By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• THE VOTE: Lawmakers are expected to continue debating whether to approve President Obama's plan to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight ISIS. As ABC's JOHN PARKINSON points out, during yesterday's debate, Rep. Chris Gibson, R-N.Y., a former officer in the Army with a tour of Iraq under his belt, rose to speak in opposition. "This evil organization has to be defeated," Gibson said. "The question is how?" Gibson explained that he believes ISIS is not a direct threat to the United States and escalating hostilities in Syria "is not the best approach." And Gibson wasn't alone. A vote on passage is expected later this afternoon.

• WHAT OBAMA WON'T SAY: Don't expect the president to do any major cleanup today after the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey suggested there's a possibility of boots on the ground, according to ABC's MARY BRUCE. The White House remains firm that the president's position about combat troops has not changed. "The President does not believe that it would be in the best interest of our national security to deploy American ground troops in a combat role in Iraq and Syria. That policy has not changed," Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday. Visiting CENTCOM in Tampa this morning, "The President will receive a briefing from his top commanders…and thank the men and women who will partner with others in the region to carry out the President's strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL," according to the White House.

• WHAT KERRY WILL SAY: Secretary of State John Kerry begins two days of Hill testimony today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ABC's ALI WEINBERG notes his first priority will be selling the effectiveness and strength of the coalition that he spent last week cobbling together. There have been very few specifics, and with some nations being less than transparent with their Syria commitments, Kerry will likely be asked for details. But a second mission will likely be stressing the White House's position that there will be no boots on the ground, period.

THE ROUNDTABLE:

ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ: All eyes were on Hillary Clinton in Iowa this weekend as she made her first trip back to the state in over seven years. But days later, Joe Biden's is saying, "what about me?" Biden, the country's first Catholic Vice President, heads to Iowa today to kick off a voter registration drive with a group called "Nuns on the Bus," setting up a classic opportunity for Biden to display some of his political charm. Just three days after Clinton flipped steaks at the Harkin Steak Fry, the VP's trip gives him a chance to let voters know he could still be in the mix for 2016. In Iowa, presidential politics is always on the mind no matter what you say, and after two failed presidential runs, Biden might be asking himself whether third time's the charm.

ABC's JEFF ZELENY: This is how quickly the world moves: the first public hearing of the Select Committee on Benghazi is today, but the red-hot controversy has long fallen from the headlines. Today, Washington is focused on the new fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, with the House voting to authorize the arming of Syrian rebels. But the plan faces deep criticism and questions. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is working to soothe concern from Democratic doves, hoping to win enough votes to overcome the Republicans who oppose the president's plan. With the deadly threat of Ebola and a raft of other challenges in the world, it's striking how muted the Benghazi investigation has been.

ABC's RICK KLEIN: An announcement out of Ohio that political junkies should take note of: There will be no debate in the Ohio governor's race this year. That's not a total surprise, given the fade of Democratic candidate Ed FitzGerald in his race against incumbent Gov. John Kasich. But it underlines the fact that we're seeing an uncommonly lame political year in a state that always seems to find a way to capture the nation's Election Night attention. Here's guessing voters aren't complaining about getting a break. But Democrats may come to mourn the fact that they didn't field a serious challenge against Kasich, a possible 2016er, when the time comes to start organizing anew in Ohio. The GOP's decision to convene in Cleveland in two years looks smarter by the week.

