“Nancy Pelosi decided to take one more crack at winning back the House, but a big obstacle stands between the Democratic leader and the speaker’s gavel in 2014: the six-year itch,” Politico writes.

Democrats are already gearing up outside groups for 2014.

NORTH CAROLINA: “Republican state Sen. David Rouzer, who trails North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre by 655 votes, is requesting a recount in the last House race yet to be decided after the Nov. 6 elections,” Roll Call reports.

VIRGINIA: “Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced Tuesday that he will not seek a return to the governorship next year, setting up a likely bid for re-election in 2014,” Roll Call writes.

WEST VIRGINIA: “West Virginia Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito will announce Monday morning that she is running in 2014 for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Jay Rockefeller,” West Virginia Metro News reports.

CONNECTICUT: The Danbury News Times calls a new Linda McMahon (R) ad “desperate and dishonest.” The ad calls for voters to split their votes between her and President Obama.

MASSACHUSETTS: A Boston Globe poll has the Senate race knotted at 47% between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown. Last month, Warren led 43-38%.

Because of the hurricane, Brown and Warren canceled their final debate tonight.

MISSOURI: Claire McCaskill’s mother passed away yesterday. 

MONTANA: “The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) said Monday it had nothing to do with a $500,000 TV spot that advocated for Libertarian candidate Dan Cox,” The Hill writes. “The advertisement slams GOP candidate Rep. Denny Rehberg, who is challenging Tester.” More: “ ‘We've only supported Montana Hunters and Anglers to do work supporting Tester or opposing Rehberg, and we obviously don't support Cox. We've never given Montana Hunters and Anglers a dime to run any TV ads supporting anyone other than Tester. So nothing really to say about this specific ad,’ LCV spokesman Jeff Gohringer told The Hill in a Monday email.”

PENNSYLVANIA: “National Republicans are spending $500,000 on the Pennsylvania Senate race as polls show a closer contest between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Tom Smith, a wealthy tea party candidate who has invested more than $16 million into his bid,” the Washington Post wrote.

Casey led 49-42% in the Philadelphia Inquirer poll. 

VIRGINIA: The Virginian-Pilot looks at how Tim Kaine (D) and George Allen (R) differ on energy.

Kaine led 51-44% in the most recent Washington Post poll.

MONTANA: The Billings Gazette writes up last night’s Tester-vs.-Rehberg debate. “U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg stuck with his central campaign theme at a Sunday debate, mentioning President Barack Obama early and often as he laid blame on U.S. Sen. Jon Tester for unpopular administration policies. Tester scoffed at Rehberg's attack that the Democrat votes with the president 95 percent of the time as ‘crazy.’ Tester joked that he doesn't even agree with his wife 95 percent of the time.”

More: “Tester's primary attack of the evening was to slam Rehberg for seeking to end funding for women's health care clinics. Rehberg said the move came as part of an effort to end duplicative services, and said he believes low-income women can receive family planning services under Medicare. Tester also blamed Rehberg, who has been in Congress since 2000, for inflating debt with tax cuts, two wars and new prescription drug help for seniors. Rehberg countered that the debt has really ballooned under the current administration.”

In what has become one of the closest Senate races in the country, Tim Kaine (D) and George Allen (R) squared off last night in their fourth debate, per MSNBC’s Michael LaRosa. As in their previous meetings, this debate highlighted differences between the two candidates on matters of policy -- but remained largely gentile and polite in nature. 

LaRosa notes that Allen tried to remind voters more than once that Kaine was a national partisan as the head of the Democratic National Committee.  But Kaine was prepared and reiterated that his role was similar to Allen's position as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2003-2005. Kaine, meanwhile, knocked Allen for his aggressive partisanship and ridicule of Virginia's former senior Sen. John Warner and his "Gang of 14" devoted to compromise.  "My opponent said that it was his job to knock Democrats soft teeth down their whiny throats," Kaine said. He warned not to send a partisan Allen back to the Senate.

