Obama, Romney making few stops to help congressional candidates campaign; Senate control is very much in play

News outlets examine some of the campaign trail dynamics shaking out from the top of the ticket into House and Senate races.

The New York Times: Nominees Leave Congressional Candidates To Stump Alone
Out on the campaign trail, President Obama talks about Medicare (Republicans would gut it), tax cuts (Mitt Romney wants to give them to rich people like himself) and Osama bin Laden (Did you know? He's dead.). He even talks about the unemployment rate (it is still too high, but job growth has increased 30 straight months after the economic mess that greeted him when he took office). And he talks about Congress (lawmakers should get moving and pass his jobs bill). But what the president never talks about is getting more of his party members elected to the House and the Senate. And, for that matter, neither does Mr. Romney (Cooper and Peters, 9/10).

The New York Times: Missteps And Surprises Turn Battle For The Senate Into A Guessing Game
The fight for the Senate has shifted significantly over the past weeks, with fierce races breaking out in states where they were not expected and other contests dimming that were once ablaze with competition. With less than two months until Election Day, the Senate landscape is both broader and more fluid than it has been in years, with control of the upper chamber now anyone's guess. Both parties have seen new opportunities and new challenges, but the net result is that Democrats appear to be in less danger of losing the Senate, while Republicans have a more difficult path to gaining the majority (Weisman and Steinhauer, 9/10).