Sources: Checketts to drop Limbaugh  —  Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.  —  Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams …

What Olympia Snowe Got for Her Vote  —  The list of senators charged with merging the Finance and HELP bills into the legislation that will actually come to a vote on the Senate floor is vanishingly small, and every participant is there for a reason.  Harry Reid will preside.

Russia's Putin warns against intimidating Iran  —  BEIJING (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned major powers on Wednesday against intimidating Iran and said talk of sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme was “premature”.

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Senate Election  —  2010 Pennsylvania Senate: Toomey Leads Specter, Runs Even With Sestak  —  Republican-turned-Democratic Senator Arlen Specter trails potential GOP challenger Pat Toomey by five points in an early look at Pennsylvania's 2010 Senate race.

So Much for the Post-Racial America — By: Andy McCarthy  —  I'm hunkered down on some projects and just heard about the phony attacks on Rush by the race-hustlers extraordinaire, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.  I know Rush has big shoulders and he'll handle it just fine.

House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies  —  Republican members of the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) have tried to plant “spies” within key national-security committees in order to shape legislative policy.

For Insurers, a Question of Trust (and Antitrust)  —  In a rare appearance as a witness at a Senate hearing, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, on Wednesday told the Judiciary Committee that it should repeal a 1945 law that granted the insurance industry limited exemption …

Palin Plans New Political Group  —  Michael M. Phillips reports on the doings of conservative favorite Sarah Palin.  —  Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

Daily Number: 15% - America's Health Care is ... Fairly Average  —  Only 15% of Americans believe that the U.S. has the best health care in the world.  Read more  —  THE TOP STORY INDEX  —  New Media Index  —  Celebrity Jeopardy: Polanski on Blogs  —  8 Oct 09 The Roman Polanski saga …

Sean Hannity on Nobel Peace Prize: 'Frankly, I would've given it to George Bush.'  —  Last night, Fox News host Sean Hannity hosted a panel that debated the merits of President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.  After complaining about Obama's goal of eliminating nuclear weapons and claiming …

An Apartment Complex Teeters  —  High-Profile Tishman/BlackRock Property in New York in Danger of Default  —  The giant Stuyvesant Town apartment complex on Manhattan's East Side, shown Tuesday, was developed by MetLife for World War II veterans.  —  One of the biggest …

Poll: 51.8% plan to vote no on question 1  —  in - Central Maine Newspapers - Portland Press Herald  —  According to new poll data, 51.8 percent of people who plan to vote in November say they will vote no or are leaning in that direction on question 1, the people's veto of Maine's same-sex marriage law.

Boehner downplays Dow 10,000  —  Dow 10,000 just isn't that big a deal, House Republican leader John Boehner said Wednesday morning.  —  And anyone who places significance on the stock market hitting this symbolic number is “certainly not talking to the American people.”

Perils of a Talking Head  —  Anyone who regularly does TV interviews knows that one is always required to do a pre-interview in which a producer feels you out as to what you will say in response to certain hypothetical questions.  It would be simpler if they just came out and said …

Obama to avoid the rabble on S.F. visit  —  The White House's fear of protests from Code Pink and other left-wingers has put the brakes on President Obama making any public appearances during his visit to San Francisco this week.  —  Obama is scheduled to parachute into Liberalville …

WSJ takes top spot among daily papers; staff toast at 5 pm UPDATE  —  Rupert Murdoch may have always wanted—still wants?—to own the New York Times, but the press baron can now boast of owning the top-circulating U.S. paper: The Wall Street Journal.  —  Staffers in New York were sent …

Senators try to exclude illegal immigrants from 2010 Census  —  A controversial amendment that would require the Census Bureau to ask for the first time whether people are in the USA illegally is headed for a Senate vote Wednesday.  —  Proposed last week by Republican Sens. David Vitter …

Stanley McChrystal's Long War  —  Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal stepped off the whirring Black Hawk and headed straight into town.  He had come to Garmsir, a dusty outpost along the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, to size up the war that President Obama has asked him to save.

Blue Cross group blasts reform legislation  —  Premiums will rise up to 50 percent for individual policies and 19 percent for small group plans if healthcare reform passes, a new report released by a major health industry trade group claims.  —  Sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association …

Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration: Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes  —  Steven A. Camarota is the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies.  —  A new survey by Zogby International finds that people in Mexico think that granting legal status to illegal immigrants …

Why GOP Leader Opposes Hate Crimes Protections for Gays  —  Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds  —  Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms …