No wonder Dems want to stop talking about ISIS!

In this Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 photo, President Barack Obama waves as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP)

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Buzz Cut:
•             No wonder Dems want to stop talking about ISIS!
•             Don’t come around here no more
•             New ad hits Hagan’s support for late-term abortion
•             Unions shift focus to state races
•             Dude, this stuff will blow you away

NO WONDER DEMS WANT TO STOP TALKING ABOUT ISIS 
Obama insiders and Democrats told the NYT that they are anxious to see the president continue his pivot away from foreign policy, with several calling for a focus on jobs and the economy. One can see why. Obama’s about face on Iraq and Syria doesn’t seem to have changed voter attitudes about his foreign policy and that of his party. A new CBS News/NYT poll says that the president’s approval rating for foreign policy is essentially unchanged since last month when he announced an escalation of air strikes in the two countries, the return of U.S. ground forces to Iraq and increased arms shipments to rival rebel groups. Last month, 39 percent approved. This month, it is 40 percent. Worse for Democrats, Republicans hold a huge advantage on the issue of terrorism, leading by 21 points in the poll. Only 32 percent said the president did a good job assessing the threat from Islamist militants and a plurality said his policies had made the country less safe.

[Fox News: “Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Tuesday there is no question that the Obama administration’s decision to not maintain a presence in Iraq was a mistake, and President Obama needs to ‘develop the will to get into the ring and fight’ against the Islamic State.”]

You sure you want to talk about the economy, Mr. President? - CNBC: “[A]ccording to the latest CNBC All-America Economic survey… Just 24 percent of Americans say they are extremely or quite confident in Obama's economic policies and goals, down from 33 percent when the question was last asked in June 2013, the previous low-point of the Obama presidency. And 44 percent of the public say they have no confidence at all in the president on the economy, tied with the prior low in August 2012.”

[Polling alert: Tonight at 6 p.m. ET on “Special Report with Bret Baier” get the results of new Fox News polls on Senate races in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Kentucky.]

“A year ago this past spring I actually asked about arming and training moderate Syrian rebels at the time. That was before we knew what ISIS was. I really think if we had taken that step we would not have seen the proliferation of these barbaric terrorists rise to the extent they have today.” –Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., when pressed by Republican challenger Thom Tillis in a debate about her spotty attendance record on key Armed Services Committee hearings regarding the threat of ISIS.

DON’T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
President Obama’s line about “every single one” of his policies being on the ballot this fall is headed into the history books as a defining phrase about this midterm. Candidates continue to distance themselves from President Obama ahead of the mid-term elections. The NYT piece describes Obama as “an isolated political figure who is viewed as a liability to Democrats in the very states where voters by the thousands had once stood to cheer him.” Tuesday night’s debates were proof of that.

COLORADO
“What I was saying was, I have a Colorado compass and that's how I serve the state of Colorado.” – Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., defending an earlier claim that he was the “last person” the president wanted to confront.

"You just said that you have a Colorado compass but maybe you ought to consider getting GPS because your Colorado compass is leading this state down the wrong path." – Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

[Freedom Partners Action Fund is putting $1.5 million toward an ad mocking Udall’s “last person” claim. Meanwhile, the Service Employees International Union’s released a Spanish language attack ad on the minimum wage.]

GEORGIA
“I’m not sure [Republican rival David Perdue] recognizes that he is not running against Harry Reid or Barack Obama.” – Georgia Democratic Senate nominee Michelle Nunn.

“Michelle, I have a lot of respect for you, but you’re dead wrong. I’m absolutely running against Barack Obama and Harry Reid. Your first vote will be for Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. We cannot stand two more years of his, and possibly ten more years, of this direction…you will not bite the hand that feeds you.” – David Perdue 

[Team Nunn has released an ad highlighting reports Perdue admitted to outsourcing jobs overseas in a legal deposition. In his latest ad, Perdue fires back.]

WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE...
Today is the 143rd anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire that wiped out much of the city (and unintentionally clearing the way for a great American skyline and city center). We know who’s to blame, right? The slovenly Catherine O’Leary who left a lamp burning behind one of her cows in the barn. Not so fast, says Smithsonian in an enthralling read on O’Leary and the fire that left 100,000 homeless. “Even before the fire died out on the city’s northern edges, the Chicago Evening Journal implicated her, reporting that it began ‘on the corner of DeKoven and Twelfth Streets, at about 9 o’clock on Sunday evening, being caused by a cow kicking over a lamp in a stable in which a woman was milking’ – a scenario that originated with children in the neighborhood.”

