Miller holds slim lead in early Senate vote  —  Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was battling for her political life against Republican challenger Joe Miller in early primary election returns on Tuesday night.  —  Miller was leading Murkowski with nearly 52 percent of the vote to her 48 percent …

Alleged anti-Muslim attacker works at pro-Park51 group  —  The apparent anti-Muslim assault on a New York city cabbie by a man shouting “Assalamu Alaikum.  Consider this a checkpoint” produced an immediate round of recriminations over its connection to opposition to a New York Islamic Center and an apparent rising tide of Islamophobia.

Alan Simpson: Social Security Is ‘A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits’  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is “like a milk cow with 310 million tits,” according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning.

Scott upset ripples beyond Florida  —  HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Millionaire businessman Rick Scott's surprise win in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday left both parties scrambling over how to cope with a candidate who possesses both glaring flaws and considerable assets.

Gov. Christie blames Washington bureaucracy for state's failed ‘Race to the Top’ application  —  TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie this morning acknowledged the state made a clerical error that blew its chance at winning $400 million in federal money for schools, but he blamed Obama administration bureaucrats …

Breaking: Major Garrett Leaving Fox News (UPDATED)  —  Mediaite has learned that Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett is leaving the network effective September 3rd to return to his roots in print journalism.  White House correspondents Wendell Goler and Mike Emanuel will assume joint coverage of the WH beat for Fox News.

Am I also a bigot?  Pols clueless on Ground Zero mosque  —  If one of her sleuths knocks on my door, this opponent will readily state that I need no outside funding as a reporter who is deeply investigating the motivation of Imam Rauf's choice of this site of mass murder for the mosque.

New Forecast Shows Democrats Losing 6 to 7 Senate Seats  —  The Democratic majority is in increasing jeopardy in the Senate, according to the latest FiveThirtyEight forecasting model.  The Democrats now have an approximately 20 percent chance of losing 10 or more seats in the Senate …

Chris Young's surprise marriage proposal  —  Chris Young, Rhode Island's perennial gadfly candidate, was relatively well-behaved in tonight's mayoral debate.  (And as Dan McGowan points out, sometimes he makes good points.)  But he managed to steal the show toward the end when he used …

Cash for Clunkers, Indeed  —  It wasn't so long ago that everyone just loved Cash for Clunkers.  People thought I was a total crank when I scoffed.  Even some of my fellow ideologues wavered.  —  On my now-defunct blog, I wrote, … No, the appropriate course would be to generalize …

Key Senate Democrat suggests that he didn't read entire healthcare reform bill  —  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), one of the chief authors of the healthcare law, suggested Tuesday he did not read the entire piece of legislation.  —  Speaking at a forum in his home state …

“The False and ‘Seedy’ Claim That Obama Is Muslim.”  —  Get it?  “Seedy”?  The Nation quotes Franklin Graham: … When religionists talk about semen...  Is the author of this piece — Leslie Savan —paying enough attention the the way she is expressing contempt for Muslim beliefs?

DNC spokesman can't name Alaska Dem running for Senate  —  Your Browser DoesNot Support IFrames.  —  Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee spokesmen were on ABC's “Top Line” Wednesday with dueling messages coming out of last night's primary.

Pastor says armed militia to protect church during Quran-burning event  —  (CNN) — An armed Christian organization, Right Wing Extreme, will protect a church that is planning to host an “International Burn a Quran Day” on the ninth anniversary of September 11, the church's pastor said on Tuesday.

Obama breaks from vacation to phone Geithner, Summers  —  President Obama took a break from his Martha's Vineyard vacation on Wednesday to phone his economic advisers, including Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers.  —  The call came one day after House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) …

Third Person Once Removed  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  As Wyclef Jean announces his regrettable turn-about to contest Haiti's electoral rule of law (a law he has no previous record of dissension toward), his PR team is mobilizing.  See Ms. Marian Salzman's recent blog on the Huffington Post (August 23, 2010).

ObamaCare Threatens College Health Plans  —  Kaiser Health News reports that those cheap, stripped down college health plans offered to students may be imperiled by Obamacare: … (H/T Jonathan Adler)  —  I imagine that the administration has been blindsided by this one.

Coffins Made With Brotherly Love Have Undertakers Throwing Dirt  —  COVINGTON, La.—Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina gave the Benedictine monks at St. Joseph Abbey a new calling.  —  After the storm pummeled much of a pine forest they had long relied on for timber and income …

Economy Caught in Depression, Not Recession: Rosenberg  —  Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday.