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First Read's Morning Clips

A roundup of the most important political news stories of the day.

OBAMA AGENDA: Terror in Canada

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Wednesday's shooting rampage in Ottawa was terrorism.

Another man jumped the White House fence and was apprehended by a Secret Service team, including two dogs that were injured in the incident.

From the New York Times: "Anticipating a takeover of Congress, Republicans have assembled an economic agenda that reflects their small-government, antiregulation philosophy, but also suggests internal divisions that could hinder a united front against President Obama — much as happened in the 1990s, when a Republican-led Congress confronted President Bill Clinton. The proposals would mainly benefit energy industries, reduce taxes and regulations for businesses generally, and continue the attack on the Affordable Care Act. It is a mix that leaves many economists, including several conservatives, underwhelmed."

The Washington Post reports on accusations about USAID: "In recent interviews, eight current auditors and employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution complained about negative findings being stricken from audits between 2011 and 2013. In some cases, the findings were put into confidential “management letters” and financial documents, which are sent to high-ranking USAID officials but are generally kept from public view."

POLITICO reports that some senior White House aides may be eying the exits.

OFF TO THE RACES: Rand Paul to mull ’16 bid week after Nov. 4

Facebook gave your NBC News political team access to some interesting data about voters in Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin. A fun takeaway: Republican and Democratic backers care about the same issues, but they don’t like the same places – like restaurants and shops.

From National Journal: “Sen. Rand Paul is summoning his top strategists and political advisers to Washington one week after the November election for a strategy session over his widely expected 2016 presidential bid. The gathering of Paul's top lieutenants in the nation's capital has been quietly organized by Doug Stafford, his chief political strategist, who began reaching out to key figures in Paul's political world earlier this month, multiple sources told National Journal.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are already jockeying for position as they contemplate flipped control of the Senate, writes the Wall Street Journal.

The Koch Brothers-backed group Concerned Veterans for America has a GOTV web video hitting Obama on ISIS’s advances in Iraq.

ALASKA: Rep. Don Young is standing by his remark that suicide reflects a lack of support from friends and family, adding that "suicide in Alaska didn’t exist before “government largesse” gave residents an entitlement mentality."

COLORADO: A new Quinnipiac poll puts Hickenlooper and Beauprez in a dead heat.

A USA Today/Suffolk poll puts Cory Gardner up 46 percent to 39 percent.

FLORIDA: Rick Scott says he'll spend his own money in the razor-close governors' race.

ILLINOIS: A new Chicago Tribune poll puts Bruce Rauner and Gov. Pat Quinn in a dead heat, at 45 to 43 percent.

IOWA: A new Quinnipiac poll finds Joni Ernst leading Bruce Braley 48 to 46 percent.

Republicans are touting numbers saying that they’re up with early voters in the state for the first time ever. The RNC says that Republicans lead in-person absentee and satellite voting in Iowa 24,818 to 24,483.

KANSAS: One of us(!) writes about what voters are really saying in Kansas, where Greg Orman has established himself as a credible alternative but is still having trouble sealing the deal.

Meanwhile, the Koch Brothers-backed group Freedom Partners has two new TV ads hitting Orman – here and here.

KENTUCKY: The DSCC is BACK on the air in Kentucky, writes one of us(!)

LOUISIANA: The Times-Picayune: "Louisiana has seen an increase in two groups of registered voters -- African Americans and people who don't want to be identified as Democrats or Republicans -- in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 election. There are 35,918 more registered voters in Louisiana than there were on Aug. 1. This includes 18,912 more black voters and 18,888 more independent or minor political party voters."

MICHIGAN: Gary Peters seems to be pulling away in Michigan, according to an EPIC-MRA poll that shows him up 45 percent to 34 percent.

NORTH CAROLINA: The American Future Fund, a Koch-funded group, is spending big on an online ad campaign that backs libertarian Sean Haugh in the hopes of siphoning away votes from Kay Hagan. The tagline: "More weed, less war."

SOUTH DAKOTA: A group of former aides to Larry Pressler have formed a super PAC that plans to spend more than $200,000 backing him, writes the Argus Leader.

PROGRAMMING NOTES.

*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall talks to NBC News Terrorism Analyst Evan Kohlmann and Canadian Senator George Baker about the Ottawa shootings, Georgia St. Sen. Vincent Fort about Georgia democrats urging African Americans to vote to “avoid another Ferguson,” and in today’s “Born in the U$A” series: Jerry Flanagan, the Army vet who created JDog Junk Removal, a business created to employ vets.

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Canadian Parliament member Charlie Angus, Canadian journalists Justin Ling and Cormac MacSweeney, Rand Corp. Sr. Policy Analyst Andrew Liepman, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, NBC’s Kristen Welker and “Meet the Press” Moderator Chuck Todd.