Dem campaign anxiety: Vulnerables say they lack cover from Pelosi  —  Politically vulnerable Democrats say Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders aren't offering them the protection from tough votes that they did in the last Congress.  —  Conservative Democrats fear that dozens …

Exclusive: Poll shows Deeds within 4  —  Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor in Virginia, has pulled to within four percentage points of Republican Bob McDonnell, according to a new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll out Thursday.  —  The poll, conducted Wednesday evening …

“Mmm mmm mmm:” New details about the Dear Leader song video; Update: School responds  —  Scroll for updates...  Photoshop: Leo Alberti  —  In case you were wondering which school taught kids that “Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm” rap that I posted yesterday afternoon, here are some new details.

Yosi Sergant Resigns  —  ABC News' Yunji de Nies Reports:  —  Embattled former National Endowment for the Arts communications director Yosi Sergant is out of a job.  Late this afternoon, the NEA released a short statement saying, “This afternoon Yosi Sergant submitted his resignation from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kirk named to fill Kennedy seat  —  By Matt Viser, Frank Phillips, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff  —  Governor Deval Patrick today named Paul G. Kirk Jr. to serve as interim US senator, making the announcement in the presence of the immediate family of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

Finance Fireworks - Cutting Benefits vs. a Govt. Takeover  —  ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports:  —  Tempers flared this morning as the Senate Finance Committee continues to slog through its mark up of a sweeping health care reform bill.  —  Sen. Max Baucus, who chairs the Finance Committee …

Environmentalists Seek to Wipe Out Plush Toilet Paper  —  Soft Toilet Paper's Hard on the Earth, But Will We Sit for the Alternative?  —  By David A. Fahrenthold, Page A01  —  ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. — There is a battle for America's behinds.

An apology to Sarah Palin  —  The Daily News-Miner has had its agreements and disagreements with now-former Gov. Sarah Palin at various points during her time serving the state of Alaska.  We have tried to maintain respect for the office of governor and to be generally civil when discussing Mrs. Palin …

Classified McChrystal Report: 500,000 Troops Will Be Required Over Five Years in Afghanistan  —  Congress Should Hold Hearings on Alternatives to Major Escalation  —  Embedded in General Stanley McChrystal's classified assessment of the war in Afghanistan is his conclusion …

They're torturing me, Honduras' Manuel Zelaya claims  —  Honduras' fallen leader told The Miami Herald he is being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation — and that ‘Israeli mercenaries’ are planning to assassinate him.  —  FROBLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM  —  TEGUCIGALPA — It's been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power.

“What a Disgrace”  —  Bibi kills at the UN.

Is Obama Naïve?  — By: Michael Ledeen  —  I don't think so.  I think that he rather likes tyrants and dislikes America.  I think he'd like to be more powerful, I think he is trying to get control over as much of our lives as he can, so that he can put an end to the annoying tumult of our public life.

Victory on preventive detention law: in context  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  When Barack Obama gave his “civil liberties” speech at the National Archives in May, he advocated a new scheme of preventive detention for detainees whom he claimed “cannot be prosecuted yet who pose …

9/24: NY Voters to Obama, “Mind Your Business”  —  The White House is urging Governor David Paterson not to run for office next year, but what do New York State voters think?  62% say the Obama Administration is wrong to suggest the governor should not run while 27% think Washington is well within its rights to get involved.

Census Worker Found Dead In Kentucky — What Do We Know?  —  Over the last 24 hours, we've been tracking a gruesome story developing involving the death of a Kentucky Census Bureau worker.  The potential political implications of what happened are already generating a lot of attention around the internet …

Meg Whitman's voting record short, sparse  —  Almost 9 million Californians cast ballots in the 2003 special election that swept movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger into the Governor's Office.  —  Meg Whitman wasn't among them.  —  The billionaire businesswoman now running for governor herself …

MSNBC Commentator: Republicans “Want to See You Dead...They Kinda Like It When That Woman Has Cancer”  —  Click to see Ed Schultz's unhinged meltdown.  —  On the Wednesday evening edition of “The Ed Show,” MSNBC commentator Ed Schultz stated that Republicans want Americans to die …

Obama leads 2012 foes  —  If Barack Obama had to stand for reelection today he'd win by as much as he did last year, if not more.  —  He leads Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Sarah Palin by anywhere from 7-15 points in hypothetical 2012 contests.  —  Huckabee comes the closest, trailing Obama 48-41.

ACORN Files Suit Against Conserative ‘Pimp’ - And May Give Us A Look At His Funding  —  This is going to be interesting, because under discovery, ACORN's attorney will have the right to look into videographer O'Keefe's financial records.  Gee, I wonder if anyone else was funding him - and if so, who?

Prez comes across as a gullible sap  —  President Obama yesterday did his best impression of a high-school soph omore participating in his first Model UN meeting, retailing pious clichés he learned from his pony-tailed social studies teacher.  —  Even Woodrow Wilson might have blanched …