NEWEST EXERCISE GADGET: For the gym addict who has everything: The exercise bike in a hot tub (and its makers even claim it can get rid of cellulite).

MICKEY KAUS: “If I were conspiracy-minded, I might think the press (or at least The Hill) was trying to sucker Mitt Romney into attempting an Oprah/Bill Clinton ‘I-feel-your-pain’ moment at the town hall debate tonight. If Romney can do that non-artificially and effectively, I’ll be very surprised. Seems more likely to be awkward.”

I dunno. Some cyborgs can be surprisingly convincing.

UPDATE: Roger Simon says Mickey is wrong about Romney: “Actually it’s Romney’s opponent who’s the awkward stiff when it comes to empathy because he’s inauthentic. Romney has spent more personal time actually doing good works for people in tough (read: cancer-ridden) circumstances than any politician I’ve ever heard of. The media declares him to be inauthentic, but if you watch him, he really isn’t.”

JACKSON DIEHL on the coming collapse: Authoritarians in China and Russia Face an Endgame.

WOW  JUST WOW:  The Universe Is Not Only Stranger Than We Imagine…  A planet with four suns… I wonder if there’s a way to write it habitable…

VIRGINIA POSTREL: An Economics Nobel For Saving Lives.

A NEW BOOK from the blogger at Bookwormroom: Easy Ways To Teach Kids Hard Things : The fun way to teach your children important life principles. $1.99 on Kindle.

NOT A CHEAP THRILL: The World’s Most Expensive Sex Toy?

YOU SEE THIS IN ACADEMIC HIRING A LOT: Why Do People Value Potential Over Experience?

THAT’S WHAT THE SMOKE AND MIRRORS ARE SUPPOSED TO OBSCURE: Who is responsible for what in Libya?

TONIGHT’S DEBATE COVERAGE today!

UPDATE: Transparency! Reader John Bailey writes: “What about the questions Candy Crowley didn’t choose? Will they be released for all to see? If not, then you have your answer about Candy’s bias.”

VIDEO: After joking with reporters, Obama silent on Benghazi question.

CRACKED: In Reversal, Cash Leaks Out of China. Years ago my friend and colleague Dave Freer told me that China’s economy was a beautiful lacquered vase, all cracked underneath. I’ve yet to find a reason to doubt him.

BUZZFEED: Obama’s 2008 Debate Promises: 0 for 4.

INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: If a Police Dog “Alerts,” Should You Lose Your Cash, Car and Other Property? No. Next question?

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Hillary Jumps Under the Bus But Can’t Save the Driver From Himself.

If Bush were still in the White House, the press would in full firestorm/feeding frenzy mode on what would no doubt be called the Middle East Meltdown. Endless expositions on the pattern of presidential failure would be the main preoccupation of the chattering class. From Mali to Afpak via Syria and Bahrain (if Bush were president the hypocrisy of US policy in Bahrain would be driving some of our more sensitive moral consciences into glorious arpeggios of rage and invective) the story of administration miscalculations and strategic mistakes would be on the front page of our papers.

We would probably also be seeing at this point a lot more attention to stories contrasting the Secretary of State’s forthright acceptance of responsibility for specific problems with the President’s steadfast refusal to discuss his record in the Middle East—and his dodging of press conferences where these policy problems could be vetted would now be a huge issue—if Obama were President Bush.

But he isn’t, and connecting those dots is something that, given the MSM’s evident sympathy for this administration, American journalism is doing its best to avoid. That’s likely to change after the election no matter who wins.

Key phrase: After the election.

IN FOREIGN POLICY: How the Russian ‘Reset’ Explains Obama’s Foreign Policy: The president’s naivete about Vladimir Putin is the root cause of his failure.

INDEPENDENT EXPERTS: The Hill: Professors donate to Obama, opine about election in the news. “The Hill cross-checked academics who have been quoted in news articles with Obama’s donor list and eliminated those who worked in prior Democratic administrations. The half-dozen professors detailed in this article do not mention their political affiliations in their bios online. A similar search for Romney donors did not yield any results. The scholars say they didn’t tell reporters that they had donated to Obama, but would have had they been asked. It is not common practice for journalists to inquire about such political donations, however.”

Actually, if you lean right they’ll give you the third degree. I remember spending what seemed like half an hour explaining to a guy from the Chronicle of Higher Education that my second amendment research really wasn’t funded by the NRA. . . .

HEH: So, now we know what happens when the phone rings at 3 AM in the White House. Obama call forwards to Hillary.

IN WHICH CASE THE ELECTION CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH: Small Study Reveals How Poor Sleep Might Be Linked to Obesity, Diabetes Because I plan to sleep for the week after.  Of course if government takes this to heart we’ll all be issued sleeping pills punctually at nine pm, bars in NYC will be forced to close at nine p.m. and late shows will be strictly forbidden.  (Is this where I shout WAKE UP?)

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The New Yorker’s Closet Libertarian: “Surowiecki’s argument is an unacknowledged tribute to the very libertarian doctrine that he mocks.”

IS EUROPE’S DECLINE INTO MILITARY IRRELEVANCE ACCELERATING?

THE WIZARD OF OBAMA: Bill McGurn writes, “The president didn’t just lose a debate. He lost an entire image of genius and control:”

After President Reagan’s listless performance in the first presidential debate of 1984 raised speculation that he was too old for the job, the Gipper took command in the second debate. Of his opponent Walter Mondale, Reagan famously said that he wouldn’t try to score political points by exploiting his opponent’s youth and inexperience.

Perhaps Barack Obama can likewise reassert himself in Tuesday evening’s town hall in Long Island. But his problem is this: In Denver he didn’t just lose a debate—he lost the carefully cultivated illusion of a larger-than-life figure who was Lincoln and FDR and Moses all wrapped in one.

To paraphrase Hemingway, how do you go intellectually bankrupt? Two ways: Gradually, then suddenly.

PYRRHIC:  Biden’s toxic victory.  As  General Nathanael Greene said “I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price.”

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE: An Open Letter To Sarah Silverman.