But he's now run into a problem.  From Buzzfeed:  "Following his tenure in the Senate, former Republican Sen. Larry Pressler sat on the board of a brokerage firm, Sky Capital, that defrauded investors of $140 million over an eight-year period, according to federal prosecutors.  Pressler, who is running for Senate in South Dakota as an independent, was on the board of Sky Capital from 2004 until he resigned in 2006, according to court documents and numerous news reports. Pressler served as non-executive director of the board.  Sky Capital was founded by Ross Mandell, who served as chief executive and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2012 for conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud.  Pressler was never accused of wrongdoing, but repeatedly vouched for the character of Mandell, who was at the center of the fraud operation."  The revelation can only hurt Pressler, and possibly stop his recent momentum.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS – The news from Iraq gets increasingly grim, but the statements from Washington continue to parrot, if only with caution, the official line.  From The Hill:  "Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Monday he is 'somewhat' confident that the Iraqi army can defend Baghdad from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).  'I believe the capability is there to defend Baghdad. ... But we'll have to see what plays out over the coming days,' he told reporters at the Association of the United States Army on Monday.  Defense officials are urging patience with the U.S. strategy against ISIS, even as the group makes gains in western Iraq and on the Syrian border town of Kobani.  ISIS appears to be advancing closer and closer to Baghdad, however, where at least several hundred American troops and civilians are stationed."  We hear about Kobani and Baghdad, but there are other areas of Iraq where ISIS is also advancing.  I can't see a good ending here.

October 13, 2014