Mitt Romney will start his day in Virginia, paying homage to veterans: The Republican candidate will be joined by a Medal of Honor recipient and will list the names of other recipients of the highest military decoration who are supporting him, part of a Veterans for Romney event that kicks off at 11:50 a.m. at the American Legion Post in Springfield. Romney is heading to Philadelphia this evening.

- This is the second day Romney and President Obama will be campaigning in the same swing state (the president will be at a Farm Bureau event in Virginia Beach). Yesterday, the two rivals were both in Ohio.

- Speaking of Virginia, the Romney campaign is gearing up to attack Obama over sequestration -- the broad cuts to domestic and military spending mandated by the collapse of the deficit-cutting "super committee." While Republicans, including Paul Ryan, voted to institute those cuts if the super committee failed, Romney is still planning to assail Obama for how the cuts will damage Virginia's military industry. George Allen, a Republican vying for a Virginia Senate seat, has made sequestration a central theme of this campaign.

- Romney gave a rare, glowing endorsement of the health care overhaul he passed in Massachusetts, telling NBC that "I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy or care about the people of this country than that kind of record." Given how Romney has worked throughout the campaign to distance himself from the law, this is pretty stark -- and shows how intent Romney is on softening his image after the "47 percent" tape surfaced.

- Paul Ryan will be in Tennessee, a solidly Republican state.

- Countdown to the debates: round one, which will focus on domestic policy, is happening on Wednesday, October 3, from 9:00 to 10:30pm.

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