News: Meth Vaccine, Ohio, Eric Bodenweiser, Amtrak

The National Organization for Marriage funneled $1.6 million into the Minnesota marriage equality ballot fight. "All told, Minnesota for Marriage raised more than $3.7 million so far this year, much of it from the Catholic Church, affiliated groups and the National Organization for Marriage. That's still far less than the group's opponents."

The Rock dressed up as "The People's Hulk" for Halloween, so the 1% better not make him angry.

Face it, gullibility is charming.

Hurricane Sandy may have permanently altered Fire Island's geography: Predicting "dramatic changes" to the island’s geography, [Fire Island National Seashore superintendent Chris Soller] mentioned several breaches on the far eastern end of the island, with one so deep that it could effectively divide Fire Island into two separate islands."

Always classy, Chris Brown attended a Halloween party thrown by Rihanna, a former girlfriend he abused, while dressed as a member of the Taliban, a group that wants to keep women barefoot, pregnant and uneducated.

Amtrak will hopefully have limited service between NYC and parts of New Jersey tomorrow.

Eric Bodenweiser, a 53-year old member of the Delaware Family Policy Council and GOP candidate for that state's senate, was indicted this week on multiple charges stemming from allegations that he sexually abused a boy from 1987 until 1990, when the boy was 10-13.

This is potentially good news: "Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in California successfully tested the methamphetamine vaccine on rats. When given meth, the vaccinated critters showed few signs of intoxication."

On gay fathers on television: "Thinking about the latest crop of gay dads on television I can’t help but recall a popular chant from the Act Up demonstrations whenever someone was arrested or harassed: 'The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!' The irony is that, too often, the world wasn’t watching then. But now, thanks to these primetime characters, people are definitely watching. They just aren’t seeing much of the truth."

Sandra Bullock and son Louis are potentially the cutest Halloween in Hollywood couple.

Uh-oh. Sorry, Sandy and Louie, but Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka and their twins may actually be the cutest costume winners!

The Vatican loves the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall.

Let sleeping bunny rabbits lie.

The Kardashian clan dressed up as the Bat family for Halloween.

Is Helena Bomham Carter in costume?

The Seattle Times definitely does not approve of anti-gay marriage commercials that claim passing Resolution 74 and legalizing marriage equality will force homosexuality onto school curricula. "R-74 is about a legal covenant of marriage for loving couples and their families. Ignore the shameless scare tactics. Approve R-74," the editorial board wrote in an op-ed called "Anti-Referendum 74 school ad is shameless".

Dan Evans, the GOP governor of Washington State from 1965 to 1977 and a U.S. Senator from 1983 until 1989, came out for Referendum 74. "[The Referendum allowing marriage equality] just seems right and reflects the fundamental value of fairness that we treasure here in Washington," he said. 

Washington Post's The Fix on Ohio: "After reviewing all of the available public polling data as well as talking to operatives in both parties about the private polls they are privy to, we are convinced that Ohio is a 1-3 point race in President Obama’s favor at the moment."

If you're interested, you can travel to Ohio to stump for Mr. Obama.

President Obama today said campaign rival Mitt Romney's "bet is on cynicism".

In addition to endorsing President Obama and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts gay paper Bay Windows has endorsed openly gay GOP congressional hopeful Richard Tisei. Perhaps tellingl, though, Obama and Warren both got specific blurbs, Tisei's name is just part of a general list of candidates the paper prefers.

Ohio School Setting Itself Up For Gay Lawsuit Loss

Officials at Celina High School in Ohio last week ordered 20 students to remove t-shirts reading "Straight but Supportive" and "I Support [rainbow illustration] Express Yourself" because they claim the shirts were "political" and therefore disruptive.

"The only reason they would be told that they couldn’t wear something is if it is a disruption of the educational process, or if it’s not allowed in the handbook," said school Superintendent Jesse Steiner. "And there’s a line in our handbook about drawing undue attention to yourself."

