Thoroughly Moderating Mitt (The Note) DIANE AND OBAMA: Today ABC's Diane Sawyer will sit down for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with President Obama at the White House. It marks his first sit down since his debate with Governor Mitt Romney on October 3. A portion of the interview will air tonight on "World News" and portions of the interviews will also be highlighted across other ABC broadcasts and platforms including ABCNews.com, Yahoo!, ABC News Radio, and ABC's local affiliates. ABC's Jake Tapper reports: ABC News has learned that Eric Nordstrom, the former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, has told congressional investigators that security at the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was "inappropriately low" ... Nordstrom and the commander of a 16-member Security Support Team, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, heard that foreign fighters were flowing across the Egyptian border and were making their way across the border to the Libyan city of Derna-which is to the east of Benghazi-and from there were making their way to Benghazi. Nordstrom was worried-he did not know how much the Americans could rely on members of a local Libyan militia in Benghazi that provided security - the "17th of February Martyrs Brigade." ... Nordstrom had "no idea if they would respond to an attack," he told investigators. http://abcn.ws/QgKABc The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin asked the GOP nominee about Benghazi in a phone interview last night. Rubin writes: "Romney called out the White House for "misrepresenting" events in Libya and brushed off the post-debate attacks on him as ineffective. ... Did the White House mislead Americans or was there just confusion about the origin of the attacks on Sept. In his most definitive statement to date, Romney answered, "I think there was misleading on the part of the administration." He continued, "It took way too long for the president to acknowledge that there had been an executed terrorist attack on September 11, 2012."" http://wapo.st/RP4TZ0 TUNE IN TOMORROW: Tune in to ABCNews.com on Thursday for livestreaming coverage of the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate in Danville, Ky. moderated by ABC's own Martha Raddatz. AFTER THE DEBATE: The Obama campaign announced yesterday that Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will campaign in Wisconsin on Friday. CINCINNATI - On the eve of the highly-anticipated vice presidential debate in neighboring Kentucky, the state of Ohio is a hotbed of political activity today. Exactly one week after his breakout debate performance in Denver, Mitt Romney is barnstorming the Buckeye State with a traveling companion - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. "I've been watching some of the, President Obama's rallies, and they chant "four more years, four more years,"" Romney told the crowd. "I think the right chant ought to be for them, "Four more weeks, four more weeks!"" "There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda," Romney said, according to the Register. http://dmreg.co/OnIlib He has also said he would prefer to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe vs. Wade. http://abcn.ws/TflT7B By all accounts, it worked - at least until now. THE NOTE ON THE ROAD - BUCKEYE BATTLEGROUND: The Note is in Ohio today where, as ABC's Emily Friedman notes, Mitt Romney has three events across the state. At the first two, the Republican presidential candidate will be joined by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and by Romney's son, Josh, at the last one. The first event, at the Ariel Corporation in Mount Vernon, will be a town hall-style meeting, which Romney hasn't done since mid-August when he held one with Ryan. The race has tightened nationally, and a new CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney 51 percent to 47 percent among "likely voters" in Ohio. Just last week, an NBC/Marist poll showed the president leading by eight percentage points, but as ABC's Amy Walter notes, Obama's support is still above 50 percent, meaning Mitt Romney will have to win votes away from the president, not just attract undecided voters. Among registered voters, CNN-ORC shows a bigger advantage for Obama, with the president leading 53 percent to 43 percent. http://bit.ly/Pnpvce OBAMA LAST NIGHT: "BUCKEYES, WE NEED YOU": President Obama made an urgent push to get out the vote in the key battleground state of Ohio yesterday, urging 15,000 supporters to register before time runs out, ABC's Mary Bruce reported from Columbus. As you get older, you start thinking about sleeping around 9 p.m., but you guys are just getting started." ... "All right, Buckeyes. And I need your help to finish what we started." http://abcn.ws/QbzgaF ROB PORTMAN ON THE STATE OF THE RACE: "The poll numbers are showing some movement. But you know I've always thought this was going to be a very close race in Ohio, and at the end of the day, we would be able to win, because people in Ohio are looking for something new. You know, they don't think the last four years have worked very well," the Ohio senator told Agence France-Presse reporter Michael Mathes yesterday. "And if you look at the "wrong-track" numbers in Ohio, they pretty much reflect the nation, in fact sometimes they're worse. So this notion that somehow people in Ohio feel great about the economy, it's just not accurate. FLASHBACK: ABC Political Director Amy Walter's take on Romney's way to win Ohio - To win the Buckeye State, Romney needs to do more than close the polling gap or win the early voting race. BENGHAZI RE-EXAMINED: More from ABC's Jake Tapper: Former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Libya Eric Nordstrom twice wrote to the State Department - in March and July 2012 - to beef up the presence of American security officers in