Why Democrats Will Keep The House  —  House Republicans are measuring the drapes in preparation for big gains in the lower chamber, convinced that Minority Leader John Boehner is going to become the next Speaker of the House.  On a macro level, that wouldn't be a bad guess …

Former G.O.P. Leader Says He Is Gay  —  Ken Mehlman, President George W. Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has revealed to family and friends over the last few months that he is gay, he said in an interview Wednesday.

Eggs and Issues: Bright's Comments about Pelosi Draw Laughter  —  U.S. Congressman Bobby Bright, the first-term Democrat and former mayor of Montgomery, was heard having a little fun at U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's expense during his recent participation in the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce's Eggs and Issues.

MSNBC's Ed Schultz goes bonkers  —  MSNBC talk show screamer Ed Schultz had a meltdown in the network's 30 Rock newsroom, shouting at staff, “I'm going to torch this [bleep]ing place.”  —  The hot-tempered anchor of “The Ed Show” lost it during a phone call in the packed studio and slammed down the phone before exploding.

How the Stimulus Is Changing America  —  New juice Obama, right, tours a huge solar array in Nevada.  Catching rays is easy; storing and shipping solar energy is harder.  —  John Locher / Getty Images  —  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama's $787 billion stimulus …

Miller's lead slims; Murkowski awaits absentees  —  Joe Miller's lead over U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski slightly narrowed to 1,668 votes with all the election precincts counted Wednesday.  A stunned Murkowski said she is not giving up hope until absentee ballots are counted starting next week.

President Obama, It's Time to Can the Catfood Commission … Pete Peterson, the hedge fund billionaire who made his money by not paying his fair share of taxes, has pursued a decades-long quest to destroy Social Security and has pledged $1 billion to achieve that goal.

Glenn Beck rally will be a measure of the tea party's strength  —  When Fox News and talk radio host Glenn Beck comes to Washington this weekend to headline a rally intended to “restore honor” to America, he will test the strength - and potentially expose the weaknesses …

Far From Ground Zero, Obscure Pastor Is Ignored No Longer  —  GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If building an Islamic center near ground zero amounts to the epitome of Muslim insensitivity, as critics of the project have claimed, what should the world make of Terry Jones, the evangelical pastor here who plans …

Rider Asks if Cabby Is Muslim, Then Stabs Him  —  It was the first fare of the cabdriver's shift.  A young man hailed him at the corner of Second Avenue and East 24th Street, wanting to go to 42nd and Second.  It was 6 p.m. on Tuesday; the traffic was dense.

Party-less Charlie Crist faces harsh reality  —  WEST MIAMI, Fla. — First, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was supposed to be the Republican nominee for Senate.  Then he seemed on track to be the de facto Democratic candidate.  Now, following Rep. Kendrick Meek's victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary …

Union leader will blast Sarah Palin, calling her rhetoric ‘poisonous’  —  In a speech Thursday, a prominent labor official will blast former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) for recent anti-union rhetoric.  —  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, in a speech from Anchorage, Alaska …

Barbour cashing in on GOP leadership  —  It's quite unusual for sitting elected officials to give paid speeches, and even a party official, Michael Steele, raised eyebrows for cashing in on his position.  —  But Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is on the speaking circuit, and touting his status …

‘Drunk’ desecration at mosque  —  A drunk barged into a Queens mosque last night and urinated on prayer rugs, cops and witnesses said.  —  Evening prayers were disrupted at the Iman Mosque on Steinway Street in Astoria when the unhinged man “came in with a beer bottle in his hands …

Obama in the Swing States  —  Barack Obama expanded the map in 2008 but for the most part you're still going to find Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania as the most important states at the Presidential level because of their size and competitiveness and Obama's numbers in those places right now are brutal.

Ex-Campaign Worker ID'd As Suspect In Carnahan Arson  —  Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) confirmed in a press conference yesterday that the suspect in an alleged arson at Carnahan's campaign office is a former paid campaign worker named Chris Powers.  —  Powers has not been charged in the arson case.

New Reid ad: Sharron Angle is a dangerous maniac  —  Okay, that headline is an exaggeration, but not much of one.  Harry Reid's latest ad strings together a host of Angle-isms to paint her as, well, a dangerous psychopath:  —  What's interesting is that even though Angle did say all these things …

Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner Speak Out On Franzen Feud: HuffPost Exclusive  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  With the publication of Jonathan Franzen's fourth novel, Freedom, which was extensively covered in the New York Times while Franzen himself appeared on the cover of TIME magazine …

Exclusive: Bristol Palin Is Coming to Dancing With the Stars  —  It's the Dancing With the Stars casting that no one saw coming!  —  We can report to you exclusively that Sarah Palin's 19-year-old daughter Bristol Palin has been cast on the 11th season of DWTS, set to premiere Sept. 20, according to sources.

New York's Bloomberg: We are all Muslims  —  Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of “God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World,” is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.  —  By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN