AMBASSADOR'S DAD SPEAKS UP
The father of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attack in Benghazi last month, said his son's death shouldn't be politicized in the presidential campaign.
"It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue," Jan Stevens, 77, said in a telephone interview from his home in Loomis, Calif., as he prepares for a memorial service for his son on Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall.
Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, has criticized President Obama for not providing adequate security in Libya, saying the administration had left U.S. diplomats in the country exposed to a deadly terrorist attack.
The ambassador's father, a lawyer, said politicians should await the findings of a formal investigation before making accusations or judgments.
"The security matters are being adequately investigated," Stevens said. "We don't pretend to be experts in security. It has to be objectively examined. That's where it belongs. It does not belong in the campaign arena." Stevens said he has been getting briefings from the State Department.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Obama, romney still in dead heat
On the eve of their second debate, President Obama and Mitt Romney remain locked in a virtual dead heat nationally, with Republicans showing more enthusiasm for their nominee after the first debate, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Likely voters in the new poll split 49 percent for Obama to 46 percent for Romney, basically unmoved from the poll two weeks ago, just before the two candidates met in Denver. On topic after topic, the survey portrays an electorate that remains deeply divided and locked in its views.
