Parties Tied at 46% in Generic Ballot  —  Latest weekly update shows more competitive contest  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans and Democrats are tied at 46% among registered voters in Gallup's weekly tracking of congressional voting preferences, marking a shift after five consecutive weeks in which the Republicans held the advantage.

One Nation, Two Deficits  —  The nation faces a nasty dual deficit problem: a painful jobs deficit in the near term and an unsustainable budget deficit over the medium and long term.  This month, the Senate will be debating an issue with significant implications for both …

Daley won't run for re-election: ‘I have done my best’  —  Mayor Richard Daley, with his wife and members of his family, speaks at a City Hall press conference to announce that he will not run for re-election in 2011.  (Antonio Dickey / Mayor's Press Office) |  MORE PHOTOS

Fidel to Ahmadinejad: ‘Stop Slandering the Jews’  —  (This is Part I of a report on my recent visit to Havana.  I hope to post Part II tomorrow.  And I also hope to be publishing a more comprehensive article about this subject in a forthcoming print edition of The Atlantic.)

State Gains Would Give Redistricting Edge to G.O.P.  —  The midterm elections are being closely watched for the answer to a high-stakes question: Will Republicans have a majority in Congress for the next two years?  But it is the outcome of a lower-profile battle over state legislatures …

Desert Firestorm: The Nevada Senate Race Heats Up  —  A Retooled Angle Campaign Threatens to Topple the Majority Leader  —  After a disastrous start as the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada, Sharron Angle has begun to turn her campaign around and is once again raising Republican hopes …

Rome is Burning  —  There is a critical point that I fear the commentariat is just not getting.  In my darker moments I fear that some of my fellow economists aren't getting it either but we aren't going to go there.  —  Look at these two graphs because they tell you the fundamental problem in America today:

Florida pastor weighs plan to burn Quran  —  Feeling passionate about this story?  Put your thoughts on video and share them with CNN iReport.  —  (CNN) — A Florida pastor told CNN on Tuesday that while his congregation still plans to burn Qurans to protest the September 11, 2001 …

The United States of Inequality  —  In 1915, a statistician at the University of Wisconsin named Willford I. King published The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States, the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.  The United States was displacing Great Britain …

Christine O'Donnell's Views On Sex And Porn Take Social Conservatism To The Extreme  —  Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has a robust evangelical outreach program, and she's appealed to these voters in her Republican primary bid in part with her old-fashioned views about sex.

KY-Sen: Rand Paul staffer caught posing as progressive at Daily Kos  —  As you probably know, there's a moneybomb underway to raise money for Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway's campaign challenging Rand Paul for U.S. Senate.  —  Well, it turns out that at least one member …

The Slump Goes On: Why?  —  Paul Krugman and Robin Wells  —  Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy  —  Princeton University Press, 260 pp., $26.95  —  Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance  —  by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm Penguin, 353 pp., $27.95

Scrubbing Santorum  —  Why Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum can't beat his Google problem.  —  Post Comment  —  Rick Santorum would very much like to be president.  For the past few years, he has been diligently appearing at the sorts of conservative events—the Values Voters Summit …

Infrastructure  —  Some bleary-eyed thoughts from Japan on the reported administration proposal for $50 billion in new spending:  —  1. It's a good idea  —  2. It's much too small  —  3. It won't pass anyway — which makes you wonder why the administration didn't propose a bigger plan …

The Obama Economy  —  How trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus produced a 1.6% recovery.  —  So two months before an election, and 19 months after the mother of all spending programs, President Obama said yesterday he's rolling out one more plan to stimulate the economy.