Benghazi, but neither time was there a response. Deputy Assistant Secretary for international programs Charlene Lamb, in Nordstrom's view, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi "artificially low," according to a memo for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. ... Nordstrom has said that Lamb told him not to request for the Security Support Team to be extended again. http://abcn.ws/QgKABc At noon ET, Rep. Darrell Issa's, R-Calif., House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing about what went wrong in Benghazi. Nordstrom will testify at that hearing, ABC's Jake Tapper reports. Ahead of today's House hearing, ABC's Jonathan Karl reported for "World News" on a new timeline given by a senior State Department official: We are hearing new details, details that we have never heard before about what went down, and this is significantly different than what we were told at the time. At the time, as you'll recall, we were told it was a protest that went bad and became an attack. Now we are told there was no protest going on outside that embassy. The first indication that they heard anything outside the walls of the consulate compound was an explosion and gunfire. They looked through a camera to see what was going on, and we are told they saw a large number of armed men coming in and approaching that compound. We are told it was a very complex attack without precedent in U.S. history. ... They still don't know how Amb. Stevens got to the hospital. Doctors at the hospital took the cell phone out of his pocket and started calling it, that's how they found out that he was there. http://abcn.ws/TgfHfy ABC's Julie Phelan reports on the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll: Ann Romney's popularity has jumped since April as her national exposure has increased, but Michelle Obama maintains a clear advantage in the battle of the spouses-with both women rated more favorably than their campaign-scarred husbands. Still, favorable views of Romney have gained 12 points since April, while views of Obama are unchanged. http://abcn.ws/PWECUK With new polls showing a closer race nationally and in battleground states, ABC's David Muir reports for "World News" from Ohio: We're noticing something different from Gov. Romney: more personal stories, more personal connections with people he's met along the way. ... Speaking of an old classmate he saw at a campaign event, ailing in a wheelchair. ... Romney offering the story of a boy he counseled losing his battle with leukemia, and stopping the motorcade as children waved on. ... a report by Politico suggesting that this shift is driven by Ann Romney and their son Tagg, a key adviser, arguing inside the campaign they should show more of the dad they know. The campaign said today, "Nonsense," as they worked to build on Romney's momentum from the debate. http://abcn.ws/R7EHWF ABC's Elizabeth Hartfield reports that a new WMUR Granite State polls shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by six percentage points, 47 percent to 41 percent, among likely voters in New Hampshire. That's a nine-percentage-point improvement for Romney, who had trailed by 15 percentage points in the last WMUR poll, which was taken Sept. 27-30. http://bit.ly/W0Hohn ABC News" Michael Falcone reports: Mitt Romney and his Republican allies have struck a tone of exasperation about President Obama's use of Big Bird as a campaign issue ever since Romney invoked the giant, yellow "Sesame Street" character at last week's debate in Denver. ... But back as far back as December 28, 2011, in Clinton, Iowa, Romney started talking tough about the giant yellow bird. And we're going to have endowments for the arts and humanities but they're going to be paid for by private charity not by taxpayers - or by borrowers." http://abcn.ws/TvkvDs So reports CNN Money's Stephen Gandel: "Welch said he will no longer contribute to Fortune following critical coverage of the former CEO of General Electric, saying he would get better "traction" elsewhere. ... Monday morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer said there were a number of things wrong with Welch's tweet, the biggest of which was that the economy doesn't back up the former executive's claim that the numbers were faked. ... On Tuesday, Fortune.com ran a story detailing Welch's record as a job destroyer. GE lost nearly 100,000 jobs during the 20 years in which Welch ran the company. "I never put myself out there as an employment agency," Welch told Fortune. ... Following the story, Welch sent an e-mail to Reuters" Steve Adler and Serwer saying that he and his wife Suzy, who have jointly written for Reuters and Fortune in the past, were "terminating our contract" and will no longer be sending our "material to Fortune."" http://bit.ly/QS5ARm Jack Welch writes in an Wall Street Journal op-ed: "Imagine a country where challenging the ruling authorities - questioning, say, a piece of data released by central headquarters - would result in mobs of administration sympathizers claiming you should feel "embarrassed" and labeling you a fool, or worse. Soviet Russia perhaps? Communist China? Nope, that would be the United States right now, when a person (like me, for instance) suggests that a certain government datum (like the September unemployment rate of 7.8%) doesn't make sense." http://on.wsj.com/Tvu2dt ABC's Mary Bruce reports on Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki's press gaggle aboard Air Force One: "The question here is which Paul Ryan is going to come to the debate later this week," she continued. In the latest installment of "Spinners and Winners," ABC's Jonathan Karl looks at past vice presidential debates, from Bob Dole implying all 20th century American wars were partisan exercises launched by Democrats, to Lloyd Bentsen's "You're no Jack Kennedy," to James Stockdale asking, "Who am