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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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politics lead
Naughty politicians inspire sex scandal play
(CNN) – Mark Twain first told us that truth can be stranger than fiction, which is of course true. But in this instance, it's funnier, too.
That's the premise behind the off-Broadway comedy "Tail! Spin!," the story of some of the most memorable political sex scandals of recent times. Remember these classics?
Mark Sanford, former South Carolina Governor: "As much as I did talk about going to the Appalachian Trail, that isn't where I ended up."
Anthony Weiner, former U.S. Congressman: "I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations, conducted over Twitter, Facebook, email and occasionally on the phone with women I had met online."
Larry Craig, former Idaho Senator: "I am not gay. I have never been gay."
politics lead
Biden: 'We're ready to compromise'
See more from Gloria Borger's interview with Vice President Joe Biden on Monday's "Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" at 5 p.m. ET.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden isn't buying the growing consensus heading into Election Day that Republicans are poised to take control of the Senate.
"I don't agree with the oddsmakers," Biden said in an exclusive interview with CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. "I predict we're gonna ... keep the Senate."
But even if Republicans do win the chamber for the first time in nearly a decade, Biden didn't seem to think the victory would have much impact on the administration's priorities.
politics lead
Former Defense Secretary lays out disagreements with President Obama
New York (CNN) - A former senior member of President Barack Obama's national security team is panning the administration's decision to rule out the use of ground troops to fight ISIS and questioning Obama's leadership style.
"I take the position that when you're commander in chief that you oughta keep all options on the table...to be able to have the flexibility to what is necessary in order to defeat the enemy," former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta told CNN. "We're conducting air strikes. But to make those air strikes work, to be able to do what you had to do, you don't– you don't just send planes in and drop bombs. You've gotta have targets. You've gotta know what you're goin' after. To do that, you do need people on the ground."
Panetta's comments are a stinging rebuke of Obama at a crucial point in his administration as the president battles multiple national security threats, including ISIS, a resurgent Russia and the spread of Ebola.
pop lead
'Hunger Games' recipe for success
(CNN) - Wizards, hobbits, vampires, and arrow-wielding heroines – it seems the odds are ever in their favor at the box office.
"The Hunger Games" franchise launches its second film at target audiences this weekend, and odds are it will be a bulls eye.
But the supernatural and fantasy worlds are not in and of themselves thought to be the recipe for success. The strategy for winning the Hollywood games is to focus on Young Adult books.
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