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: An important new poll out of Iowa this morning finds Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst leading Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley by 6 points among likely voters, 50 percent to 44 percent. This is the first recent major poll that has put Ernst in the lead - and it's a significant gap. A CNN/ORC poll from last week showed Braley with a 1 point lead among likelies. Note that Quinnipiac finds that Ernst is leading among men - and crucially - independent voters in the Hawkeye State. As Quinnipiac's Peter A. Brown said: "These independents are perhaps the most important voter bloc in the electorate and State Sen. Joni Ernst is ahead 7 percentage points among them, just about her overall lead. The key to any comeback by U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley will be chipping away at her lead among independents." POLL: http://bit.ly/XgHLsD

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

REAL RETAIL POLITICS: WHICH PARTY'S CAMPAIGN ARE YOUR CHEERIOS FUNDING? Are die-hard Democrats and far-right Republicans inadvertently bankrolling the other party's campaigns? As it turns out, partisan-charged transactions are taking place every day, and in an unlikely place: The grocery store checkout line. With 2014 midterm elections now in full swing, how can you avoid filling the opponent's pockets with your bread and butter money? There's now an app for that: BuyPartisan. "For the first time, we made it easy for people to be able to take a product that they see on their everyday grocery store shelves and be able to take their smart phone and … scan the barcode and instantly be able to figure out whether the political party behind the product that they're buying matches their own values," Matthew Colbert, CEO of Spend Consciously, Inc., told "The Fine Print's" JEFF ZELENY. WATCH: http://yhoo.it/1m7WB04

BUZZ

with ABC's KIRSTEN APPLETON

U.S. TROOPS COULD FIGHT ISIS IN IRAQ, GENERAL TELLS SENATE. According to ABC's LUIS MARTINEZ, the nation's top military officer opened the door slightly to the possibility of American troops accompanying Iraqi forces on the battlefield against ISIS if needed. The latest deployment of 475 American forces to Iraq includes 150 advisers who will be working closely with Iraqi brigades at the headquarters level to coordinate the Iraqi military's offensive operations against ISIS. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the advisers "will help the Iraqis conduct campaign planning, arrange for enabler and logistics support, and coordinate coalition contributions." "To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president," said Dempsey. Dempsey later explained that he was specifically referring to Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC's) who serve with ground units and can directly request airstrikes from U.S. jet fighters above. http://abcn.ws/1r47HUH

HOW ISIS IS COMPLICATING AL FRANKEN'S REELECTION BID. The threat posed by ISIS has invaded the campaign ads and speeches all across the U.S., but the issue has had special resonance in Minnesota where an unusual number of people have left to join the terrorist group, reports ABC'S BENJAMIN SIEGEL. More than a dozen of the nearly 100 Americans believed to have joined ISIS, including several women, hail from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, according to federal authorities. Many are recruited from the area's large Somali population, but the recruits are not confined to Somalis. Douglas McCain, the first American killed fighting for ISIS, was also a Minnesota native. McCain's friend, Troy Kastigar, also died this year while fighting with ISIS. Mike McFadden, the Republican Senate candidate in Minnesota, is aggressively seizing on the closer-to-home terror threat in his uphill quest to defeat Democrat Sen. Al Franken. Hours after the release of the ISIS video showing the execution of American journalist Steven Sotloff on Sept. 2, McFadden blasted Franken for his support of the president's "foreign policy blunders." He later said Franken was "asleep at the wheel" after the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on a federal grand jury investigation of an attempt to convince 20 to 30 Somali men to leave Minnesota and join ISIS. "This is a very, very serious issue, and it has not received the attention from Sen. Franken it deserves," McFadden told ABC News. Franken, a Democrat running for a second term, wrote a letter to the Department of Justice on Sept. 4 asking Attorney General Eric Holder to address ISIS recruitment in Minnesota, which McFadden called "a day late and a dollar short." http://abcn.ws/ZoiD4L

WHITE HOUSE: UNACCOMPANIED MINOR CRISIS ALL BUT OVER. The Obama administration isn't claiming "mission accomplished" but it may be as close as the White House can get. The Border Patrol announced Tuesday that the unaccompanied minors crisis has all but ended, as the rise in children crossing the Southwest border has stopped, ABC'S JIM AVILA and SERENA MARSHALL report. "It's premature to say it's over but significant progress [has been] made" in stopping unaccompanied minors, Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the National Press Club. "It is now five months later, and the number of children arriving and apprehended at our border is dramatically lower than it was five months ago," Mayorkas said, citing factors both in officials' control and outside factors. http://abcn.ws/1r5GAbC

