Grimes jumps shark, won't say she voted for Obama

In this June 29, 2014 file photo, Kentucky democratic Senatorial candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes speaks at a rally on the University of Louisville campus in Louisville, Ky. (AP)

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Buzz Cut:
• Grimes jumps shark
• Power Play: Foreign policy drags down Dems
• Big ad buy blasts Orman
• Hot and heavy: Big Bubba doc dump today
• Office life not annoying enough? Try BLARPing

GRIMES JUMPS SHARK
Gwyneth Paltrow may still be swooning like it’s 2008, but the atmosphere is so bad for President Obama with his fellow Democrats these days, he may just want to stay in California. During aninterview with the Louisville Ky., Courier-Journal editorial board, Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Allison Lundergan Grimes thrice refused to answer whether she voted for Obama. Grimes eventually pointed to being a delegate for failed 2008 Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton. What she didn’t mention: Grimes was also a delegate for Obama in 2012. Even after the interviewer said: “So you’re not gonna answer,” Grimes continued to distance herself from Obama. When MSNBC’s political team reviewed the footage it was decided that she had “disqualified herself” with the answer. While it was a very poor showing for Grimes, it’s not just about her.

[It may be paywalled, but Kim Strassel’s piece on Sen. ‘Mark Uterus’ and the Democrats’ women problem this cycle must be mentioned]

In blue states too - A similar scene unfolded when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., was asked by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell if she would rather have the Clintons or Obama campaign for her. “We have Hillary Clinton coming up and former President Clinton is going to be here next week for the Jefferson Jackson dinner. They will be here and I’m delighted to have their support and helping us,” Shaheen said.  When asked if the president would be help to her, Shaheen responded, “Well, the president is dealing with a lot of crisis in the world right now. I think it's important for him to continue to address what's happening with ISIS and continue to address the Ebola scare. I expect him to be in Washington.”

HAGAN ON DEFENSE OVER ISIS ABSENCE
WRAL: “Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican challenger Thom Tillis exchanged blows for an hour in a debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, pretty much ignoring Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh… Tillis called it ‘shameless’ that Hagan missed a Senate Armed Services Committee to attend a campaign fundraiser in New York, missing a briefing on Islamic State militants. ‘What on Earth could be more important than understanding the threat to our men and women in uniform and the threat that ISIS poses in the Middle East and to our own safety and security?’ he asked.”

And it’s an ad already - Crossroads GPS is out with a new ad featuring Hagan’s rambling explanation for missing a committee hearing on the ISIS threat.

Tillis hits Hagan for attending cocktail fundraiser instead of ISIS hearing -North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis is seizing on reports Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., took part in a cocktail fundraiser instead of the ISIS hearing in a new ad. From the ad: “While ISIS grew, President Obama did nothing. Senator Hagan did cocktail.”

DSCC relapses - In their latest attack, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hammers Republican Thom Tillis for receiving support from industrialists Charles and David Koch, blaming the conservative backers for outsourcing North Carolina jobs.

-- 25 days until Nov. 4 --

SUNDAY SUBJECTS
Fox News Sunday: Supreme implications - With the Supreme Court announcing this week they will not rule on any of the seven same-sex marriage cases currently before the court, host Chris Wallace welcomes Ted Olson, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Virginia’s same-sex marriage case, and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to stay out of the historic debate. “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace” airs at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Fox News. Check local listings for air times in your area.

#mediabuzz: O’Reilly takes on press bias - This week Howard Kurtz welcomes Bill O’Reilly and you just know that’s going to be good teevee. The Hill’s editor-in-chief, Bob Cusack, and The Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio, will also be on hand to consider the political landscape in its latest installment of “Midterm Media Madness.” Watch “#mediabuzz” Sunday at 11 a.m. ET, with a second airing at 5 p.m.

WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE...
It was on this date in 1973 Spiro T. Agnew became the second Vice President to resign. The act, veteran columnist and biographer Jules Witcover wrote, didn’t come easy: “…Agnew balked at resigning as he faced likely indictment on allegations of accepting payoffs as governor of Maryland. [President Richard Nixon] sent aide Bryce Harlow and White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig to tell Agnew he wanted him to ‘make a statesmanlike decision’ to resign. Agnew later wrote dramatically that they ‘brought the traditional suicide pistol and laid it on my desk.’ He still refused to step down, demanding a personal meeting with Nixon, who again waffled. Agnew finally submitted his resignation as part of a deal to escape jail time.” On Agnew’s departure, then Speaker of the House Carl Albert took on the number two spot in U.S. government. Just days later, Nixon chose House Republican leader Gerald Ford to fill the position and summoned Americans to “a new beginning” for the sake of national unity and strength. Agnew, who died in 1996, may be best remembered for his harangues against the broadcast-era media, referring to the pundits of the time as “a tiny fraternity of privileged men elected by no one and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by the government.”