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

POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 43 percent//Disapprove – 52.9 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 28.6 percent//Wrong Track – 64.6 percent 
Generic Congressional Ballot:  Democrats – 43.2 percent// Republicans – 45.2 percent

-- 27 days until Nov. 4 --

NEW AD HITS HAGAN’S SUPPORT FOR LATE-TERM ABORTION
Weekly Standard: “[Sen. Kay Hagan's, D-N.C.] position on abortion is the target of a new $620,000 TV ad campaign that is being launched today by the Women Speak Out PAC. In the ad, a husband and wife, Becca and Ned Ryun, tell the moving story of how doctors saved the life of their daughter Charlotte who was born prematurely at 24 weeks into pregnancy… ‘For those who are advocating late-term abortions, look at my daughter,’ says Ned Ryun. The ad concludes with a narrator conveying that North Carolina's Senator thinks it should be legal to abort infants like Charlotte late in pregnancy: ‘Kay Hagan supports painful, late-term abortions. She's too extreme for North Carolina.’’’

Pick Six: taking issue with the issues - Republicans are hoping to pick up an additional six seats to gain control of the Senate this November. Which Democrat-held seats could land in the GOP’s hands after November? Here are the top picks, tabulated from Fox News First reader e-mails and tweets: Arkansas (13.7%), Montana (13.2%), West Virginia (12.3%), South Dakota (11.9%), Louisiana (11.7%), and Alaska (8.7%).  Reader K Denny of Wilmington, N.C., says that Republican Thom Tillis is trailing because “he's running an issue-less campaign. Every night on our Fox News Channel we watch his same ‘Hagan votes like Obama’ ad every 20 minutes. I want to scream - the Republican party has really let us and the nation down.”

Share your top six picks. Email them – just your top six, please – to

FOXNEWSFIRST@FOXNEWS.COM or tweet @cstirewalt.

POWER PLAY: THE NATURAL TRUTH
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., is hoping a visit from family friend, former President Bill Clinton earlier this week will bolster his sinking re-election prospects. While Bubba remains popular in the Natural State, the same cannot be said for President Obama and that could work to the advantage of Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Just how much of a drag could Obama be for the vulnerable Natural State Democrat? Watch “Power Play with Chris Stirewalt” as he breaks down the race in 90 seconds.

[Fox News host and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., will stump for Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson on Thursday.]

CREEPY UNCLE SAM MAKES IT RAIN
The youth-focused, free-market group Generation Opportunity is hitting embattled Democrats in North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Alaska over their support of ObamaCare. The ads bring back the group’s infamous “Creepy Uncle Sam,” telling millennial voters that ObamaCare is raining “stacks on stacks” of their money and has the creepy mascot making it rain.

CROSSROADS UNLEASHES OCTOBER AIR CAMPAIGN
The pro-Republican group American Crossroads is hitting the airwaves in Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas as part of a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. The group is putting $2.1 million towards an attack against Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., over her support of ObamaCare. In Arkansas, Crossroads has launched an ad tying Sen. Mark Pryor’s, D-Ark., support of the administration’s policies that are deeply unpopular in the state as part of $2.5 million ad buy that began after Labor Day. It is also making it ad debut in Kentucky, putting $1.2 million towards a spot assailing Democrat Allison Lundergan Grimes backing of President Obama, despite his energy agenda which is threatening jobs in the state.

GOP PUMMELS ORMAN’S BUSINESS PAST
David Drucker in Washington Examiner: “Kansas Republicans are going after independent Senate candidate Greg Orman on one of his most-cited strengths: his business record. In particular, they’re highlighting Orman’s role as a director and major shareholder in a company that defaulted on $250 million worth of loans… members of the Kansas GOP are arguing that Orman’s record is not what it seems. Exhibit A is his position with the Bracknell Corp., a Minnesota telecommunication company. The company, which has since shut down, was sued by the Royal Bank of Canada for defaulting on part of a loan. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2006, and allegations of wrongdoings against Bracknell’s directors were withdrawn.”

SULLIVAN BLASTS BEGICH OVER ENERGY
Alaska Republican Senate contender Dan Sullivan is out with a new ad blasting Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, for supporting President Obama’s energy agenda. Sullivan appears in the ad saying, “[Begich] thinks Obama’s EPA should make decisions for Alaska and despite all his promises we’ve moved backwards on ANWR energy development.”