I? WATCH: http://yhoo.it/QS7vp8 ABC's Arlette Saenz reports: When Vice President Joe Biden steps on the stage at Centre College for the Vice Presidential debate in Kentucky Thursday night, it will be the first time the vice president has been on national television airwaves answering questions from a reporter since the May Meet the Press interview when he expressed his comfort with gay marriage. The vice president has engaged in no national TV interviews and few local and print interviews since that May questioning session which forced President Obama to complete his evolution on the issue sooner than expected. http://abcn.ws/SPnZ3H ABC's Shushannah Walshe reports from St. Petersburg, Fla.: On CNN Tuesday evening, Romney said he didn't know how Ryan "will deal with this debate," trying to tamp down expectations for the only vice presidential debate Thursday and noting that Joe Biden is an "experienced debater." But, it will be a new experience for Paul, but I am sure he will do fine." ... Ryan has actually participated in at least eight debates during his fourteen years in congress according to available articles and information provided by the Ryan campaign. After Democrats scored an appellate-court victory on early voting in Ohio last week, ABC's Ariane DeVogue reports that Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Jon Husted, is asking the Supreme Court to step in and review the decision: Last week the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Obama campaign and Democratic officials who challenged a change to Ohio's voting law that allowed only military and overseas voters to participate in early in-person voting three days before the election. The Court ruled that if local boards of elections chose to be open for the early in-person vote three days before the election, the voting had to be open to ALL voters. In an emergency applications filed with Justice Elena Kagan, who has jurisdiction over the 6th Circuit, lawyers for the state write, "The decision is not only wrong, but it will cause wholly unwarranted interference with and disruption of the State's administration of elections." ABC's Sunlen Miller reports on Sen. Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday: Schumer called on a plan centered around three principles- curtailing tax expenditures, returning to a Clinton-era top rate, and reducing but not eliminating the tax preference for investment income. He advocated for raising rates for the wealthy, for the preservation of tax breaks for the middle class and urged Democrats to get behind a deal on entitlement reform. So that's how a grand bargain can be had: Republicans get entitlement reform, Democrats get revenue from the higher-income people." http://abcn.ws/Tgisxm Planned Parenthood Votes is circulating a new mailer highlighting what it calls "Mitt Romney and George Allen's harmful agenda for women, women's health and women's economic security." The mailer reads: "Mitt Romney and George Allen would go too far and interfere in personal health decisions that should be left up to a woman and her doctor." Allen is running against Democratic candidate Tim Kaine for a U.S. Senate seat from Virginia. Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Votes are running a similar mail campaign in Ohio highlighting GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel. MAILER: http://bit.ly/SLy4Ni The Romney campaign on Tuesday announced a "Healthcare Professionals for Romney" coalition, including members of Congress, former health officials, doctors from five states, and Romney's son Ben (who is a doctor of internal medicine). From the campaign: "I am pleased to announce the formation of Healthcare Professionals for Romney," said Mitt Romney. So much is at stake in this election, including the future of American medical care. Barack Obama put in place a massive governmental takeover of this vital sector of our economy. I am committed to repealing Obamacare and replacing this costly bureaucratic misadventure with a sensible reform that returns decision-making to states and localities, and patients and doctors. @murphymike: If I were head of a malicious foreign intelligence service, I'd focus on bribing media pollsters. Public polls totally rule DC mind space. @kakukowski: VIDEO: "The Difference" highlights the Obama/Biden $1 trillion tax hike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWIFGFYM6Mk&feature=youtu.be ... @DanielLibit: As liberals freak out prez polls, Dems seek solace in - of all people - George W. Bush. Here's why (via @daily): http://bit.ly/TtJhUf @mckaycoppins: BTW, if you haven't, read the @mmhastings piece:http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/where-barack-obama-lost-the-debate ... @amieparnes: Obama's last fundraiser (that he'll attend) tomorrow night in Miami.http://bit.ly/QgzMDc ‏@rickklein: good point by @danbalz - Biden-Ryan matters since Obama was attacking Ryan long before he became VP nomineehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/big-stakes-for-biden-and-ryan-in-vp-debate/2012/10/09/b24d55de-1249-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html?hpid=z1 ... #debates President Obama sits down for an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer at the White House. Mitt Romney holds a town hall meeting in Mount Vernon, Ohio with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Later Romney and Christie drop by a restaurant in Delaware, Ohio and to end the day Romney and his son, Josh, hold a rally in Sidney with country music star Collin Raye. Vice President Biden has no public events. Congressman Paul Ryan arrives in Lexington, Ky. for tomorrow's vice presidential debate. Michelle Obama holds campaign events in Fountain and Durango, Colorado. Ann Romney, co-hosted "Good Morning America" and later travels to Florida to tour the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.