(CNN) - The Tampa Bay Times, Florida's largest newspaper, announced on Friday it was again endorsing President Barack Obama, saying he is stronger than Romney on a range of economic, foreign policy, and social issues.
But the paper said it "would like the president to present a sharper vision for a second term."

The Times, which was formerly known as the St. Petersburg Times, split its list of recommended candidates. Besides Obama, it backed Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in his re-election bid, plus four Republicans and one Democrat seeking re-election to Congress. Rep. Bill Young, one of its recommended candidates, is the longest-serving Republican in the House.

Obama has "capably steered the nation through an incredibly difficult period at home and abroad, often with little help from Congress," the paper said, and "conditions would be far worse without the president's steady leadership."

Romney, they opined, represents "the failed policies of the past."

Newly-discovered audio from a conference call in June captures Mitt Romney asking business owners to urge their employees to vote for him.

Romney, speaking on a call to the very conservative National Federation of Independent Business, tells a group of business owners that they should “make it very clear” how they feel about the candidates. He also tells the business owners to “pass… along to your employees” how their jobs might be effected by who wins in November:

"I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope — I hope you pass those along to your employees. Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well."

Listen at 26:44:

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/17/1037881/leaked-audio-romney-employers/?mobile=nc

Candy Crowley responded on Wednesday to conservative claims that she had "backtracked" on her fact-check of Mitt Romney during Tuesday night's presidential debate.

Crowley challenged Romney during a discussion of the attacks in Libya. When the GOP candidate told President Obama that he had not called the attacks terrorism for weeks, Obama protested, and Crowley intervened to back him up.

"He did in fact call it an 'act of terror,'" she said, referring to Obama's comments on Sept. 12 that "no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation."

Crowley quickly added that Romney was "correct" to say that it took Obama weeks "for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out."

The second Presidential debate between Pres. Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney delivered massive ratings last night.

As it did for the first two debates, Fox News led the way among the cable news channels garnering 11.1 million viewers, on par with its most-watched telecast ever, the Sarah Palin-Joe Biden debate in 2008. CNN’s Candy Crowley was the moderator of the debate, but it did not appear to give a significant ratings boost to the channel. It was the only cabler to lose viewers compared to the first Presidential debate, and was down significantly from the second Presidential debate in 2008. MSNBC was third in cable news, but was able to improve its viewership compared to both 2008 and the first debate two weeks ago.

Among the broadcasters, preliminarily ABC and NBC are up compared to the first debate, with CBS down. The numbers will adjust when finals are released.

“I think there was a winner in the sense that Barack Obama not only gained ground he lost but he cauterized some wounds that he inflicted on himself by seeming too diffident and disengaged.”

“It was a very good fight,” he added. “I have seen every presidential debate in American history since the floor of Nixon and Kennedy in 1960. This was immeasurably the best.”

“I think as a tactical measure tonight, the president did very well,” he concluded.