By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• CONSIDER THIS: Hovering over the Supreme Court's 2014 docket of interesting cases is the blockbuster issue of gay marriage. According to ABC's Supreme Court watcher ARIANE DE VOGUE, the justices will meet behind closed doors today to discuss whether to hear one or more cases challenging marriage bans in five states. "This set of issues is the greatest civil rights issue of our time," says former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, who is representing one set of challengers. Since the Supreme Court's historic gay marriage rulings in 2013, three appellate courts have struck bans in five states. In an unusual circumstance, Katyal - and the other challengers - have asked the Supreme Court to step in despite having won in the lower court. http://abcn.ws/1sKad4E

• WHAT COULD HAPPEN? We are not likely to learn today whether the justices will decide to take up the issue of gay marriage, DE VOGUE notes. They may announce their decision later in the week, or they could put it off until additional lower courts have weighed in. But couples across the country, some of whom have spent their entire lives on the issue, believe it's inevitable that the Court will rule this term. On the other side are those who fear that the Court is poised to wipe away traditional marriage. Others are sympathetic to marriage equality but believe the courts should stay out. They believe the momentum is in the states and that is where it should stay.

• ALSO ON THE AGENDA: Overshadowed by the gay marriage debate are the actual cases which the court will begin considering when oral arguments begin on Oct. 6. Here's a rundown: http://abcn.ws/1sKad4E

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Greg Orman has gotten the attention of Republicans, inside and outside of Kansas. Now we'll see how much they're worried: Look ahead to a barrage of attacks on Orman's business record and political history to dominate the final month of what's suddenly one of the most interesting Senate races in the country. That work may be overwhelmed by a different dynamic, if Kansas voters decide they've had enough of incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, and are ready for something new. As for what that new looks like … we may have to look beyond Orman for specific answers. As The Washington Post's Philip Rucker documents, Orman isn't taking firm positions on issues including gun control and the Keystone pipeline. Then there's this head-scratcher, when Orman was asked which party he would caucus with in Washington: "It's not in the best interests for us to say that." http://wapo.st/1mEMfFe

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: It's a Badger State face off today as two big names stop by to lend their star power to the most closely watched gubernatorial race this cycle. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will stump with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Hudson, while first lady Michelle Obama will stump in Milwaukee for Walker's Democratic challenger former Trek Bicycle executive Mary Burke. The race could not be tighter and for Democrats this isn't just any win, they want to topple a giant and end the political career of a man who could be a 2016 contender. Christie too is a possible presidential rival, but today it will be all smiles as the chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and Walker visit a manufacturing firm and a GOP field office. The first lady is much more popular than her husband, she also made a campaign appearance in Georgia earlier this month. She is a safer bet for any Democrat in a tight race, especially in a swing state, but the president is expected to hit the 2014 campaign trail as the days left before November dwindle.

BUZZ

DOES BOEHNER BELIEVE AMERICAN BOOTS ON GROUND NEEDED TO DEFEAT THE ISLAMIC STATE? While a U.S.-led coalition continues to strike militants in Iraq and Syria, House Speaker John Boehner said President Obama's current strategy is insufficient to eliminate the threat posed by ISIS, according to ABC's JOHN PARKINSON. "If the goal is to destroy ISIS, as the president says it is, I don't believe the strategy that he outlined will accomplish that," Boehner told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS in an exclusive interview for ABC News in Portland, Maine, this week. "At the end of the day, I think it's going to take more than air strikes to drive them out of there. At some point somebody's boots have to be on the ground." "American?" Stephanopoulos asked. "Listen, the president doesn't want to do that," Boehner answered. "If I were the president, I probably wouldn't have talked about what I wouldn't do - and maybe we can get enough of those forces trained to get them on the battlefield, but somebody's boots have to be there." "If no one else will step up, would you recommend putting American boots on the ground?" Stephanopoulos pressed. "We have no choice," Boehner warned. "These are barbarians. They intend to kill us, and if we don't destroy them first, we're going to pay the price." http://abcn.ws/1t87uwk

