Uncivil War: Conservatives to challenge a dozen GOP candidates  —  In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.

Police Called To NY-23 Polling Sites (Updated)  —  It's getting ugly out there.  —  I just got off the phone with former state Democratic Chairwoman June O'Neill, who informed me the police had been called to at least two polling sites in St. Lawrence County due to overzealous electioneering …

VIDEO** Terrified Voter says NJ Dems Using Gangbangers for GOTV  —  How would you like to be a New Jersey police officer and look out your window and see several known criminals, including a man you arrested several weeks ago and another who had just been released from prison for shooting a cop?

Reid reassures left Lieberman on board  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter.  —  The unpredictable Democrat-turned-Independent …

Turnout high in Maine  —  Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told me just now that turnout there is far exceeding his projections — news that would be good news for backers of same-sex marriage.  —  “We're seeing heavy and very steady turnout,” he said, attributing the surprise to the contested vote on a …

Palin sowed confusion on Election Night, new book claims  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Tensions within John McCain's presidential campaign boiled over on Election Night last November when Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, repeatedly ignored directions from senior staffers who told her she would not be delivering her own concession speech.

CNN Poll: 54 percent approve of Obama  —  Washington (CNN) — One year after he won a historical presidential election, a slight majority of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing in the White House.  —  Fifty-four percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation …

Gore's Dual Role: Advocate and Investor  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner.

‘Sesame Street’ Trashes Fox News  —  Add one more soldier to the Left's war on Fox News: Oscar the Grouch.  —  Last week, in a re-broadcast of an episode that originally aired two years ago, Oscar starts his own news network, GNN (Grouchy News Network).  An irate viewer calls in to berate him that the news is not grouchy enough:

The myth of Fox News' ratings spike  —  Fact: The breathless claim that Fox News' ratings recently spiked thanks to the White House's public critique is bogus hype — hype that Fox News and the Beltway press have relentlessly pushed.  —  It's just not true.

Bear kills militants in Kashmir cave  —  A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.  —  Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

Some Democrats concerned over abortion provision in health bill  —  Bloc could withhold support over fears of a governmental role  —  While House leaders are moving toward a vote on health-care legislation by the end of the week, enough Democrats are threatening to oppose the measure …

Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments  —  A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine.  Critics say it violates the separation of church and state.  —  Reporting from Washington - Backed …

45% for Obama, 49% Against - If Election Were Held Right Now  —  Americans are a little less enthusiastic about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama this time around.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely …

Why I Am Not a Zionist  —  Last week I was disinvited from my second Jewish conference in two months for poems I'd written in solidarity with Palestinians, poems that make an unapologetic call for justice.  Subsequently I, and the poet I was to read with at the conference, wrote a response to being censored.

Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing  —  I had arranged to meet David Plouffe on Saturday afternoon at a Starbucks on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington.  The night before, a copy of his new book, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons …

[video] Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck  —  An honors student died in the crash today, leaving the nation to wonder why the grisly experience of burning alive was not reserved for Glenn Beck.

To Some, Winner Is Not American Enough  —  As soon as Mebrahtom Keflezighi, better known as Meb, won the New York City Marathon on Sunday, an uncommon sports dispute erupted online, fraught with racial and nationalistic components: Should Keflezighi's triumph count as an American victory?

DNC's “Organizing for America” is asking Maine voters to help NJ race, not Maine's own anti-gay ballot measure  —  There's an update to this post here.  —  Correction: The nation, minus the Democratic Party.  —  Joe wrote last night about how the DNC's “Organizing for America” organization …

Houston Tea Party rally draws more than 10,000  —  More than 10,000 people turned out Monday night for a North Houston Tea Party Patriots gathering to protest proposed health care reform and what they called big government spending and overzealous government leadership, according to preliminary attendance figures.