EBOLA EPIDEMIC 'SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL,' OBAMA SAYS. Declaring the Ebola outbreak a "threat to global security," President Obama announced a significant American military effort in West Africa to help bring the spread of the deadly disease under control, reports ABC'S DEVIN DWYER. "We have to act fast. We can't dawdle on this one," Obama said during a visit to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It is spiraling out of control, it's getting worse, it's spreading exponentially," he said. "If the outbreak is not stopped now we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected." The president said there were "profound implications" for the U.S., even if there was no immediate threat of an outbreak on American soil. Obama said he has ordered the deployment of 3,000 U.S. military personnel to West Africa to take the lead in coordinating an international response, facilitate logistics and engineering. The Pentagon is establishing a military command center in Liberia to be directed by an American general, who arrived on Tuesday, Obama said. In the next few weeks, U.S. service members will establish 17 treatment facilities with 100 beds each, train as many as 500 health care workers per week in proper care and containment techniques, and orchestrate a community messaging campaign about the disease, the White House said. http://abcn.ws/1s5s7P2

SENATOR WANTS TO STRIP NFL'S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS. The National Football League's tax-exempt status could come to an end if Sen. Maria Cantwell gets her wish. According to ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ, Cantwell, D-Wash., announced Tuesday that she will introduce legislation that would end the league's tax-exempt status in a move to increase pressure to change the name of the Washington Redskins. "The NFL needs to join the rest of Americans in the 21st century. We can no longer tolerate this attitude towards Native Americans," Cantwell said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. "This is not about team tradition. It is about right and wrong." Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has previously introduced legislation to end the tax-exempt, 501 (c)(6) status of professional sports organizations making annual revenues of over $10 million, including the NFL, National Hockey League and Professional Golfers Association. http://abcn.ws/1s5uhy5

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

WHY JOHN BOEHNER'S IN BED BY 10 P.M. AND 5 OTHER THINGS REVEALED ABOUT THE HOUSE SPEAKER. House Speaker John Boehner released a video on his blog Tuesday, ABC's KIRSTEN APPLETON reports, providing viewers with a glimpse of a day in the life of the Capitol Hill veteran - set to inspirational music. http://abcn.ws/1tZhBZL

IN THE NOTE'S INBOX

THE KOCH SISTERS ARE BAAACK… Remember the Koch Sisters? Joyce and Karen Koch are not actually sisters nor are they related to the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, but they are the stars of a recently-launched advertising campaign by the AFL-CIO. Today the AFL-CIO will begin airing a brand new television ad on national cable, kicking off the second phase of the "Koch Sisters" campaign. And, according to an official with the labor organization, the "sisters" will be on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and speak alongside Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others on key issues like preserving Social Security and Medicare. WATCH: http://youtu.be/FiTrYaL2iZY

WHO'S TWEETING?

@mviser: MY MORNING CUP: John Boehner on his coffee habits (Speedway gas, Starbucks and filtered water) http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2014/09/16/house-speaker-john-boehner/XItq0ablpMtxAo93lywyLP/story.html …

@CesarConda: You can check out live stream of @marcorubio speech on American Strength today at 1 pm here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdzLtyKisYk&feature=youtu.be …

@brianjameswalsh: Press too often focuses on the gender gap w/ women - how about this gender gap - @joniernst up 17 pts w/ male voters in new #IASen Q poll.

@costareports: Scalise: "I'm still getting to know the speaker" http://wapo.st/1pjcege

@tripgabriel: Obama's low approval mirrors Bush's in Sept 2006, ominous sign for Dems heading into midterms, per new NYT/CBS poll http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/16/us/politics/gop-gains-strength-and-obama-gets-low-marks-poll-finds.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news …