-"I like coal," Mitt Romney announced during Tuesday night's debate, part of a larger assault on President Obama's energy policy ("production of oil and gas in the U.S. is up, but not thanks to his policies"). He will be pursuing the constituency those words were aimed at today with an 11:35 a.m. event at Carter Machinery in Abington, Va., deep in coal country.

-Romney is campaigning hard for Virginia, where his coal-friendly energy policy and his frequent critiques of cuts to the military budget (see this new ad), of particular interest to the thousands of Virginians employed in the state's sprawling military-industrial complex, may resonate.

-From there, Romney travels to Florida for a 6:15 p.m. rally at Pier Park in St. Petersburg (he'll be back in Virginia on Monday).

-Paul Ryan will be squirreled away doing some debate prep (his face-off with Joe Biden comes on Thursday, Oct. 11).

-Romney backed off his notorious "47 percent" comment, saying in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that it was a "completely wrong" misstep emerging out of the long grind of the campaign. That's a bit of a reversal from Romney's position immediately after the leak, which was to endorse the spirit of his statement if not the choice of words.

-President Obama didn't have much success during the debate linking Romney's plan to a tax hike or to spending cuts, but Romney sought to turn the tables last night by asserting that taxes would go up under a second Obama term.

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