- With no deal and no meetings scheduled for Friday, President Obama will hold another press conference on debt talks.
- As Jay reports, McConnell and Reid are working in earnest on a contingency plan. The House GOP is keeping the door ajar.
- The debt ceiling issue isn’t zero-sum; everyone loses in the event of default.
- John McCain thinks Boehner and Cantor are losing the public.
- Jake Tapper catches the White House straining to explain why an election-year vote on the debt ceiling is as bad as default.
- Signs of hope: Minnesota lawmakers strike a mutually unsatisfactory deal to end their government shutdown.
- Seconding Michael: Read Shapiro on Pawlenty.
- The estimable Richard Corliss reviews The Undefeated.
- And the quote Eric Cantor chose to appear beneath his high school yearbook photo: “I want what I want when I want it.”