In Today's Times
- With less than two months until Election Day, fierce races have broken out in states where they were not expected, and control of the Senate is now anyone's guess, Jonathan Weisman and Jennifer Steinhauer report. Because of some campaign missteps and unexpected turns, Democrats appear to be in less danger of losing the Senate, while Republicans have a more difficult path to gaining the majority.
- Despite the stakes in this year's Congressional elections, neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has campaigned for House and Senate candidates, Helene Cooper and Jeremy W. Peters write. These days, it is every man for himself on the road to the White House.
- President Obama raised more money than Mitt Romney did in August, underscoring reports that Mr. Obama had an uptick in support after his convention in a way that Mr. Romney did not, Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny report. But both campaigns agreed that post-convention readings could be ephemeral and that the race was likely to remain competitive until the end.
- Â Mitt Romney's pledge to guarantee access to health insurance for people with longstanding medical problems highlighted the difficulty of repealing the new health care law while keeping some of its popular features, Robert Pear and Abby Goodnough report. His proposal would apply only if those people had maintained coverage without a significant gap, which could exclude millions of Americans with medical problems.
- Bill Clinton is hitting the campaign trail as the role model both sides claim to emulate, Peter Baker writes. Mr. Clinton's political drama has played out again and again o ver a quarter-century, and along the way he has reinvented himself as a bipartisan figure from a mythical era of across-the-aisle cooperation.
Around the Web
- Politico: After Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, the obvious next step would be a run for national office, his iPhone told him.
Happenings in Washington
- President Obama, Michelle Obama and White House staff members will gather on the South Lawn of the White House for a moment of silence to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Later, the president will attend a ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial, and in the afternoon he will visit wounded members of the military at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
- Members of Congress will hold a Congressional Remembrance Ceremony on the front steps of the Capitol.
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will hol d swearing-in ceremonies for United States ambassadors to Ghana and Serbia.