Two-thousand miles away in Billings, Montana, incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D) and his challenger U.S. Congressman Denny Rehberg (R) met for the first time in a much testier exchange. But it was President Obama who became the focal point of this debate, LaRosa adds. 

Rehberg tied Tester to Obama every chance he could, repeating the line "My opponent as voted with Barack Obama 95% of the time," over and over. "He stands with President Obama, I stand with the people of Montana," Rehberg continued.  "The point is Congressman, you're running against me not him," Tester responded.  "You had your opportunity to run against him, but you chose me." 

When Tester was questioned about his votes against various free trade agreements, Rehberg highlighted his support for them. But Tester saw an opening and tried to turn the tables. "Excuse me, congressman. But Barack Obama supported all of those trade agreements," Tester said.  "It sounds like you stood with President Obama much of the time," he continued.

Tester and Rehberg will meet again on October 14th at Flathead Valley Community College.

ARIZONA: Former President Bill Clinton will campaign Wednesday for Richard Carmona (D) running for the Senate.

“The emergence of Arizona and Connecticut as competitive Senate battlegrounds has reinforced one of the most important themes of this cycle: In a neutral political environment, candidates matter more than ever,” Roll Call writes.

MAINE: “New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is throwing his financial support behind Maine independent Senate candidate Angus King, who is battling a stronger-than-expected challenge from a Republican contender in a race that could help determine control of the Senate,” The Boston Globe writes. “Bloomberg is one of the major backers behind a $500,000 ad campaign that began running on the Maine airwaves on Friday, the group running the ads said. The ads extol King as an independent voice who could help break gridlock in Washington.”

MASSACHUSETTS: Selling out? “Tea party activists are again supporting Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown this election, even though many aren’t thrilled with some of his votes over the past two years,” the Boston Globe writes.

A Western New England University poll shows Warren up 50-45%. (H/T: Taegan Goddard.)

MISSOURI: Claire McCaskill’s running an ad statewide hinting at Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments. It focuses on her work as a prosecutor and her belief in giving women the option of emergency contraception after they’ve been raped, something she says Akin’s against.

NEBRASKA: Steve Martin cut weird video for Bob Kerrey. 

MASSACHUSETTS: It’s Brown vs. Warren, now on asbestos: “Elizabeth Warren stood beside asbestos union workers Tuesday and accused Senator Scott Brown of running a distraction campaign, hours after the senator said that she served as a ‘hired gun’ for two corporate clients,” the Boston Globe writes.

Which candidate, by the way, on the presidential campaign could have said this: “I’m not opposed to people making a living and representing businesses. But when you’re out there saying, by the way I’m representing the little guy and the middle class and in fact, we find out that’s not true, that’s an issue. That’s an issue of honesty and character.”

But that was Scott Brown talking about Elizabeth Warren.

MISSOURI: Here’s Claire McCaskill’s ad hitting Todd Akin for his “legitimate rape” comments and more, including Social Security, Medicare, abolishing the minimum wage, and eliminating student loans. “What will he say next?” an announcer asks.

WISCONSIN: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports on a video showing Tommy Thompson saying he wants to “do away” with Medicare. Here’s the headline: “Video: Thompson would ‘do away’ with Medicare; instead, wants to reform it.”

Here’s a chunk of what he said: “[W]ho better than me, who’s already finished one of the entitlement programs, to come up with programs to do away with Medicaid and Medicare? Let’s block-grant what the state has, and allow the states to determine what’s going to go into Medicaid. And Medicare, let’s wait until everybody that’s right now is under 55 reaches 55 … and give them a choice whether they want to purchase health insurance with a subsidy from the federal government, or stay on Medicare."

Here’s what his campaign said: “Medicare is quickly headed towards insolvency… In this video, Thompson was making the case for reforming Medicare so that we can protect it for current seniors and preserve it for future generations. That is evidenced by his comments at the end of the video where he says he wants people to have a choice to either stay on Medicare as it is or give people another option. Thompson is a proven reformer.”