10 things you need to know today: October 7, 2012

President Obama speaks during a campaign event in Fairfax, Va.: Obama and the Democrats raised are on track to raise $1 billion for the 2012 re-election campaign.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. OBAMA, DEMOCRATS RAISE $181 MILLION IN SEPTEMBER

The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee raised $181 million in September, falling just shy of the all-time monthly record of $193 million, which was set by Obama in September 2008, but easily eclipsing the August total of $114 million. The re-election campaign is on track to raise $1 billion for the 2012 election. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called the number "impressive," saying he wasn't sure if the GOP would be able to match it. Still, Priebus said, "We will have all the money we need to be competitive." [Washington Post, The Hill]

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Venezuelans are going to the polls on Sunday in what is predicted to be "the country's most tightly contested presidential election in a decade." Longtime leader and left-wing President Hugo Chavez, who was elected in 1998, is being challenged by opposition leader Henrique Capriles. The challenger has promised to bring economic growth to the country, accusing Chavez's socialist policies of causing inefficiency and shortages in Venezuela. [BBC]

Health officials in 23 states are trying to find patients who, to treat back pain, were given steroid injections that may have been contaminated with a deadly fungus-related meningitis. Seven people have already died as a result of the outbreak, and at least 64 have fallen ill in nine states. The drug was manufactured by a specialty pharmacy, New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., which last week voluntarily recalled three lots of the steroid. [HealthDay]

Under a new deal with the U.S., South Korea will nearly triple the range of its ballistic missiles, allowing it to strike all parts of North Korea and a sliver of China. The bilateral agreement comes after nearly two years of negotiations and "takes a modest step to close the technology gap with the North, an authoritarian police state that devotes as much as one-quarter of its gross national product to the military." [Washington Post]

On Saturday, gas prices in California hit a record high of $4.614 for a gallon of regular. Some gas stations in the state are charging more than $5 a gallon for regular. Gasoline prices skyrocketed after the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance was knocked offline Monday by a power outage. Other lingering refinery and pipeline problems also contributed to the soaring costs at the pump. [Los Angeles Times]

Pope Benedict XVI's former butler Paolo Gabriele was convicted on Saturday of stealing the spiritual leader's private papers and leaking them to a journalist, who published them in a book. Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in prison. While he admitted to taking thousands of documents from the pope's private apartments, and leaking them, Gabriele believed he was not guilty of theft because he was doing it for the good of the church — "to bring the church back on the right track," and to show the "evil and corruption" of the church. [ABC News]

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly squared off against Comedy Central host Jon Stewart in a televised debate on cable on Saturday. The event, titled "The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium," had the two ideologically opponents square off on everything from entitlements to the economy. Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, argued that many on the Right live in an "alternate reality." O'Reilly accused Stewart of defending an addled, entitlement-laden society. [Los Angeles Times]