Kagan's friends: She's not gay  —  Elena Kagan is not a lesbian, one of her best friends told POLITICO Tuesday night, responding to persistent rumors and innuendo about the Supreme Court nominee's personal life.  —  “I've known her for most of her adult life and I know she's straight,” …

Alan Mollohan loses primary fight  —  West Virginia Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan lost his bid for a 15th term tonight at the hands of state Sen. Mike Oliverio, a defeat that further affirms the anti-incumbent sentiment coursing through the country.  —  Mollohan hadn't faced a serious primary fight …

David Cameron is new UK prime minister  —  Conservative leader David Cameron has become the UK's new prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.  —  Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be his deputy after they agreed to the UK's first coalition government in 70 years.

Elena Kagan and Me: One Semester of Civ Pro With the New SCOTUS Nominee  —  I can count myself as one of the thousands of students that had Elena Kagan as a professor.  She's taught at the University of Chicago School of Law and Harvard Law School.  I had her in 2000 …

Sarah Palin's book, ‘America By Heart,’ out Nov. 23  —  NEW YORK — Sarah Palin's new book has a title, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag, and a release date, Nov. 23, publisher HarperCollins announced Tuesday.  —  The Alaska ex-governor and former Republican vice …

Afghanistan's Karzai to urge caution as U.S. pushes to empower local leaders  —  The U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is built around the belief that all good counterinsurgency is local.  In recent months, American officials have focused their plans on pushing power and money down to district, tribal and village leaders.

CBO ups health care cost projections  —  Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections.  —  The additional spending …

9th Congressional District special election headed for runoff  —  Tom Graves of the tiny northwest Georgia town of Ranger and Lee Hawkins of Gainesville are headed for a runoff for the 9th Congressional District seat.  —  With all the precincts reporting Tuesday night …

CD11: Goehring wants to thin ‘liberal’ herd  —  Congressional District 11 GOP candidate Brad Goehring is drawing fire for his confrontational Facebook statement today: … Check out all the comments; 57 when I looked a few minutes ago. … LAV 3:23 p.m. Screen shot posted below.  LAV 4:08 p.m.)

Alabama candidate denounces ‘lie’ that he believes in evolution  —  Evolution has obviously been a political issue for a while, but I'm not sure I've ever seen an attack ad like this one before: It mocks a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Alabama for believing in the theory.

U.S. Investigates Morgan Stanley Deals  —  Prosecutors Look at Mortgage Securities; Firm Says It Hasn't Been Contacted  —  Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivatives deals it helped design and sometimes bet against …

Carter wins state Senate race  —  State election results show Atlanta attorney Jason Carter will follow in his grandfather President Jimmy Carter's political footsteps.  —  Carter captured 5,559 votes — or 65.6 percent — in the race for Senate District 42 in DeKalb County on Tuesday.

Jawa Exclusive: Capture Of Mullah Omar Confirmed *sticky*  —  An overseas intelligence source has confirmed to the Jawa Report that Mullah Omar has been captured as originally reported by Brad Thor.  —  You can wait for the New York Times to catch up if you'd like, we don't mind.

Mojave cross at center of court fight reported stolen  —  Washington (CNN) — A war memorial shaped like a cross that has been at the center of a Supreme Court fight has been torn down by vandals from its remote perch in a California desert.  —  The 6-foot-tall metal structure …

Ok, so now I'm a liar  —  I had the opportunity — first time, and very cool — to appear on Rachel Maddow's show last night to discuss the nomination of Elena Kagan.  I was in segment B. Glenn Greenwald was in segment A. I had spent the afternoon reading up on Glenn's views about the nomination.

Just 41% in Alaska Would Vote for Palin for President  —  Sarah Palin appears to be losing the Alaska vote.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds that just 41% say they would vote for the former Alaska governor if she ran for president in 2012.

Another poll says Sestak-Specter race tight  —  For the third time in a week, a statewide poll released Tuesday shows U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter falling behind Rep. Joe Sestak in the race for the Democratic Senate nomination.  —  The Franklin & Marshall College poll has Mr. Sestak with the support …