Got a TIP from the RIGHT or LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM

POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 42.5 percent//Disapprove – 52.8 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 29.5 percent//Wrong Track – 63.4 percent
Generic Congressional Ballot:  Democrats – 43.2 percent// Republicans – 44.8 percent

POWER PLAY: FOREIGN POLICY DRAGS DOWN DEMS
President Obama’s about-face on foreign policy may have staunched a collapse in poll numbers for him and his party, but new polling shows that the new policy continues to hamper Democrats. Watch as Political Pros Brad Blakeman and Chuck Rocha join “Power Play” host Chris Stirewalt to look at how terrorism and national security will play into the midterm races.

BIG AD BUY BLASTS ORMAN’S INDEPENDENT BONA FIDES
Ending Action Spending Fund, a group backed by conservative businessman Joe Rickets, is putting over a million dollars towards an ad using Kansans Independent Greg Orman’s own words to paint him as a “liberal masquerading as an independent.” The spot highlights Orman’s dodges on amnesty, repealing ObamaCare and donations to liberals like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama.

Orman’s surge short-lived? - Byron York: “Whatever the case, the polls seem to be shifting away from Orman and toward Roberts. They could always change again, but if the latest surveys indicate a new trend, it could mean that Orman's rise in the polls was based on a relatively brief moment during which he presented himself in well-produced television ads as a fresh-faced problem solver — a view unchallenged (until recently) by negative ads from the other side.”

Apparently there isn’t always room for Jell-O - In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Chief Congressional Correspondent Mike Emanuel, Sen. Pat Roberts pulled no punches. “We're gonna win it, because when people find out that my opponent [is] a liberal Democrat, it's over,” Roberts said. Read and watch here.

Cuz-ing - WSJ: “Candidates for office usually close out a general-election campaign by moving to the political center, aiming to build appeal beyond their own party. It is a measure of the topsy-turvy contest here that Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is pushing heavily to the right. Mr. Roberts, facing a tough challenge from an independent candidate, campaigned Thursday with tea-party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz in an effort to shore up his backing among conservatives in his own party. In the GOP primary this year, Mr. Roberts saw 41% of the vote go to a tea party-aligned challenger, and he is now working to win that support…”

ROUNDS READY TO RUMBLE
Washington Examiner’s David Drucker has thedeets on Republican Mike Rounds plan of attack, as Democrats flood more cash into the state and polls show a tightening race. “In an interview with the Washington Examiner Thursday evening, Rounds' campaign manager, Rob Skjonsberg, said the former two-term governor recognized that the race has tightened and would ‘imminently’ go on the air with ads tying independent Larry Pressler and Democrat Rick Weiland to President Obama and administration policies… ‘We’re going to focus on contrasts, and that’s always been our intention. That’s a completely different thing than personal attacks on character,’ Skjonsberg said. ‘I don’t think you can say that someone supports Obamacare and call it an attack.’’’

[For his part, Pressler is going to make Rounds’ work easier, telling The Hill he would be a “friend of Obama” in the Senate.]

PICK SIX: HOW SOLID IS GOP EDGE IN COLORADO?
Republican strategist Brad Blakeman and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha debate whether the GOP’s path to gain six seats to take control of the Senate will cut through Colorado. What about Iowa? See what the pros think before you pick your own six. Watch “Power Play with Chris Stirewalt.”

Other factors -Which six Democrat-held seats are the most vulnerable? Based off of your e-mails and tweets, here are the top picks of Fox News First readers: Arkansas (13.8%), Montana (13.2%), West Virginia (12.4%), South Dakota (12%) , Louisiana (11.7%), and Alaska (8.8%).  Reader  Wayne Peterkin  of Evangeline, La., warns “I see two factors that could hurt Republicans in November. First is voter turnout. The second is voter fraud…So beware of predictions. The polls cannot predict either of these factors.”

Share your top six picks. Email them – just your top six, please – to FOXNEWSFIRST@FOXNEWS.COM or tweet @cstirewalt.

Voter ID suffers setbacks - WSJ: “Voter identification laws suffered setbacks in two states on Thursday, with the U.S. Supreme Court blocking Wisconsin from imposing its voter-identification measure during the midterm elections and a federal judge in Texas striking down that state’s ID law. The Supreme Court’s action in Wisconsin marked its third recent intervention in a high-profile election case, and the first before the high court in which advocates for minority voters prevailed. The justices in the two other cases allowed Ohio to cut back on early voting and cleared North Carolina to impose new, tighter voting rules.

JEB JOGS TO THE TOP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., leads the field of potential 2016 GOP contenders in the Granite State according to WMUR/UNH Poll. Bush takes 15 percent support, followed by Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., with 12 percent. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who once led the pack, only garners six percent.  In the same poll, Hillary Clinton is the pick of 58 percent of those surveyed, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at 18 percent and Vice President Joe Biden only garners 3 percent.

