National

This admission, by Chaffetz, is going to enrage conservatives who think that the point of government is to waste taxpayers money on partisan witch hunts.

Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz has just admitted that the GOP’s investigation into Planned Parenthood’s misuse of federal funds turned out to be a dud. “Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn’t find any,”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) raised $12.2 million in the third quarter, Reuters reports. In contrast, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “took in just $6 million for his presidential campaign from July to the end of September, a major drop to his fund-raising pace over a summer in which two Republican rivals dropped out because they lacked enough money to continue,” the New York Times reports. Ted Cruz will be your Republican nominee. And that's all I got today, because I have a funeral to attend. Perhaps my colleagues can add something about the GOP in total disarray and chaos. The parties have switched places. It used to be that the Democrats were like herding cats and undisciplined, in a permanent state of total chaos and revolution; while the GOP had military precision, and their next in line always won the presidential nomination or leadership contest.

Media vehicles are arriving outside VP Biden's house in Greenville as we speak.

Sen. Bernie Sanders “is uninterested in going through the motions of typical debate practice,” Politico reports.

“While CNN is billing the event as a showdown, Sanders’ team sees the first Democratic debate as a chance to introduce a fairly niche candidate to a national audience. So his team intends to let him do what he’s been doing. Far from preparing lines to deploy against Clinton — let alone O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee, or Jim Webb — Sanders plans to dish policy details, learned through a handful of briefings with experts brought in by his campaign.”

I think that would be a good thing. A detailed filled debate. No personal attacks. Quite a contrast to the GOP.

Josh Marshall makes an important point.

The only thing amazing about this is how it took a momentary remark by McCarthy to suddenly make what everyone knows into an acceptable point of public discussion: namely, that the Benghazi Committee was not only a transparently political exercise (that's hardly unprecedented) but just a complete crock by every definition. Without McCarthy's clumsy remark, DC's establishment press apparently didn't realize this was the case or didn't think it was an acceptable point of discussion. That's amazing.

Your "liberal media" everybody... Fair and balanced!

THE ERA OF BIPARTISAN POLITICS IS OVER

On the bright side, if anyone can inform Coons, Carper, and Carney that they may now drop their lapdog devotion to fraudulent bipartisanship, it is Celia.

Not that it was much of a secret, since she attended the Jamboree in Sussex County (it is pretty rare for upstate politicians to do that unless you are running for something) and it has been rumored that she would run for some time. But now there is official paperwork. The News Journal says this will shake up the Lt. Governor race. I say it ends it. But DD, there are now six candidates!?! How can you say it is over? Well.....

Nate Cohn: “Vice President Joe Biden has less support in the polls than Bernie Sanders and hasn’t raised a single dollar for a presidential campaign. Yet if Mr. Biden does decide to seek the presidency, he will pose a greater challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.” I agree. Sanders draws big crowds, and he polls well in New Hampshire, a state he might win. But Sanders is polling behind Biden in every later contest (see polling inside). Biden seems to have the better electability argument on his side, at least in Florida (see polling inside).