Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?  —  Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.  —  Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians?  According to a Zogby International survey that I write …

Voters' support for members of Congress is at an all-time low, poll finds  —  As voters head to the polls Tuesday for a crucial set of primary elections, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds antipathy toward their elected officials rising and anti-incumbent sentiment at an all-time high.

What Helen Thomas missed  —  Ah, another teachable moment!  —  This one comes to us from Helen Thomas, the longtime White House reporter and columnist who announced her retirement on Monday.  Thomas, of Lebanese ancestry and almost 90, has never been shy about her anti-Israel views …

Tuesday targets: Nine races to watch  —  South Carolina's freak show politics, the progressive left's Arkansas muscle flexing, the astounding and obscene amount of statewide election spending in California — at least $120 million-plus and rising — all of it is part of Tuesday's dramatic primary election narrative.

WHITE HOUSE GONE WILD: Shirtless Favreau And Vietor's Sunday/Funday Beer Pong Match  —  Suns out, guns out...  It's going to take more than a little oil and a brittle economy to keep these White House staffers down...or their shirts on.  Check out White House spokesman Tommy Vietor …

Van der Sloot Confesses to Killing in Peru  —  June 5: Joran van der Sloot is escorted by Peruvian police as he arrives at their offices in Lima.  —  Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, long the prime suspect in U.S. teen Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance in Aruba, has confessed to killing …

The ties that bind.  Remember Rahm Emanuel's rent-free D.C. apartment?  The owner: A BP adviser  —  In case you were tempted to buy the faux Washington outrage at BP and its gulf oil spill in recent days, here's a story that reveals a little-known corporate political connection and the quiet …

The gathering storm, cont'd  —  William Shawcross is the son of Winston Churchill's lawyer, the prominent former Nuremberg prosecutor and Labor MP Sir Hartley Shawcross.  He thus provides something of a living link to Churchill whom we are especially proud to claim as a friend of our site.

Obama looking for ‘whose ass to kick’  —  (CNN) — President Barack Obama bluntly defended his administration's response to the undersea gusher fouling the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, telling an interviewer he has met with experts to learn “whose ass to kick.”

‘A Very Deep Hole’  —  I know the president has a lot on his mind, but the No. 1 problem facing the U.S. continues to fester, and that problem is unemployment.  —  The jobs report for May, released on Friday by the Labor Department, was grim.  President Obama tried to put the best face on it …

White House is directing agencies to cut budgets  —  The White House is directing agencies to develop plans for trimming at least 5 percent from their budgets by identifying programs that do little to advance their missions or President Obama's agenda.  —  The request, made amid rising public anxiety …

Americans Rate Obama 7 Points Worse on Spill Than Overall  —  By party, Democrats' support falls off the most  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — By a six-point margin, more Americans disapprove than approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Election 2010: North Carolina Senate  —  North Carolina Senate: Burr Still Leads Both Democratic Challengers  —  Incumbent Republican Richard Burr continues to hold a modest double-digit lead over both his Democratic challengers in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race.

Rate of Oil Leak, Still Not Clear, Puts Doubt on BP  —  Staring day after day at images of oil billowing from an undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico, many Americans are struggling to make sense of the numbers.  —  On Monday, BP said a cap was capturing 11,000 barrels of oil a day from the well.

Health law could ban low-cost plans  —  Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama's reforms.  —  Under the provision, insurance companies will no longer …

Marriage equality for all couples  —  Nearly a century after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that “marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man.’ ” That 1967 case, Loving v. Virginia, ended bans on interracial marriage in the 16 states that still had such laws.

Reports at BP over years find history of problems  —  A series of internal investigations over the past decade warned senior BP managers that the oil company repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident if it did not change its ways.

Haley accuser's polygraph results inconclusive  —  COLUMBIA — Just one day before the polls open across the state, one of the men claiming he had an affair with GOP candidate Nikki Haley sat down Monday to back up his claim.  Lobbyist Larry Marchant took a polygraph test at his attorney's office in downtown Columbia.

Poizner, Whitman spar in final round of campaign  —  Democrats are generally on the sidelines while it's a fight to the finish for Republicans in top races.  —  The long, contentious and extraordinarily expensive California primary campaign came to a close Monday with a flurry …

Pentagon opposes popular legislation to rename Department of the Navy  —  The Pentagon is opposing a popular provision that would change the name of the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps.  —  The provision, which Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) …

On this ground, zero tolerance  —  Some of the protesters, above, at Ground Zero on Sunday carried placards decrying plans for a mosque two blocks away.  At right, Richie Mitzner of Fort Lee boasted of being a ‘proud American infidel.’  —  He was not joking.

Student sitting behind Obama was asleep  —  Watch video for more  —  KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - One of the Kalamazoo Central students — who was seated behind keynote speaker President Barack Obama during Monday night's commencement ceremony — fell asleep.

Republicans put health reform on ballot in push to turn out conservatives  —  Republicans are banking that anti-health reform ballot initiatives will give them a significant edge in the November midterm elections.  —  The debate on the measures, which will be voted on in a half-dozen states …