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHELSEA CLINTON'S BABY. At last, Bill and Hillary Clinton have the grandchild they've always wanted. Early Saturday morning, Chelsea Clinton tweeted out the happy news that she and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, welcomed a daughter named Charlotte. While we may not know what this means for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and whether we'll see the little girl traveling on the campaign trail, we do know she's probably someone worth getting to know. So, while we wait for grandma's big decision, here's everything you need to know about this newest, littlest Clinton, courtesy of ABC's LIZ KREUTZ: http://abcn.ws/1rsCNoI

MEET CHARLOTTE CLINTON MEZVINSKY'S DAD, MARC MEZVINSKY. Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky has been dubbed "the Clinton baby," but Chelsea's new bundle of joy is also part of the Mezvinsky family - and Bill and Hillary Clinton aren't her only interesting grandparents, ABC's ERIN DOOLEY notes. Chelsea's husband is heir to a once-powerful political dynasty. His father, Ed Mezvinsky, was a two-term Democratic congressman, representing Iowa's first congressional district from 1973 to 1977. But in 2002, the former congressman pleaded guilty to swindling more than $10 million from family and friends in a Ponzi-esque scheme. Ed Mezvinsky himself also fell prey to a number of get-rich-quick schemes, including a "black money" scam in which a Nigerian man allegedly sold him a chemical that was supposed to remove ink off of $100 bills. Authorities say scammers probably used plain black construction paper. His wife, Marjorie Margolies, who divorced Ed in 2007, also served a term in Congress. http://abcn.ws/1rl1cxU

AT WHITE HOUSE, PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROTESTERS CALL FOR NEW FDA CHIEF. Hundreds gathered outside the White House yesterday to demand tighter regulation of prescription painkillers and the removal of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports. "Hey hey, ho ho, Peggy Hamburg's got to go!" protesters chanted outside the White House. Hamburg, who goes by Peggy, has led the FDA since 2009. The chant accompanied cries that President Obama has not done enough to counter opiate-painkiller abuse and addiction, even though his Office of National Drug Control Policy has recognized prescription drug abuse as a growing problem. Demonstrators marched up Pennsylvania Avenue and stood outside the White House. Many held signs displaying names, faces, and death dates of loved ones. http://abcn.ws/1mEzCKw

REFLECTING ON FERGUSON UNREST, OBAMA EXPANDS MINORITY YOUTH OUTREACH PROGRAM. President Obama said the turmoil in Ferguson, Mo., over the shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer last August exposed a racial divide between law enforcement and black America, and he vowed to expand a White House program aimed at empowering black youth. "We have to close the justice gap: How justice is applied but also how it is perceived, how it is experienced," the president said in an address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual gala Saturday night, ABC's MATTHEW LAROTONDA notes. "That's what we saw in Ferguson this summer when Michael Brown was killed and a community was divided," he said. "We know that the unrest continues." http://abcn.ws/1t6z6BP

WHO'S TWEETING?

@cam_joseph: Bill Clinton to barnstorm Arkansas to boost GOTV for state Dems next week: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/219153-bill-clinton-to-barnstorm-arkansas-for-state-dems …

@MarkLandler: Delicate week of foreign-leader meetings for Obama: hosts charismatic newcomer Narendra Modi Tues; chilly familiar-face Bibi Netanyahu Wed

@zengerle: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has given lots of intvws lately, but this one w/ @tnr's @RosenJeffrey is especially interesting http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119578/ruth-bader-ginsburg-interview-retirement-feminists-jazzercise …

@mikememoli: Where's the wave? @markzbarabak and @LisaMascaro size up the battle for Senate 5 weeks out http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-2014-election-20140929-story.html#page=1 …

@hillhulse: Because of the timing of his death, Rep Traficant's obit was printed in both the Sunday and Monday NYT. He'd be pleased.