Weekend Uptick: Happy Monday! New polls suggest that independents are leaning Republican this year, as the GOP now leads the generic ballot 47% to 42% — and scored 14 more percentage points among independent voters. (Politico)

And Now For Something Different: Simeon Kolko, a rabbi in Rochester, offers religious guidance for behavior this year’s “silly season” and beyond, outlining his Ten Commandments of Jewish political behavior. (MitzVote)

Closing Time: With very little time until the election, Florida’s Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio is making his final push. After Sunday’s CNN debate, he’s embarking on a five-day bus tour — called “The Road to Reclaim America” — and new television ad campaign. (YouTube, via Politico’s Morning Score)

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Kirk Cashes In: Remember all that business about that bank in the Illinois senate race? Republican Mark Kirk used opponent Alexi Giannoulias’s vague description of his work in a bank with alleged mob ties to paint him as untrustworthy — and it seems to be paying off. Kirk’s previous deficit recently swung 5 points to a lead, and he is now 3 percentage points ahead of Giannoulias. (Chicago Tribune)

California Girls: Where Republican Marco Rubio is seen as the leader in the Sunshine State, the polls in California’s senatorial race are much closer — and that’s why Republican Carly Fiorina’s final punches may matter more. She has a new ad that paints opponent incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer as a loser on this year’s biggest issue: jobs. “Barbara Boxer failed to protect California jobs,” the ad from Fiorina, who cut jobs as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, says, calling a deficit “the legacy of Barbara Boxer.” (YouTube via Politico)

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