Sen. John McCain to join Connie Mack in tour of military towns Tuesday

Arizona Sen. John McCain will join MIAMI- Senator John McCain will join Republican Senate nominee, Congressman Connie Mack IV on Tuesday with stops in the military-heavy towns of Jacksonville, Pensacola, and Tampa.

Here's the schedule:

Nelson sweeps newpaper endorsements over Mack

Democrat Bill Nelson has swept the endorsements of the top five major daily newspapers in Florida in the U.S. Senate race against Republican challenger Connie Mack IV. Nelson today picked up the backing of the Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune and Palm Beach Post. The Tampa Bay Times endorsed Nelson last week.

Here are the excerpts, as compiled by the Florida Democratic Party: 

PolitiFact rules Nelson's claim that Mack protected Chevron only half true

Democrat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s new television ad hits Republican Connie Mack for "protecting Chevron oil from a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over pollution of rivers and rain forests."

Mack’s act of protection is a yet-to-be-heard congressional resolution listing the Chevron case as one of many reasons to withhold trade preferences with Ecuador. Resolutions are symbolic gestures, so it would take a law for Congress to take real action on Ecuadorian trade practices.

But, PolitiFact found, the Chevron case is complicated. Chevron says it did not get a fair trial in Ecuador and should not be held responsible. The resolution, however, appears to be designed to exert political pressure on the country in Chevron’s favor. PolitiFact Florida rates Nelson’s claim Half True. Read the ruling here.

Miami archbishop sues Obama Admin. over contraception 18 days before election, notes Biden debate remarks

From the Catholic News Agency, which doesn't note the timing of a lawsuit 18 days before the presidential election:

The Archdiocese of Miami and two other Catholic entities filed a lawsuit today against the HHS mandate, adding to the dozens of lawsuits already filed in the matter.

“The HHS mandate represents a real threat … we cannot just sit back and let our religious freedoms be taken away from us,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami told CNA Oct. 19.

About 90 minutes after the press conference, the archidocese informed The Herald of the press conference and the attached written statement from Wenski Download Wenski

Bolstering Catholic identity and teaching what it means to be a Catholic were also on the archbishop's mind.

“I think listening to Vice President Biden's remarks at his debate when he alleged there was no problem with the Church and the administration, also underscores the urgency of the problem, that there is a problem.”

Mediscare messages target seniors -- in races from president to legislature

The attack ads arrive in the mailboxes of Florida voters and pierce the television airwaves with the rapidity of tracer bullets.

“Medicare Advantage could vanish,’’ reads a flyer from the conservative group, Americans for Tax Reform. “Barack Obama raided $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare,’’ reads another.

“Seniors could pay $6,000 more a year,’’ warns an ad supporting Obama. Republicans Mitt Romney and Connie Mack want to “end Medicare as we know it,” warns Democrat Bill Nelson. Mack claims Nelson wants to “rob Medicare to pay for the president’s healthcare plan.”

Politicos have a shorthand for the chatter: Mediscare.

The dueling messages are designed to stoke financial fears in the swing state with one of the biggest senior populations in the country. And even campaigns for the state House and Senate, which do not have any control over Medicare, are being hit with the attacks. (See the attached mailer sent out by the political consultant to Republican Senate Candidate John Couriel against Democrat Gwen Margolis.)

Separating fact from fiction is easy — if you realize that every claim is out of context, partially true, and just as partially false. But beneath the claims are some truths. Consider: keep reading

Mack conversion: he's no longer debating the value of debates

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, whose campaign assiduously avoided debating his opponents during the primary, has now found religion. In a letter that is more campaign tactic than invite, Mack's campaign manager Jeff Cohen tells Nelson's campaign manager Pete Mitchell how important the evening was last night and how they want to have more debates.

"The people saw a glimpse into a future in which a new generation of leaders in Washington stand with the people and for the people,'' Cohen wrote. Here's the letter:

Facts get pummeled in Nelson v. Mack debate

Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson held his own against challenger Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV and Mack showed he can spar like a contender in a vigorous debate between the two candidates in Davie Wednesday night.

While it was the most drama we'll see in the race for months, there were casualties. Facts.

The good news is, PolitiFact Florida had covered much of this territory before, since the candidates relied on most of the same attacks they have lobbed in television ads for the past two months. Here's a run-down:

Nelson and Mack spar in testy exchange during single debate of the campaign

Florida’s low-key U.S. Senate campaign got an hour of drama Wednesday as Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Connie Mack IV sparred in an attack-filled televised debate that will serve as the only face-to-face match-up of the campaign.

Within minutes of opening the debate, the lines of attack emerged as Mack introduced himself as “a proud, mainstream conservative” and immediately attacked Nelson for voting to “gut our military,” cut Medicare and vote to raise taxes 150 times.

 “I’ve got a simple litmus test,’’ said Mack, the Cape Coral Republican. “If you voted for higher taxes 150 times, it’s time for you to go.” Nelson, 70, who is seeking his third term, responded that “everything the congressman’s just said, is not true.’’ It was a line he repeated often during the exchange.

He accused Mack, 45, of partisan, ideological attacks that he described as “the problem with politics today” and said he has spent his career reaching “across the partisan divide” to “build bi-partisan consensus.”

The fast-paced debate covered all the hot spots as a panel of journalists, including the Miami Herald’s Toluse Olorunnipa, asked the candidates about the budget, Medicare, debt, domestic violence, national security, immigration and the Cuban embargo. With each question, both Mack and Nelson came prepared with reprisals of the same attacks they have lobbed at each other in television ads for months: More here.  

PolitiFact Florida checks out claims from Nelson-Mack debate

U.S Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Connie Mack IV unleashed a slew of familiar attacks during the first and only debate of their U.S. Senate battle, hitting each other on health care, missed votes and, well, cows.

The banter provided plenty of fact-checking fodder for PolitiFact Florida.

Mack, the Republican challenger, went after Nelson for his support of President Barack Obama’s health care law with talking points we’ve checked before: that he was the deciding vote, and that he "voted to cut $700 billion out of Medicare to pay for Obamacare."

We rated Mack’s $700 billion claim Mostly False, noting that these “cuts” come from reduced payments to insurance companies and hospitals over the next 10 years, and that part of the savings cover lower prescription drug payments for Medicare recipients as well as free preventative care.

Mack stuck to another attack line throughout the night: Nelson voted to raise taxes 150 times.

"Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times, 150 times," Mack said. "I voted to cut taxes … if you voted for higher taxes 150 times, it's time for you to go."

Mack's consultant, Arthur Finkelstein, makes case for why every pollster has it wrong

We're really not too sure if this is news but Republican Connie Mack's political consultant Arthur Finkelstein thinks he can win.

Nontheless, his analysis is telling and the fact they he's posted on the candidates's web site for the world to hold him accountable for it come Nov. 7 is worth noting.

Here it is: