By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• MIDTERM BLUES: President Obama made his first public campaign appearances of 2014 last night, appearing at rallies with Maryland gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, where he made pitches for his economic policies, reprised his 2008 campaign theme of "hope," and grew animated at times, reports ABC's CHRIS GOOD. "You know who they're for, and it ain't you," Obama said of Republicans, in his Maryland appearance. "It's two different visions of America, and it comes down to a simple question: who's going to fight for your future?" Obama said in Illinois, suggesting GOP politicians "belong in a 'Mad Men' episode." The president touted more Americans with health care, reduced dependence on foreign oil, a rebounded auto industry, higher graduation rates, less crime and a smaller prison population. And in both speeches, he cited same-sex marriage as a sign of progress and blasted GOP opposition to gender-fair-pay legislation.

• NOTED: The president was briefly heckled in the Maryland appearance by an immigration protestor, who was shouted down by "Obama" chants. And, according to this dispatch from the print pool reporter, it looks like people were heading for the door while Obama was still speaking: "Some in the crowd started leaving as soon as Obama started speaking and by the time he was about 10 minutes in, there was a traffic jam next to the pool's tables as folks tried to exit the gym."

• WHITE HOUSE DISPATCHES EBOLA LIAISON TO DALLAS: The White House has quietly dispatched Adrian Saenz, deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, to be the administration's eyes and ears on the ground in Dallas, coordinating Ebola efforts with state and local officials. A Texas native, Saenz arrived in Dallas late yesterday , ABC's DEVIN DWYER and CHRIS GOOD report. He will work closely with the Texas state coordinator Gov. Rick Perry appointed Friday and FEMA coordinator Kevin Hannes, who was dispatched Saturday. Saenz was named to the role on Friday and will report directly to newly-named Ebola "czar" Ron Klain, who doesn't officially start his new role until later this week. http://abcn.ws/1CImVjO

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Wonder what Cousin Pookie is saying about Ebola these days… President Obama's return to the campaign trail Sunday brought the return of one of his favorite stock characters. Cousin Pookie - sometimes joined, in previous campaigns, by Uncle Jethro and Ray Ray - is the president's chuckle-inducing way of getting African-American crowds to bring their disconnected friends and relatives to the polls. Presumably, the Pookies voted in 2008, and possibly again in 2012. But it's harder this year for a few reasons. First, the key Senate states, with only a few exceptions, don't feature heavily black or Latino populations. (The president mentioned the ne'er-do-well cousin at rallies in Maryland and Illinois Sunday.) Second, the headlines are pointing voters toward a different campaign, fought over a bigger sense of insecurity, than we've seen in previous midterms. Then there's the broader disappointment among minority voters, summarized by Tavis Smiley Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos": "If you're black or brown, other than helping to save the Democrats' hide, give me three good reasons that you turn out the vote this time."

ABC's JEFF ZELENY: With President Obama casting his early ballot today in Illinois, it's a good reminder that Election Day is not two weeks away. Voting is already underway in 34 states, including where most of the top-flight Senate battles are being waged. Democrats have long held an advantage in organizing early-voting campaigns, but there are several signs across the country that Republicans are catching up and learning from the mistakes of past campaigns. In Iowa, for example, more than 185,000 ballots had been cast by Friday. In North Carolina, more than 1.5 million people have already voted. Don't believe any of the spin you'll read in the coming days about which side is "ahead." It's impossible to see the full picture. But we do know that all these votes are being cast at a moment of high anxiety in an already uneasy electorate - always a worrisome sign for the party in power.

THE MIDTERM MINUTE

NEW HAMPSHIRE: MORE ADS TWO WEEKS OUT. We are just over two weeks away from Election Day, campaigns are aggressively working on getting voters to cast their ballots early, as well as their ground game for November 4th, but also expect more ads to flood the airwaves-even negative ads-in these last days. Today, Scott Brown's campaign released a new :15 second television ad accusing his Democratic opponent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of supporting a national energy tax. As almost all of Brown's ads it tries to link the incumbent Senator to the president with the narrator ending the spot saying, "Jeanne Shaheen, standing with Obama not New Hampshire." The two will face off in two more debates this week. WATCH: http://bit.ly/1sG5lud - Shushannah Walshe

THE BUZZ

ROMNEY LEADS SCATTERED 2016 GOP FIELD, CLINTON STILL DOMINATES THE DEMOCRATIC RACE. Hillary Clinton continues to hold a commanding lead in the potential Democratic field for president in 2016, while the GOP frontrunner in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is a familiar figure - but one not favored by eight in 10 potential Republican voters. That would be Mitt Romney, supported for the GOP nomination by 21 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to ABC's RYAN STRUYK. That's double the support of his closest potential rival, but it also leaves 79 percent who prefer one of 13 other possible candidates tested, or none of them. When Romney is excluded from the race, his supporters scatter, adding no clarity to the GOP free-for-all. In that scenario former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul have 12 or 13 percent support from leaned Republicans who are registered to vote. All others have support in the single digits. http://abcn.ws/1vPM910

PENTAGON ORDERS 30-MEMBER EBOLA RESPONSE TEAM. The Pentagon has ordered that a 30-person military medical team be prepared to be put on standby to quickly assist the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with its Ebola response in the United States if needed, ABC's LUIS MARTINEZ reports. The move followed a request to the Defense Department made Saturday by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon Press Secretary, said the move was "an added prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively, and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases in the United States." Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered U.S. Northern Command "to prepare and train a 30-person expeditionary medical support team that could, if required, provide short-notice assistance to civilian medical professionals in the United States," Kirby said. http://abcn.ws/1tDoyjP

INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT CALLS CRITICISM OF EBOLA CZAR 'MISPLACED'. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, yesterday defended President Obama's choice of Ron Klain to be the administration's Ebola "czar" despite his lack of medical background, calling him an "excellent manager." "I think that's a misplaced criticism," Fauci told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS. "What we're talking about now is an Ebola response coordinator, somebody who has extraordinary, as he does, managerial experience … leadership experience, which he has plenty of. He's going to rely on medical experts, like myself and Dr. Frieden and others, to do the medical things," Fauci said, referring to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Dr. Tom Frieden. During the interview on "This Week," Fauci also defended the administration's decision to not ban travel from those countries in West Africa that have been hardest hit by Ebola, ABC's BENJAMIN BELL notes. "When people come in from a country it's much easier to track them if you know where they're coming from," Fauci said. "But what you do if you then completely ban travel, there's the feasibility of going to other countries where we don't have a travel ban and have people come in." http://abcn.ws/ZBccuD

EMILY'S LIST PLANS TO 'DOUBLE DOWN' ON MICHELLE NUNN. While national Democrats have scaled back their support for Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky, another Southern Democratic candidate for the Senate is attracting renewed help from a major Democratic group. Georgia's Michelle Nunn will see a boost from EMILY's List, the group that supports pro-abortion-rights Democratic women, in her bid against Republican opponent David Perdue, ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports. "We see a race that's incredibly close," EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock said today on ABC's "This Week." "EMILY's List is so excited we're going to double down and put more TV up." EMILY's List says its new ad will attack Perdue's business record, a cornerstone of the former Dollar General CEO's campaign, highlighting a gender-pay-discrimination suit against that company. After Perdue left the company, it settled for $19 million in a suit brought by female store managers alleging pay discrimination from 2004 to 2007, while Perdue led the company. http://abcn.ws/1sDbLKB

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

IS EBOLA THE 2014 'OCTOBER SURPRISE'? ABC News' Jeff Zeleny and the "This Week" roundtable on Ebola becoming a bipartisan buzzword on the campaign trail. http://abcn.ws/ZL6XJc

WHO'S TWEETING?

@EllieWallace: New memo from @gop's @mshields007: Republican Momentum: http://bit.ly/1tEF5UU #15days

@nielslesniewski: In USA Today, @SenTedCruz offers his GOP agenda for 2015, including #fullrepeal of Obamacare http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/10/19/ted-cruz-republicans-election-congress-priorities-jobs-obamacare-column/17267261/ …

@JessicaTaylor: DeMaio on sexual harassment claims: "I guess you can say anything about the gay guy and some people will believe it" http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/221222-gay-republican-house-candidate-harassment-allegations-driven-by …

@WSJPolitics: "I want to see Republicans compete in the battle of ideas." Winemaker launches campaign to help GOP image. http://on.wsj.com/1vzS7Si

@TheFix: Puppies re-enacting Supreme Court sessions? Yes, please. http://wapo.st/1utiLb7