Bro, your campaign is tight - A new Fusion poll finds Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is the top pick of Millennial Republicans. Ryan was the choice of 16 percent of respondents, followed by 11 percent for former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., and 9 percent for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., will be in New Hampshire today to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Walt Havenstein in the state’s North Country. Christie’s New England Campaign swing will also take him to Rhode Island where is expected to stump for Republican Allan Fung.]

Can Common Core be salvaged? - New on Fox News Opinion: Former Gov. Sonny Perdue, R-Ga., says it’s time for conservatives to reclaim Common Core standards: “I support Common Core Standards because they give teachers and schools the ability to compare and measure what is working with others across the country. And they help close achievement gaps by setting high expectations for all students.”

HOT AND HEAVY: BIG BUBBA DOC DUMP TODAY
AP: “The National Archives is releasing a batch of documents that might shed light on painful chapters in Hillary Rodham Clinton's life as first lady, just as she ponders a bid for the White House in 2016. The 10,000 pages of records from the Clinton administration were expected to be released Friday. They touch on the Whitewater investigation into the Bill and Hillary Clinton's land dealings in Arkansas; Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; the 1993 death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster; and the pardons Bill Clinton granted in his final hours as president…In addition to the 1990s-era events, the papers will touch on Elena Kagan, now a Supreme Court justice, who as a White House counsel defended Bill Clinton in the lawsuit brought by ex-Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.”

[Watch Fox: Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen examines the documents that will be released at 1 p.m. ET today.]

Hope you like this speech, because you’re going to hear it for 18 months - WSJ: “Appearing at a campaign rally for Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf,  Mrs. Clinton sought to reintroduce herself to an important swing state that voted for her over Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, keeping alive her struggling candidacy for another couple of months… Though she and her husband have raised more than $1 billion from U.S. companies and corporate officials over the last two decades, Mrs. Clinton signaled that she sided with everyday families struggling to pay bills and keep afloat. Corporations, she said, ‘seem to have all the rights, but none of the responsibilities of people...’ She decried practices that pay women less than men for the same work and took aim at politicians who’ve belittled women’s rights…Pivoting to her new granddaughter, she said she wanted ‘every child in Pennsylvania’ to have ‘the same chance … that little Charlotte will have.’

[Bill Clinton is in Minnesota today to campaign for Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. Bubba is slated to appear at a University of Minnesota rally this afternoon.]

Michigan now safe enough for a visit - AP: “A current and a former first lady are scheduled to be in Michigan in the coming days to campaign for Democrats U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters and gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer. Hillary Rodham Clinton…is scheduled to appear at a public event Oct. 16. The Michigan Democratic Party plans to announce details in coming days. The Michigan Democratic Party said Tuesday that Michelle Obama will appear Friday at a 12:45 p.m. event at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit.”

From Little Rock to Little Rhody - Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Raimondo will get a boost from 2016 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton when the two campaign together Oct. 24. According to reports, the former first lady is also slated to stump for embattled Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley before election day. Bubba will hit the trail for Coakley in Worcester, Mass., Oct.16., the same day former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., will rally for Republican rival Charlie Baker. Polling continues to show a tight contest in the reliably blue state.

KELLY FILE: ‘A CULTURE OF DECEPTION’
Marc Theissen, former speechwriter to President George W. Bush attacked the administration’s claim that there was no indication of any misconduct by the White House advance team in the Secret Service prostitution scandal. “There’s a culture of deception at the white House and this is par for the course” Theissen told Megyn Kelly  “They told us that no one in the White House edited the Benghazi talking points, no one in America is going to lose their health plan, not a smidgeon of corruption at the IRS, and now no specific credible allegations. Every one of those statements was knowingly untrue.” Watch the discussion about whether the White House is engaging in a cover-up on The Kelly Filehere.

OFFICE LIFE NOT ANNOYING ENOUGH? TRY BLARPING
While you grind away through another Friday at work, some 2,5000 members of online community are simulating being at the office together in what is known as business live action role-play, or BLARP for short. Fast Company details the history of the Facebook group Generic Office Role Play, started by Australian teenager Thomas Oscar: “Inside the BLARP, people have fake roles--from the Head of Generic Operations to Executive Kitchen Coordinator. There have been parking disasters, nuclear meltdowns, office injuries, take your pet to work day, office parties, and more. An iguana population has claimed sovereign territory of the fourth floor--before the lizards were all made redundant… But even in this whimsical office world, tempers flared. … A feud has broken out, and many of the original members are rebelling, lashing out, and leaving the group. It’s been taken over by the people who they were making fun of, who they say, are ruining the fun. A new CEO, David Frew, a real-life lawyer, has replaced Oscar.”

Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News.  Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.