Texas Rep. Brady ready to brawl for ways & means top spot

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, announced he will seek the chairmanship of this powerful House panel. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was expected to have a smooth path to that position. 

The Washington Post: Brady To Battle Ryan For Ways And Means Chairmanship
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) said Thursday that he will seek the chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, scrambling what was expected to be a smooth ascension to the post by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the 2012 GOP vice-presidential nominee and the party's architect of fiscal policy in the House. Brady said in an interview that after months of weighing his options, he has decided to battle Ryan for the gavel. The move could force Ryan's hand on a 2016 presidential run (Costa, 9/25).

Also in the news, fact-checking the Arkansas race, ads from a Kansas House race that delve into skinny-dipping and Medicare, and more on how the over-the-counter contraception issue is playing on the Colorado campaign trail -

Politico Pro: Fact Checking The Arkansas Senate Race
The Arkansas Senate race between Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican Rep. Tom Cotton began for us in June 2013 -; just six months into the new Congress -; with an article that carried the headline "It's Groundhog Day for Fact-Checkers." It hasn't gotten much better for fact-checkers since then. The race -; which remains a toss-up by virtually all accounts -; has been our most fact-checked campaign of the 2014 congressional elections. Here are some of our findings (FactCheck.Org, 9/26).

The New York Times: Ad Attacks Skinny-Dipping Congressman
The commercial refers to an incident in which Representative Kevin Yoder went skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee with other Republican members during a trip to Israel last year. Ms. Kultala's ad features sound bites from conveniently covered skinny-dippers lounging at a pool, as nude puns abound about Mr. Yoder's record. "The naked truth is Yoder voted to cut Medicare for seniors," says one elderly couple, sidling up to the side of the pool for cover (Corasaniti, 9/25).

The Denver Post: Experts: Unclear Whether Gardner's OTC Contraception Plan Saves Money
Congressman Cory Gardner's proposal to make the pill available over the counter without a prescription has drawn scorn and praise in his effort to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. The Republican's plan, shared by other GOP candidates elsewhere in the country, is being viewed through the lens of politics in a race in which Democrats have full-throatedly engaged the "war on women" theme. A review of the proposal finds that it initially enjoyed fledgling support from Planned Parenthood, but it's unclear what kind of savings it would offer to women (Hernandez and Bartels, 9/26).

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal offers insights about a possible candidate to succeed to Attorney General Eric Holder, who announced he will leave the post -

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: With Holder Leaving, Verrilli Is Back In The Spotlight
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who successfully defended President Barack Obama's signature health-care law in 2012, is among the possible candidates to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder, who is expected to announce Thursday that he will step down. Mr. Verrilli, 57 years old, is a veteran appellate lawyer who in private and government practice has argued numerous high-profile Supreme Court cases. In addition to defending the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Verrilli has represented the U.S. government in major cases before the high court on same-sex marriage, voting rights and this year's challenge to contraception-coverage requirements under the health law (Adamy and Henderson, 9/25).