19 days to go until the Big Day. And the state of play is probably more confused than ever. Here are some final notes from today’s news and chatter:

* Charles Pierce takes down Scott Brown’s campaign strategy in a typically fiery, more-in-anger-than-in-sorrow manner. Break out the marshmallows and weenies before reading.

* TNR’s Alec MacGillis reviews the broader picture of employers pushing employees to vote for Mitt.

* Interesting profile of the “shrinking” campaign of Todd Akin by Nation‘s George Zornick, who reports Akin is one GOP candidate who hardly bothers to talk about jobs.

* At Ten Miles Square, Jonathan Bernstein looks closely at the questions asked during the Hofstra debate, and adjudges them as indeed fair and balanced.

* At College Guide, Daniel Luzer reports University of Phoenix closing about half of its branches, though online enrollment should not be directly affected.

And in non-political news:

* Animal Practice joins Made in Jersey as early casualties of new network TV season.

Back tomorrow early if not bright, or, as Pylon put it: “I’ll be clean but not neat.”

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Selah.

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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.