Come Nov. 6, most of us are so supersaturated with the political carnival that it often seems like too great an effort to wade through the Oregon Voters Guide.

We feel you. It's depressing trying to make sense of the multimillion- dollar smear campaigns and the endless half-truths, especially in a world where it can be hard to discern the difference between candidates who are more interested in votes than taking a stand. 

Don't get bogged down. Vote! And use Our Crack Election Guide as your compass. Armed with a video camera and pointed questions, our editorial board hosted a number of the competing candidates in a panel-style Q&A in order to make an informed choice as to which ones would be best suited to carry out the people's vision for Central Oregon. We also dove deep into the ballot measures and made our picks here: Our Crack Election Guide: Measures

Our Endorsements:

Candidates

Officials in Tampa Bay Florida have successfully captured the Mystery Monkey that had been roaming throughout the community for the past two years. 

With less than two weeks to go before the Presidential election, the timing of the capture has some people crying foul. 

"We've got a right to know why all of the sudden city officials decided to silence the monkey," said political antagonist and entrepreneur Donald Trump. "After allowing the monkey to be free for two years, this can't be a simple coincidence."

Trump may have a point when one looks at the easy capture of the macaque rhesus monkey. A capture that involved the daughter of a woman recently bitten by the monkey. 

They placed bananas in and around the cage that wildlife rescuer Vernon Yates had installed weeks ago to catch the monkey.

About noon, Shannon Fowler, Elizabeth's daughter, arrived. She stood outside, waved a banana and made smooching sounds.

The monkey emerged from the woods and perched on a branch. He scampered toward the trap.

In case you missed it, President Obama really handed it to Willard Romney (that's his real first name) in the third and final presidential debate last night.

Most pundits agreed this morning—Obama was the clear winner of the final debate. The President was well-prepared and even combative as he challenged Romney from the start—a far cry from the Obama we saw in the first debate in which he was accused of appearing weak and distracted.

There were a number of highlights last night, some that could even trump Romney's  "binders of women" comment from the last debate. But Obama's "battleships and bayonets" moment was MONEY and will be remembered as one of the best quips of this election cycle.

Here it is. Obama really gets going around the 18-second mark.

Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim's look at the last four years, The Road We've Traveled:

Deschutes District Attorney Patrick Flaherty can sleep a little more soundly now that an criminal investigation into allegations that Flaherty  misused a grand jury process to settle a political score has found no wrongdoing on his part.

Flaherty made it clear that the Oregon State Police investigation, undertaken to determine whether or not he was guilty of Official Misconduct, was a huge waste of time and taxpayer money.

The investigation was overseen by Attorney General John Kroger and grew out of a public records dispute involving Deschutes County Counsel Mark Pilliod, whom Flaherty suspected of intentionally releasing confidential personnel information. Pilliod released the records in question to a Bulletin news reporter in response to a records request. He later publicly apologized for providing the records, but not before Flaherty called a grand jury to investigate the breach of protocol.

Flaherty dismissed the grand jury before an indictment was handed down, but the dispute simmered. Pilliod has explored the option of suing Flaherty over the episode and the Oregon State Bar has an ongoing ethics investigation into Flaherty's handling of the issue. In November, Kroger's office opened its criminal investigation.

Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, is one of nine representatives and five senators sponsoring a new bill in the Oregon House that aims to kill the remaining four wolves in the Imnaha pack in northeast Oregon.

The pack was the first to return to Oregon in 60 years. The Imnaha is also the home pack of “Journey,” the wolf that recently trekked across Oregon, making its way to California and cementing his role in history as the first wild wolf to visit that state since 1924.

The wolves of the Imnaha pack have been connected to several lifestock killings since arriving in Oregon around 2009.

House Bill 4158 was introduced on behalf of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. Members of the association have been vocal about their interest in killing wolves that prey on livestock.

President Obama lays out his goals for the remainder of his term. Watch it live at WhiteHouse.gov, 6pm PST.

This just in, Gov. John Kitzhaber has halted the planned execution of convicted murdered Gary Haugen.

The Oregonian is reporting that Kitzhaber called a press conference today to announce that he is excercising his authority to stay Haugen’s execution because of Kitzhaber’s own personal opposition to the death penalty and his belief that Oregon’s death penalty process is an “expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice."

Kitzhaber acknowledged that he allowed two prior executions to take place under his first term as governor, but said that he has regretted them ever since, according to the paper’s account of the press conference.

Haugen who was twice convicted of murder and sentenced to death for killing another inmate had waived all of rights to appeal against the advice of his attorneys, clearing the way for his execution.

In case you didn't watch last night's GOP presidential debate, here was a highlight (or lowlight if you're a Rick Perry fan).

Just came across this on the Stranger's blog, and I had to repost it here.

In this campaign web ad, candidate and pizza magnate Herman Cain's cheif of staff Mark Block is making a case for Cain and for some reason is smoking a cigarette while doing so. Why he's doing this is anyone's guess. This video makes about as much as sense as that 9-9-9 tax plan.

Also, make sure you stay tuned for an awesome song at the end of the video.