MERKLEY PLAYS UP MIDDLE CLASS ROOTS
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., highlights his middle class background in a new ad. From the ad: “Jeff Merkley, a dad who still struggles to clean the garage,  with two kids in Oregon public schools, a wife who works as a nurse, and always a champion for the middle class…he’s never forgotten his own middle class roots because he never left.”

PETERS WALKING AWAY FROM LAND  
After the National Republican Senatorial pulled back its support of Republican Terri Lynn Land in Michigan’s Senate race, a Detroit News Poll shows Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich., ahead of Land 44 percent to 35 percent. Land would need more than three quarters of the substantial 15 percent that remained undecided to break her way in order to win.

CAVALCADE OF STARS IN IOWA
Des Moines Register: “Republican Mitt Romney will do two public events for [Republican] U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst in Iowa next week…At 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12, they will be at the Iowa Farm Bureau Headquarters…in West Des Moines. And at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 13, Ernst and Romney will make an appearance at the Cedar Rapids Marriott… Iowa [Republican] Gov. Terry Branstad and [Republican] Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will be on hand for both events… [Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa] too, is getting the aid of some top-name reinforcements in the final days of the campaign. Vice President Joe Biden flew to California for a fundraiser for Braley at the Petit Trianon room in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills Monday night. And later this week, on Friday, the day before the debate, First Lady Michelle Obama will stump for Braley at Drake University.”

Ernst’s pledge - Republican Joni Ernst pledges to “stop Washington’s runaway spending, support our veterans, and drive our economy to drive good paying jobs Iowa jobs,” in her newest ad.

UNIONS SHIFT FOCUS TO STATE RACES
WaPo: “Labor has a fresh focus on state legislative races this midterm election year -- and a new emphasis on reaching non-union households, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka told reporters Tuesday. Union spending this election cycle is likely to be in the range it was for the last midterm election in 2010: about $250 to 300 million, by some estimates. Trumka said that this year's midterm fight is more local than it has been in the past in part because of gridlock in Washington. In battleground states, labor has focused its efforts on legislative candidates in tight races. ‘We are playing in state legislative races at a level we haven't before,’ he said at a morning roundtable at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington. ‘Partly that's because we can get things done -- like increases in the minimum wage -- there that we can't at the federal level.’’’

A first date for Julia - Washington Examiner: “First lady Michelle Obama, wooing college students, on Wednesday said that voting was a good excuse for a first date. At a rally for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, the first lady urged volunteers to help get people to the polls on Election Day to defeat Republican Gov. Scott Walker. ‘Bring that cute guy or girl you have that crush on — that’s a good reason to connect,’ she said in the liberal college town of Madison. ‘Just a tip! Trust me, they’ll be impressed.”’

Tighter than the bark on a nutmeg tree - A Quinnipiac Poll released this morning finds Connecticut’s gubernatorial contest in a dead heat. Republican businessman Tom Foley is tied with Gov. Dan Malloy, D-Conn., at 43 percent. Independent candidate Joe Visconti takes 9 percent. A mid-September Q poll gave Foley a six-point lead.

DUDE, THIS STUFF WILL BLOW YOU AWAY
KOMO: “When Top Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham [Wash.] took delivery of 330 bottles of a brand new marijuana infused soda on September 28, they were excited to promote it to their customers. They sold ten bottles of legal sparkling pomegranate soda made by Mirth Provisions of Longview on the first day. But when employees opened up shop the following day, they found a sticky mess of broken bottles and shards of glass throughout the store. During the night, the bottles began to self-destruct. The employees didn't think anything was dangerous until they heard and saw bottles randomly explode. ‘It sounded like a shotgun going off,’ said Top Shelf Cannabis manager Zach Henifin. ‘You can actually feel it, it was that explosive.’ Wearing a face shield and protective garb, Henifin placed cartons of unexploded soda in a steel box the size of a small dumpster outside of the store… The ‘pot pop’ continued to explode inside the steel container for 10 days. ‘It's almost like bomb box because they randomly go off during the day,’ said Henifin.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“We are talking about not having any Americans on the ground, fine. So instead we're going to develop a 5,000-man army of Syrian so-called moderates, who won't even be ready for a year. That's a farce. There are people on the ground, they're called the Kurds. The Syrian Kurds, right now, are trying to hold their ground. They are being defeated and routed. It would be a tremendous strategic and symbolic victory if ISIS succeeds, and right now it is.” – Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch here.

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