Beautiful morning here on the Central Coast. Tourists on ocean walking trail don’t seem perturbed by the Pew Poll. Here are some mid-day political morsels:

* Gallup one-day tracking poll deploys LV screen for first time, reports Romney up by 2%. Same day, Gallup’s measurement of Obama job approval rating (among adults) up to 53%, with 42% disapproval.

* TAP interviews Jennifer Granholm about her experience w/ Biden debate prep in 2008. Get Granholm back on the team this year, and there will be no risk of “flat” or “disengaged” performance.

* Nice change-of-pace piece at Salon by Patrick Winn about struggles of both parties to mobilize overseas voters.

* Perceptive Robert Wright column at The Atlantic going into some detail on media role in inflating Romney debate win.

* TNR’s Nate Cohn points out relatively large LV/RV gap in Gallup tracking poll exactly what it initially showed in 2008.

And in non-political news:

* Foreign Policy lists 10 best McDonald’s meals served in other countries. And they don’t even mention the McLobster, which I saw in Canada.

Back with the hour.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.