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Adding to the onslaught has been a seemingly endless barrage of bad news — about Ebola, Russian hegemony, hostages beheaded in the Middle East — and a series of Washington missteps, including the botched rollout of the healthcare program and scandals at the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The result is a surly electorate, and it goes beyond Colorado. Those not skipping the election in disgust are ready to lash out at lawmakers of both parties. (Barabak, 11/3)

Republican candidates and a few Democrats toughened their stands on illegal immigration. The GOP hardened its vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Minimum-wage increases championed by Democrats drew some GOP support. In a midterm campaign generally short on detailed policy debates, a small set of issues broke through. The question now is whether the campaign rhetoric will make it harder or easier for the two parties to find common ground after Tuesday’s voting. (Meckler, 11/3)

Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst says that Iowa can be "the healthiest state in the country" with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. (Russert, 11/3)

Late in the ad war, Democrats are going to an old standby attack: scaring seniors about Medicare. ... The attacks in the DSCC ad are based on Gardner's support of budget plans from Rep. Paul Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee. Each version of the Ryan plan focused on curbing federal spending, though a lot of the specifics would have been left up to Congress to decide, making some of the specifics in this ad questionable. (Rittman, 11/3)