ThinkProgress' Zack Ford, who calls Steiner's reading of that policy as "grossly unconstitutional," provides background:

Last week, two students at Celina High School celebrated “Twin Day” with T-shirts that read “Lesbian 1″ and “Lesbian 2,” but they were forced to remove them. In response, some 20 students went to school Tuesday wearing home-made T-shirts that read “I Support… [Rainbow] Express Yourself” and “Straight but Supportive,” a show of support organized by sophomore Jimmy Walter.

Assistant Principal Phil Metz forced all the students to remove the shirts because they were “political,” and those who did not were given detention with the threat of suspension.

But one of the students involved pointed out that her peers often where wear pro-life shirts, pro-Romney shirts or apparel that claims President Obama is a socialist. Celina High School also just hosted GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. The claims of "political disruption" therefore are entirely partisan. Both Celina High School and the students are calling in their respective lawyers.

But Ford notes, this debate has basically been settled since 1969: "In the 1969 case of Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court ruled that "state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism" and students are entitled to free speech so long as it does not 'interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.'" Celina High School will no doubt go down in court.

A similar case arose from the Buckeye State earlier this year when student Maverick Couch won a lawsuit against school officials who tried to ban his "Jesus is not a homophobe" shirt.

Ohio Tightens in New Poll

The race for the all-important Buckeye State is getting closer with just 3 percent undecided, according to a new poll:

Mr. Obama has a 5-point advantage over his opponent among likely voters, with 50 percent to 45 percent for Mr. Romney. Last month, in the Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll of Ohio, Mr. Obama led by 10 points.

In the current survey, only 3 percent remain undecided and 95 percent of those with a preference said their mind was made up. Of those who had already voted, 54 percent said they cast their ballot for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they voted for Mr. Romney.

The poll was conducted Wednesday through Saturday night, after the second presidential debate held on Tuesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Almost half (48 percent) said Mr. Obama won last week’s debate, 27 percent said Mr. Romney was better and 12 percent considered it a draw.

Nate Silver took a look at Ohio on Saturday:

The best number of the day for Mr. Romney was almost certainly the Public Policy Polling survey of Ohio, which had him down by one point there — improved from a five-point deficit in a poll they conducted there last week.

If this had been the only poll of the day in Ohio, Mr. Romney would probably have made an Electoral College gain on that basis, since the forecast is very sensitive to anything in Ohio. There was another Ohio poll, however, from Gravis Marketing, which showed a tied race. Isn’t that an even better result for Mr. Romney?

Not in this case, because Gravis Marketing polls have had a Republican lean of two or three percentage points this cycle. (Their prior poll of Ohio had shown Mr. Romney up by about one point.)

The FiveThirtyEight model adjusts for these “house effects” and so treats the Gravis Marketing poll as equivalent to showing a two- or three-point lead for Mr. Obama.

It also adjusts the Public Policy Polling survey of Ohio slightly downward for Mr. Obama — but Public Policy Polling has lost most of the strong Democratic lean that it had earlier in the cycle, and it has even been on Mr. Romney’s side of the consensus in a few states like Iowa and New Hampshire. We now calculate their house effect as being only about half a percentage point in favor of Mr. Obama.

More from Nate at FiveThirtyEight...

News: Iran, Ohio, Big Tex, Chris Kluwe

Former Jersey Shore star Angelina Pivarnick now says that same-sex couples should be able to get married, even though she said precisely the opposite just last week.

A new Obama campaign ad running in the crucial swing state of Ohio hits Mitt Romney on his infamous "let Detroit go bankrupt" op-ed, while another commercial from the president's reelection effort criticized the Republican rival's education policy. Meanwhile, Romney's campaign claims that a second Obama term would bring more debt, more taxes and general malaise.

Justin Timberlake's got a ring on it.

Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, an advocate of curbing illegal immigration with moats and alligators,said that marriage equality is a "socioeconomic issue". "Walsh argues that 'male-female, two-parent households' produce children who do better in school, stay away from drugs and are less likely to be in poverty," reports the Chicago Tribune.

Check out the Michael Jackson BAD 25 trailer.

RIP Big Tex.

Just two days before Mitt Romney and President Obama's debate on foreign policy, officials say that Iran has agreed to nuclear talks. From the Times: "The United States and Iran have agreed for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, according to Obama administration officials, setting the stage for what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran."

A profile on Elizabeth Emken, the GOP Senate candidate from California: "Prior to her friendship with Diaz, Emken had a similarly intense friendship with Tim Radi, a fellow member of the group, not realizing that he too would later come out as gay. 'It was the same pattern as with me,' Diaz states. 'She had intense feelings for him, but he didn’t want to date her. It was as if history were repeating itself.'"

In addition to allegations that she fixed the school's state-based ratings, a Queens principal named Nancy Casella is accused of making racist, homophobic and other offensive comments.

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe made good and debated marriage equality with empty chairs representing various anti-gay foes, including Michele Bachmann. To Bachmann's lie that same-sex marriage will lead "all schools teaching homosexuality," whatever that even means, Kluwe responded, "I would say that that is a flat out falsehood. What we'll be teaching our children is tolerance. We'll be teaching our children that it is okay to be who you are." And to the argument that marriage equality is "redefining marriage," Kluwe says, "We're not redefining marriage to take away someone's rights. We're redefining marriage to give someone rights. It's about freedom." Video here. I'll try to find an embeddable version.

Former NFL player Kris Jenkins thinks it's time for a player to come out.

Flava Flav was arrested.

Ohio GOP Senate Candidate Josh Mandel Opposes 'DADT' Repeal and Marriage Equality But Promises to Stand Up for Gays: VIDEO

Ohio GOP Senate candidate opposes LGBT rights but still believes he can to represent every single person in the state, Think Progress reports.

Said Mandel in debate this week:

On the military side, I disagree with [DADT repeal]. As far as the decision here in state of Ohio, I’m a supporter of marriage between one man and one woman. I believe in traditional marriage. At the same time, I want you to know I will do everything I can to represent every single person in the state of Ohio — all 11 and a half million people. Regardless of their background, regardless of their socioeconomic background, regardless of their race, their religion or any other characteristic…I’m going to be blind to race, religion, any other type of orientation here in the state of Ohio and when I go to Washington.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Bruce Springsteen Sings For Obama And Bill Clinton Jabs Romney In Ohio: VIDEO

Bruce Springsteen headed to the swing state of Ohio for an Obama campaign rally, and he was literally singing the president's praises.

After being introduced by Bill Clinton, the Boss sang a song he wrote specifically for the commander-in-chief, which was easier said than done, he explained. Obama's name doesn't have too many rhymes, so Springsteen ended up going with "mama" and then "Let's vote for the man who got Osama".

Obama's official campaign slogan, "Forward" also proved a rhythmic struggle, so to make sure it was included, Springsteen had the crowd yell "Forward" after every line.

Here's a sample from CNN:

I came to Ohio lookin' for a date
Forward!
We kissed and I said it's a helluva state
Forward!
We made love but it wasn't so great
Forward!
Forward, and away we go
Smilin' Joe, he really brought the drama
Forward!
Tuesday, Romney was schooled by Obama

Springsteen originally said that he would not get involved in this election, but changed his mind because his career is based on songs "about the distance between the American dream and the American reality" and he feels he owes it to the president, the man he thinks can bridge those gaps, to join the White House fight.

Clinton seemed tickled to be introducing Springsteen, telling the crowd, "This is the first time in my life I ever got to be the warm-up act for Bruce Springsteen. I am qualified, because I was born in the USA -- and unlike one of the candidates for president, I keep all my money here."

I've included video of Springsteen strumming and Clinton jabbing Romney's "jobs guy" persona AFTER THE JUMP.