The Daily Digest (Debate Day!, Bills attacks Klobuchar on ‘Crony Capitalism’, Pelosi hosts fundraiser for Nolan)

President Obama and Mitt Romney will square off tonight in the first of three debates. The debate, scheduled for 8pm CST, will air live on MPR News.

The Washington Post's Dan Balz writes eight questions about the first debate.

The New York Times says Fox News and Matt Drudge "trumpeted a five-year-old video of President Obama praising his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr."

Romney's '47 percent' comments are not going away anytime soon.

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Romney's campaign pounced on Vice President Joe Biden's suggestion that the middle class has been "buried" over the last four years.

Romney suggests he might cut tax deductions for millions of Americans for home mortgage interest and health care costs.

Romney says he won't revoke the work permits for undocumented immigrants who earned the permits under President Obama. His campaign, however, said Romney would not issue new ones if he's elected.

Republicans in some states are working to distance themselves from Romney.

On the eve of the debate, President Obama visited the Hoover Dam.

Obama's "debate camp" in Nevada highlights some of the problems with housing in Nevada.

The candidates are saying little about the difficult issue of housing.

Under the Dome

Fires are threatening several northwestern Minnesota towns.

Gov. Dayton will hold a jobs tour on the Iron Range today.

MPR says many homeowners will see a property tax drop in 2013.

MnDOT revised the St. Croix bridge design after summer testing.

The Minnesota Department of Health released a report saying an infection outbreak last year at a St. Cloud hospital caused serious harm.

The federal government is backing research to stop invasive species in the Great Lakes.

Washington D.C.

Politico says several members of the Senate are planning secret retreats in an effort to find a compromise on the fiscal cliff.

The AFL-CIO has endorsed a boycott of American Crystal Sugar.

Voter ID

A Pennsylvania judge blocked that state's Voter ID ruling. You can read some of Minnesota's reaction to that ruling here.

MPR says critics of the amendment, especially African Americans, see Voter ID as an attempt to suppress the vote.

Voter ID opponents will spend more than $150 thousand on their first round of TV ads.

Amendment to ban Same-sex marriage

The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board cleared a complaint against a group working to pass the amendment.

The St. Louis County Board passed a resolution opposing the amendment.

Race for Congress

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will headline a fundraiser for Rick Nolan in Minneapolis on Sunday. Pelosi, Gov. Dayton and the DFL members of Minnesota's congressional delegation will attend a fundraiser at the home of Tina Smith. Smith is Dayton's Chief of Staff.

AP takes a look at the ads running in the 8th District between Nolan and GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack and finds neither tells the whole story on Medicare.

The NRA is backing DFL Rep. Tim Walz over Republican Allen Quist.

AP says there are misleading ads being run in the race to win Minnesota's 8th Congressional District.

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann will campaign in St. Cloud today.

Race for Senate

Republican Kurt Bills says DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar's ad featuring auto dealer Paul Walser was "political payback."

Bills will campaign in Rochester today.

Klobuchar is campaigning in northwestern Minnesota today. She and DFL Rep. Collin Peterson kicked off a "Made in America" tour on Tuesday.