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It was no debate. At a traditional campaign stop charity dinner in New York Thursday night, Mitt Romney and the president exchanged humorous jabs. “It’s nice to finally relax and wear what Ann and I wear around the house,” a tuxedo-clad Romney joked to the crowd at the Alfred E.

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Mitt Romney extended his lead in Gallup’s Daily Tracking poll on Thursday. The former Massachusetts governor is up by 7 points, leading the president 52 percent to 45 percent among likely voters. Four days ago, Romney had just a 2-point lead.

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Reporters and voters alike can parse the details (or lack thereof) in Mitt Romney’s plans for coal, manufacturing, or housing. But there’s one industry he has already, albeit inadvertently, thrust into the national spotlight: the makers of binders and Trapper Keepers.

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These presidential campaigns have been fun and all, but if Romney loses in November, he’s done, says his wife. Ann told the hosts of The View Thursday morning that entering this year’s campaign after losing the 2008 GOP primary was “a very hard thing” on the Romney family, and while she believes Mitt can save the U.

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Sidwell Friends, the Washington, D.C.– area private school that Malia and Sasha Obama attend, was evacuated Thursday morning due to a phoned-in threat. It is still unclear whether the threat had any connection to the First Daughters.

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A note to Americans from Tagg Romney: you can’t punch the president because the Secret Service will get you. Mitt’s eldest son said on a radio interview in North Carolina on Wednesday that he didn’t like the way President Obama called his dad a “liar” at the town-hall debate.

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Don’t stop Mitt now, he’s having such a good time. The Romney camp has no plans to reel back in Mitt for the third debate after an aggressive performance at Tuesday’s town hall. Despite challenging President Obama repeatedly (and not so successfully on Libya), and a testy rapport with moderator Candy Crowley, Romney’s clan says he won the debate for his sound economic talking points.

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This week’s Gallup/USA Today poll looks like very bad news both for President Obama and the religious right.Its most widely reported findings showed Mitt Romney erasing Obama’s once-formidable lead with female voters in swing states, one crucial to the president’s reelection hopes.

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President Obama brought up Planned Parenthood three separate times at Tuesday’s town hall debate. It was an appeal aimed directly at a key part of his base: If he is reelected, it will be because of the Single Nation. Democrats have woken up to the huge political rifts that have emerged over the past 30 years—between married and single people, and people with kids and those who don’t have them.

Andrew Burton

Unlike Planned Parenthood’s most diehard supporters, President Barack Obama didn’t need to wear the pink shirt or hand out condoms or packages of birth control. All he had to do was repeat their name.At the Town Hall debate Tuesday, Obama mentioned the group four times—each one paired with a mention of Romney’s vow to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider that also delivers an array of other reproductive health services—as 65.

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t satisfied with regional influence—he’s going national. Donating $10 million to $50 million of his own money, Bloomberg is creating a super PAC to fund centralist candidates across the country who support his three signature policies: legalizing same-sex marriage, enacting tougher gun laws, and overhauling the education system.

The web is still giggling over Romney’s ‘binders of women’ comment from last night’s debate. From Psi Gangnam’s exploded binders to Fat Bastard’s take on equal employment, see highlights.

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Michael Bloomberg is ready to put his money where his mouth is. Following last night's debate, the New York City Mayor called both candidates' explanations for civilian access to AK-47s "gibberish." Now, Bloomberg is set to donate between $10 and $15 million to the campaigns of six to 12 anti-gun candidates in elections across the country.

In his latest campaign ad, U.S. Rep. John Barrow proved Republicans aren't the only ones in this election with NRA ties. The Georgia Democrat demonstrated his support for the Second Amendment by showing the guns that have been in his family for generations and declaring, "ain't nobody gonna take 'em away.

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It seems Obama’s debate bounce has yet to kick in. Mitt Romney leads among likely voters, according to a new Gallup poll. The poll found that Romney would take about 51 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent for Obama. The seven-day rolling average has had Romney ahead for much of October, but his position has strengthened as the month has gone on.