Sam Kass Speaks On White House Cooking

Not much news on the campaign front today, but in a bout of good PR, White House chef Sam Kass spoke with TIME about the Obama's diet. Although favorite meals are "top-secret information," Kass said, in general, meals are balanced. "The first lady practices what she preaches," Kass said, "which is moderation. When we put out the MyPlate guide, she came in and said, 'We're cooking the MyPlate.' That's what we're doing."

As for what's growing in the garden, the White House is picking the last of the watermelons. "Our tomatoes are still doing great. We have a lot of peppers, our zucchinis and yellow squash are just finishing up. We have a bunch of beans right now. And of course, pumpkins," Kass said.

On the actual campagin trail, however, small towns are getting overrun by politics. Residents of Wolfeboro, N.H., are reportedly dividing their restaurants and hotels on partisan lines. And what happens when the candidates come through town to speak? "My sales were down all summer," one merchant said. "Other merchants I know say the same. The Secret Service may have taken all the hotel rooms and given business to the restaurants, but they kept the tourists away. People hate seeing those big black cars. It is a very cold presence."