Live Thread. Live Blogging to Commence as Soon as Possible. (Added (TL): I'll fill in till BTD arrives and then add my thoughts in comments.

90 minutes about domestic issues. 6 15 min segments. 2 minute answers for first question with remainder of time open. Lehrer picked the questions. There will be 3 on the economy, 1 each on health care, role of government and role of governing. They will focus on differences, specifics and choices. (Good luck with that.)

The audience will be silent. [More...]

One advantage Democrats have over Republicans: They get the most popular musicians to perform at campaign rallies, while Republicans get requests from musicians to stop using their music.

Bon Jovi will be performing at at two free early voting events for Obama in Iowa this week. Both will be acoustical performances. On Sunday, Bon Jovi will join Katy Perry, Jennifer Hudson, and Earth, Wind and Fire at a concert in Los Angeles.

Politicians give back too. Check out Al Gore's rousing introduction of Bon Jovi at the 2007 Live Earth concert. The Live Earth concert is my favorite Bon Jovi performance, you can watch 20 minutes of it here. [More....]

In tonight's debate between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown, the 'independent" Brown was asked who is his favorite Supreme Court Justice.

His answer: Antonin Scalia.

I expect that to be in ads tomorrow.

Scalia arguing that the Constitution does not bar gender discrimination:

Leave it to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to argue that the Constitution does not, in fact, bar sex discrimination. Even though the court has said for decades that the equal-protection clause protects women (and, for that matter, men) from sex discrimination, the outspoken, controversial Scalia claimed late last week that women's equality is entirely up to the political branches. "If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex," he told an audience at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law, "you have legislatures."

Full version on the other side.

With Mitt Romney continuing to lose ground among voters who view him as out of touch, Republicans are trying hard to gin up expectations for the Obama-Romney debate. John McCain says it will be "one for the history books." Chris Christie says the debate will "turn the presidential race upside down." The hyperbole is echoed by some journalists, like Chris Cillizza, who today writes the debate will be a moment when "everything and everyone stops" and likens it to the Superbowl of politics.

I think many people will tune in to see how many times Mitt sticks his foot in his mouth and shows his disconnect from ordinary Americans. [More...]

A new poll by Bloomberg today has Obama ahead of Mitt Romney 49 to 43. Mitt's problem: people view him negatively.

Half of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Romney -- a September high for a presidential challenger in the last three decades -- and 49 percent of likely voters consider the former Massachusetts governor out-of-touch compared with 40 percent who say that of Obama in the latest Bloomberg National Poll conducted Sept. 21-24.

Also, voters think Obama has a better vision for the future:

The president does have one clear advantage -- his economic plan is breaking through with more Americans, who give him a 48 percent to 39 percent advantage over Romney on having a vision for a successful future.

In a nutshell:

[T]he public continues to view Romney as more disconnected from their lives and unconcerned with their challenges.

Via Reuters:

New polling by Reuters/Ipsos indicates that during the past two weeks - since just after the Democratic National Convention - support for Romney among Americans age 60 and older has crumbled, from a 20-point lead over Democratic President Barack Obama to less than 4 points.

Paul Ryan got booed at an AARP convention in New Orleans last week. Analysts say if Romney doesn't win seniors, he can't win the election.

He's not doing well with middle-aged voters either: [More...]

A new Wall St. Journal/NBC/Marist poll is out today.

President Barack Obama has opened an eight percentage-point lead in Iowa and maintains a five-point edge in Colorado and Wisconsin, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys of the three presidential battlegrounds.

The WSJ says Romney is counting on these states for his electoral college votes, especially since he's been slipping in Ohio and Virginia.

In the wake of the public airing of Mitt Romney's remarks on the "moochers," Romney is arguing that the problem remains too much government, especially for the 47%. Things like Social Security, Medicare and veterans benefits. Romney said to his wealthy friends:

There are 47 percent of the people who [...] are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. [...] My job is is not to worry about those people.

President Bill Clinton:

We Democrats think the country works better with a strong middle class, real opportunities for poor people to work their way into it and a relentless focus on the future, with business and government working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. We think "we're all in this together" is a better philosophy than "you're on your own."

Mitt Romney:

There are 47 percent of the people who [...] are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. [...] My job is is not to worry about those people.

Mitt Romney:

There are 47 percent of the people who [...] are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. [...] My job is is not to worry about those people. [Emphasis supplied.]

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. But it is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope—because the nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. [Emphasis supplied.]

Pretty clever. This is the bleeped version, the original is here. H/T to Fishcamp.

CBS News' Steve Kroft asked President Obama to respond to Mitt Romney's criticism of the Administration regarding the Libya situation, The President's response: