Brown Has 9.6% Lead in New Poll  —  Brown supporters focused most on pocketbook issues, Coakley supporters on healthcare reform, undecided voters split  —  A poll conducted by the Merriman River Group (MRG) and InsideMedford.com indicates that Scott Brown leads Martha Coakley 50.8% …

Kirk Can't Vote After Tuesday  —  GOP lawyers say Paul Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day.  —  Appointed Senator Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after Tuesday's election in Massachusetts of a new senator and cannot be the 60th vote for Democratic health care legislation, according to Republican attorneys.

New York Times Ready to Charge Online Readers  —  New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its website, according to people familiar with internal deliberations.  After a year of sometimes fraught debate inside the paper …

Dave Paterson's Latina lovely  —  Gov gets cozy with gal in eatery  —  Gov. Paterson was spotted nuzzling, neck-kissing and cooing like a smitten schoolboy with a pretty young woman — not his wife — in a New Jersey steakhouse yesterday afternoon, The Post has learned.

US accused of annexing airport  —  Priority landing for Americans forces flights carrying emergency supplies to divert to Dominican Republic  —  The US military's takeover of emergency operations in Haiti has triggered a diplomatic row with countries and aid agencies furious at having flights redirected.

Poll shows growing disappointment, polarization over Obama's performance  —  A year into his presidency, President Obama faces a polarized nation and souring public assessments of his efforts to change Washington, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Gay marriage supporters fear Supreme Court's ruling was an omen  —  When justices intervened to stop proceedings from airing online, some saw sympathy for supporters of Proposition 8 - and a lack of faith in the district judge who will first decide the measure's fate.

World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown  —  A WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it.  —  Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change …

“My Vote For Brown Isn't A Vote Against Obama” Ctd  —  A reader writes: … I'll try.  First off, there's no compromise with the current GOP.  They make Gingrich look like Pope John XXIII.  If they got back majorities in the Congress, there will be no debt reduction …

Brown, Coakley, And the Outrage Gap  —  About Paul Krugman  —  Paul Krugman is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times.  —  Comments of the Moment

Roger Ailes is the real head of the GOP.  —  From the magazine issue dated Jan 25, 2010  —  I've been trying to answer this question: does the Republican Party have a “leader”?  Surely it's not Michael Steele, the loose-lipped chairman of the RNC.  Not Mitch McConnell …