By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• IT'S DAY ONE for Ron Klain, and already the newly-minted Ebola Czar has a full plate and a packed schedule, ABC's MARY BRUCE notes. Today he sits down with President Obama at the White House and gets up to speed with the administration's Ebola response team. As the new point-person, Klain is tasked with coordinating the various agencies, and all of the bureaucracies involved, and making sure the government's response runs more smoothly. One item not on his schedule: Testifying before the House on Friday. Other administration representatives will speak at that hearing, since it will only be day three of Klain's tenure.

• THE SCUTTLEBUTT: Klain hasn't even started his new job and already speculation is swirling about his next position. Politico reported yesterday that he is in line to replace John Podesta as counselor to the president or possibly even to succeed Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Not surprisingly, the White House insists Klain is focused on the task front of him.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Republicans can thank the reliable old federal bureaucracy for their latest little gift-wrapped present. The AP reports that the Department of Homeland Security is soliciting millions of new green cards - yes, the physical paperwork needed for legal status - "to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements." That's right: The federal government is already ordering as many as 34 million new cards over five years to accommodate legal changes that haven't been announced, much less approved by Congress. If and when this factoid makes its way into a campaign ad or a stump speech, it will be another reminder of the questionable political strategy of the White House deciding to delay immigration action until after the election. You don't get full credit for not acting if everyone knows you're about to. And the idea that tax dollars are set to be expended to support a sweeping new policy, before that policy is even announced or enacted? How better to confirm voters' mistrust in government?

THE MIDTERM MINUTE

-FLORIDA: ALL TIED UP. In Florida, incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist, the Republican turned Democrat, are literally as tight as can be with both at 42 percent, with 7 percent for Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. A Quinnipiac poll last month showed Scott with 44 percent to Crist's 42 percent. Without Wyllie in the race, Scott and Crist still are locked at 44 percent each. As for the gender gap in this race, Crist leads Scott with women, 45 to 39 percent, and Scott leads Crist among men, 46 to 38 percent. Ninety percent of voters say their mind is made up - not much wiggle room - while 10 percent say they might change their mind before Election Day. http://bit.ly/1wir7FT -Shushannah Walshe

-NORTH CAROLINA: TILLIS' ONE-MAN SHOW. It was a campaign decision-and not quibbling over a fan-that kept Sen. Kay Hagan away from the Time Warner Cable News Senate debate Tuesday night. Democrats' determination to keep to 2008's three debate precedent gave Republican candidate Thom Tillis the rare opportunity to articulate his argument for office on stage without worrying about an opponent or time limits. Despite the unusual aside, Tillis kept to his script, chastising the Obama administration's handling of Ebola, defending his standing on women's issues and offering few specifics for a strategy against ISIS. - Ben Siegel

-TEXAS: CELEB ON THE TRAIL. With the first week of early voting underway in the Lone Star State, both gubernatorial candidates are increasing their get out the vote activities, and Attorney General Greg Abbott is relying on a little star power to help him. Today Abbott will be joined by Chuck Norris, who has campaigned for Republican presidential candidates in the past, at stops in Corpus Christi and San Antonio. In 2012, Norris released a video warning that the country would face "1,000 years of darkness" if President Obama was reelected. -Arlette Saenz

-NEW HAMPSHIRE: BROWN AND SHAHEEN FACE OFF. In their first live televised debate, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and her opponent Scott Brown both put up a fight in a match-up dominated by Ebola and national security concerns. Two of the moments that tripped up both of the candidates we might be seeing in ads in the next two weeks. First, when asked if Obamacare was a "proud accomplishment" for Shaheen, she responded "absolutely." It might be the truth, but Republicans immediately pounced on the remark and began pushing the clip out. Later, when Brown was asked why he decided to run in the Granite State instead of again in Massachusetts or another state, he said "because I live here!" prompting audible laughter from the crowd. Shaheen listed the other races Brown had mulled over even thinking about a presidential run after a visit to Iowa saying, "Well I don't think New Hampshire is a consolation prize." Brown noted his "long and strong" family ties to the state. The two will meet again Thursday - Shushannah Walshe

-IOWA: FLOTUS GETS A SECOND TRY ON THE STUMP. While stumping for Bruce Braley in Iowa on Tuesday, Michelle Obama joked about mispronouncing the Democratic candidate's name seven times at a previous voting rally. "Although I may have slipped up on Bruce's name a couple of times, what I know I got right are Bruce's values," the First Lady said. However, the confusion continued when the White House incorrectly identified Braley's candidacy in an official transcript later that day. The White House shortly corrected the error with an updated transcript. - Alisa Wiersema

-CONNECTICUT: HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. Four years ago, Dan Malloy and Tom Foley had the tightest election in Connecticut's history with Malloy winning by about 6,000 votes. The two look headed for a similarly tight brawl with a new Quinnipiac poll out today showing the race is still as tight as possible. Gov. Malloy has 43 percent of likely voters while GOP challenger Foley has 42 percent, with 9 percent for independent candidate Joe Visconti. These are similar results to their poll earlier this month. There is a wide gender gap so Malloy will know who to thank if he does win. He leads Foley 51 to 32 percent among women, while Foley leads Malloy 53 to 34 percent among men. With just two weeks to go 81 percent of Connecticut voters say their mind is made up. http://bit.ly/1pxHLg3 - Shushannah Walshe

THE BUZZ with ABC's KIRSTEN APPLETON

BRISTOL PALIN DESCRIBES MOMENTS THAT LED TO DRUNKEN BRAWL. Bristol Palin said the drunken brawl involving her family at a house party last month was started when she was defending her younger sister, newly released audio reveals, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE reports. The eldest daughter of Sarah Palin is heard on the audio obtained by ABC News from the Anchorage Police Department sounding extremely upset as she describes the fight, and telling police that her "5-year-old [is] in the car!" She can be heard telling an officer that her sister Willow, 20, came up to her while she was waiting in the family's rented limo and told her an "old lady" came up to her and "pushed" her. Bristol Palin told the police she responded, "Oh f****** hell no, no one is going to touch my sister." Palin, who was described in the previously released police report as "heavily intoxicated and upset," tells the officer that when she confronted the woman, a man "gets in my face, pushes me down on the grass, drags me across the grass" and swore at her, calling her a "slut," among another names. http://abcn.ws/1zjRr7h

OBAMA'S 'UNPAID BILLS' QUIP DISAPPEARS FROM TRANSCRIPT. President Obama's unpaid bills have gone missing. During a rare trip home to Chicago, Obama on Monday lamented the life he left behind. "One of the nice things about being home is actually that it's a little bit like a time capsule," he told supporters at a fundraiser. "Because Michelle and I and the kids, we left so quickly that there's still junk on my desk, including some unpaid bills," he joked. "I think eventually they got paid-but they're sort of stacked up. And messages, newspapers and all kinds of stuff." However, ABC's MARY BRUCE reports that the White House left the president's quip about his unpaid bills out of the official transcript. http://abcn.ws/1x5DGDK

AFGHAN OPIUM TRADE THRIVING DESPITE - OR WITH HELP OF - US $7 BILLION EFFORT. Despite more than $7 billion of American counter-narcotics spending, Afghanistan's opium trade has never been bigger, according to a U.S. government watchdog. A new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction issued on Tuesday highlights the continued growth of Afghanistan's poppy fields despite more than a decade of U.S. and international counter-narcotics efforts. Various federal agencies have spent $7.6 billion in Afghanistan over 12 years to curb the world's largest opium industry. According to ABC's LUIS MARTINEZ and BEN SIEGEL, the farming of opium poppies by Afghanistan's farmers has rebounded in recent years despite some initial progress. United Nations figures show that farmers in Afghanistan cultivated 806 square miles of opium poppy last year, a field roughly 2.5 times the size of New York City. http://abcn.ws/1FyiVGX

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

THE HILARIOUS MOMENT WHEN A GUY TOLD OBAMA 'DON'T TOUCH MY GIRLFRIEND.' President Obama found himself in an unusual situation Monday. ABC's MARY BRUCE reports that as he was casting his ballot early in Chicago, minding his own business behind the voting booth, a young man walked by and warned him "don't touch my girlfriend." The girlfriend, Aia Cooper, who was voting in the booth next to Obama, was humiliated, to say the least. "I really wasn't planning on it," Obama joked with the woman. "There's an example of a brother just embarrassing you, just for no reason whatsoever." "And now you'll be going back home and talking to you friends; what's his name?" the president asked. "Mike," Cooper said. "'I can't believe Mike. He's such a fool,'" Obama said, impersonating the woman. "He really is," she agreed. Obama continued: "'I was just mortified. But, fortunately, the president was nice about it. So it's all right.'" "I am freaking out right now," she said, laughing.The president got the last laugh, though. "Give me a kiss and give him something to talk about," the president said, as he gave Cooper a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Now he's really jealous." http://abcn.ws/1wi3ihz

WHO'S TWEETING?

@washingtonpost: Ben Bradlee embodied "a much more confident time in American journalism" http://wapo.st/128o0qb by @MarkLeibovich

@markknoller: "He lived a wonderful life," says Bernstein of Ben Bradlee. "He was always our friend," says Woodward.

@camanpour: Ben Bradlee is gone - who can carry his torch? Read my friend Marilyn Berger's obituary in the @nytimes: http://nyti.ms/1osJY1d

@johndickerson: My latest: My favorite Ben Bradlee quote and why I like it so much. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/10/ben_bradlee_dead_his_relationship_with_john_f_kennedy_shows_what_s_missing.html …

@carolynryan: A "kid." A job interview. And a "total lie." My favorite Ben Bradlee memory comes from @bumillernyt http://nyti.ms/1yXZQMI