Week In The News: VP Debate, Race Tightens, Armstrong Report

The VP debate in Kentucky. Lance Armstrong and doping. U.S. troops head for Jordan, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

VP debate in Kentucky last night.  Voters waited all week to see who would bring their game.  In the end, everybody did.  Smilin’ Joe Biden, big and combative, making the combative case that President Obama did not.  Determined Paul Ryan, scoring points on Benghazi, being the conservative  Mitt Romney downplayed.

Will it change the race?  It did last night.  We’ve got US troops on Syria’s doorstep now in Jordan.  A heroic girl shot by the Taliban in Pakistan.  Lance Armstrong and a big tale of doping.

This hour, On Point:  our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-Tom Ashbrook

Todd Purdum, national editor of Vanity Fair.

Bob Cusack, managing editor of The Hill.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

The New York Times "The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordanto help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict."

L.A. Times "The evidence, Tygart said, is in excess of 1,000 pages and features sworn testimony from 26 individuals, “including 15 riders with knowledge of the USPS team and its participants’ doping activities."

USA Today "Vice presidential debates may not mean much in the long run — people vote for presidents, after all — but they tend to produce the most memorable moments."