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Now a story about the intersection of privacy and decency. It involves the social media site Reddit, a star-maker on the Internet. Ideas bubble up from its anonymous contributors and often take off across the Web, into blogs, Twitter, even the mainstream media. Reddit calls itself The Front Page of the Internet.

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It's too early to tell if President Obama's performance last night will stop his slide in the polls, but we're going to focus now on one poll and one question in which the president, in his worst stretch of this campaign, actually gained ground. The question was, who would you rather have babysit your children?

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That's right. When the ABC News/Washington Post poll put that question to registered voters last week, 49 percent chose President Obama, 36 percent Governor Romney. Two weeks before, they were tied.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

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And I'm Melissa Block. President Obama stood today in Iowa, in front of a crowd of enthusiastic college students and struck a seemingly humble pose about last night's debate.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: You know, I'm still trying to figure out, you know, how to get the hang of this thing, debating. But we're working on it.

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Now, to NPR's Ari Shapiro, who's traveling with Mitt Romney. The Republican flew this morning to Chesapeake, Virginia, for a rally. And Ari, what did he have to say about last night's debate?

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Well, he came out sounding chipper and he relived the moments of the debate that he was proudest of. This was right near the start of his stump speech today.

Just days after Rev. Billy Graham endorsed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has stopped overtly listing the candidate's religion among what it says are "cults."

It is now clear that we are living in a world of viral memes that take no sides when it comes to spoofing politicians or debate moderators.

So what's a politician to do as the target of a social media parody?

Run with it.

"By kind of winking along with the electorate, you're humanizing, personalizing yourself, authenticating yourself," says Rory O'Connor, author of Friends, Followers and the Future. O'Connor argues that social media will be critical to deciding who is elected as the next president.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

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And I'm Robert Siegel. Last night's second presidential debate produced more friction and fireworks than the first, and that didn't seem to bother a group of voters in a state that knows a lot about political bickering, Wisconsin. NPR's David Schaper watched the debate with roughly a dozen Democrats and Republicans who have dedicated themselves to bridging their state's political divide.

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Presidential campaigns have a way of conferring instant popularity on certain people and phrases.

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Big Bird.

BLOCK: Joe the Plumber.

SIEGEL: The economy, stupid.

BLOCK: You didn't build that.

SIEGEL: Well now, add another. During last night's debate, it came from Mitt Romney talking about recruiting women to his cabinet when he was governor of Massachusetts.

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During last night's debate, one topic came up that both candidates have barely discussed this election season, gun control. Here's the question put to President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What has your administration done or planned to do to limit the availability of assault weapons?

BLOCK: And the president answered this way.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

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And I'm Robert Siegel.

We begin this hour with major fallout for Lance Armstrong. Last week's scathing report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency linked Armstrong to a widespread doping program in cycling. Today, Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the foundation Livestrong, which he created to support those with cancer. Armstrong also lost major sponsors, including longtime supporter Nike. NPR's Tom Goldman begins our coverage.