Republicans making gains against Democrats ahead of midterm elections  —  Republicans are heading into the final weeks of the midterm campaign with the political climate highly in their favor, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.  Americans are increasingly frustrated by a lack …

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 …

Planned Quran-burning could endanger troops, Petraeus warns  —  (CNN) — The U.S. commander in Afghanistan has criticized a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration “could cause significant problems” for American troops overseas.

‘Rhymes With Fagin’  —  Time magazine adds its voice to the chorus of those attempting to delegitimize the Jewish state.  —  If you're a reader of a certain age, you might understand the headline.  —  In May 1977, when Menachem Begin was elected Israel's prime minister …

Why Obama Is Proposing Whopping Corporate Tax Cuts, and Why He's Wrong  —  President Obama reportedly will propose two big corporate tax cuts this week.  —  One would expand and make permanent the research and experimentation tax credit, at a cost of about $100 billion over the next ten years.

Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket  —  TEMPE, Ariz. — Benjamin Pearcy, a candidate for statewide office in Arizona, lists his campaign office as a Starbucks.  The small business he refers to in his campaign statement is him strumming his guitar on the street.

Can the Tea Party win in Delaware the way it won in Alaska?  —  WILMINGTON, Del.—Mike Castle is in his element.  It's Saturday and Delaware's only representative in the U.S. House has positioned himself at the entrance to the Arden Fair, a 103-year-old celebration of a left-leaning artist community …

Appeasing the Google Gods  —  I can no longer file a story in our computer system without filling out a box, a small gray square that may well determine the future of serious journalism.  —  The box is supposed to contain words and phrases that will help me reel you in.

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.

Peretz: Muslims Are Indifferent to Human Life and Therefore Unworthy of First Amendment Protection  —  New Republic Editor in Chief Martin Peretz: … I for one am thrilled that the First Amendment gives Peretz the right to offer his racist views up for public consumption …

Polarization of Supreme Court Is Reflected in Justices' Clerks  —  WASHINGTON — Each year, 36 young lawyers obtain the most coveted credential in American law: a Supreme Court clerkship.  Clerking for a justice is a glittering capstone on a résumé that almost always includes outstanding grades …

Audit finds Sharpton's nonprofit on brink  —  Tweet  —  An accounting firm hired by Al Sharpton's National Action Network found the civil-rights group in such financial disarray that it flunked its record-keeping — and may not even survive, The Post has learned.

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 …

What we lost when we lost our factories  —  Daniel Gros — not to be confused with Daniel Gross — has a sobering essay arguing that, in the long-term, America does have a skills problem: We need to eventually refocus our economy around exports rather than credit-fueled housing-and-tech bubbles, but that's easier said than done.

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 …

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:

Don't cut Social Security, cont'd  —  One point I didn't get into my column as clearly as I would've liked is the degree to which “raising the retirement age” is a way of saying “cutting Social Security benefits.”  So let's do it here.  —  There are two retirement ages in Social Security …

Soros to Donate $100 Million to Rights Group  —  George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, plans to announce on Tuesday that he is giving $100 million to Human Rights Watch to expand the organization's work globally.  —  It is the largest gift he has made …

No cameras in debate after Spratt's request  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Rep. John Spratt will debate his Republican challenger Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday, but the only people who will get to see any of it have already bought tickets to the sold out dinner at a South Carolina Lions Club.