Walking Away From Million-Dollar Mortgages  —  LOS ALTOS, Calif. — No need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars.  —  The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed …

Election 2010: West Virginia Senate Special Election  —  West Virginia Senate: Manchin (D) 53%, Capito (R) 39%  —  A special Senate election this November to replace the late Robert Byrd is still awaiting the green light from West Virginia's attorney general, but popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin …

The Obama-Pelosi Lame Duck Strategy  —  Union ‘card-check,’ cap and trade, and so much more.  —  Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September.

Be Careful What You Wish For Department: Federal District Court Strikes Down DOMA  —  Today Judge Joseph Tauro in the federal district court in Massachusetts struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in two opinions, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, and Massachusetts v. HHS.

GOP leaders let demagogues set tone, lawmaker says  —  WASHINGTON - Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous “demagoguery” that threatens the party's long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina's primary last month.

Raising the Retirement Age  —  Via Ezra Klein, Here's a chart from Larry Mishel that's pretty astonishing.  It shows that since 1972 the life expectency of men with low incomes has increased by two years while life expectency for men with high incomes has increased by more than six years.

How LeBron's Move Helps the Tea Party  —  So LeBron James is abandoning Cleveland for sunny Miami.  That's a tough break for Ohio sports fans.  But what effect might LeBron's departure have on Ohio's politics?  I think it helps the Tea Party, for reasons I'll lay out.

Obama is convinced of his own magnificence, and hardly any of his own country's.

55 Percent of Likely Voters Find ‘Socialist’ an Accurate Label of Obama?  —  The latest poll by Democracy Corps, the firm of James Carville and Stan Greenberg, has Republicans leading on the generic ballot among likely voters, 48 percent to 42 percent.  —  Deep in the poll, they ask, “Now …

‘Tan tax’ discussions include allegations of reverse racism  —  Mention the new “tan tax” in a major news outlet and cries of discrimination and reverse racism often follow.  —  The complaint surfaced on reader comment boards to blogs and news Web sites back in December …

Do the States Have the Power of Nullification?  —  In a recently published book, Nullification, author Tom Woods maintains that states have a power to nullify laws that exceed the powers of Congress to enact.  This claim has a long history, some of it distinguished-as in the case …

Emanuel: Business should be thanking this president - Palin video was shot by a single videographer - Dem. donors pressured by tally of GOP plans — Ask Matt Rhoades — P.K., Drew Hammill b'days  —  EXCLUSIVE: Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget …

“We will never go back to the way it once was,” the Supreme Court justice says.

Ann Coulter vs. Bill Kristol: Beginnings of a Conservative Schism?  —  Ann Coulter's recent column, “Bill Kristol Must Resign” may have officially kicked off the next great schism within the conservative movement.  At issue is the war in Afghanistan — and, more specifically …

Corrected 11:03: An earlier version of this item incorrectly quoted Gen. James Mattis.  —  President Obama's pick to lead military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Middle East is an experienced ground combat commander, but also earned a stern rebuke in 2005 for controversial comments about combat operations.

Christie looks to privatize motor vehicle inspections, other services  —  New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests under a sweeping set of recommendations set to be released by the Christie administration today.  —  Buy this photo

For Democrats, Politics Is Local Again  —  Party's Candidates for Re-Election Are Trying to Draw Voters' Attention Away From an Unpopular National Leadership  —  The Democratic-run Congress passed a health-care overhaul and is close to securing new rules for Wall Street.

Pity the Poor C.E.O.'s  —  Job creation has been disappointing, but first-quarter corporate profits were up 44 percent from a year earlier.  Consumers are nervous, but the Dow, which was below 8,000 on the day President Obama was inaugurated, is now over 10,000.

The Town Hall Revolt, One Year Later  —  Democrats didn't get the message.  Will Republicans do better?  —  Much has happened in the dense and shifting political landscape of the past 18 months—the quick breakdown along partisan lines in Congress; continuing arguments over spending …

What Kirk did not want you to know: McConnell headlined fund-raiser for Kirk.  UPDATED  —  Update: A Kirk campaign spokesman called to tell me that McConnell on Friday morning was the headliner at a Kirk fund-raising breakfast in Jacksonville and that Kirk and McConnell will be appearing together Friday …

After dark, mobs form, smash windows, loot  —  Matthai Kuruvila, Kevin Fagan, Carolyn Jones,Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers  —  (07-08) 23:33 PDT OAKLAND — There was outrage, there was looting and there were skirmishes between police and protesters, but that wasn't the whole story …

No Good News for Democrats  —  There is no good news for the Democrats in this survey and analysis by James Carville and Stan Greenberg (h/t Taegan Goddard).  For starters, they find a six-point lead for the GOP in their generic congressional poll.  Republicans have the advantage on the economy …

Loophole May Have Aided Theft of Classified Data  —  WASHINGTON — The soldier accused of downloading a huge trove of secret data from military computers in Iraq appears to have exploited a loophole in Defense Department security to copy thousands of files onto compact discs over a six-month period.

Russian sub ‘could stop oil leak’  —  The subs have started their third season of exploration at Lake Baikal  —  Russian-built submersibles would be able to cap the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the captain of one of the vessels has said.  —  The skipper was speaking as two of the subs …