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 …

‘They talk about me like a dog’  —  MILWAUKEE - Two years after appearing here on Labor Day to kick off the final stretch of his historic campaign, President Obama returned Monday to speak to union members, in a starkly different political environment.  —  The Democrats, on the ascent at Obama's 2008 …

‘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 …

It Pays To Be Crazed  —  A church in Florida is planning to burn copies of the Koran on September 11.  That proposal has been widely condemned, and now General Petraeus has entered the fray, warning that such a protest by the church could endanger American servicemen: … This strikes me as troubling.

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.

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 …

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.

Obama to Propose Tax Write-Off for Capital Investments  —  WASHINGTON — As part of his emerging program to jolt the economic recovery from its stall, President Obama will call this week for allowing businesses to deduct from their taxes through 2011 the full value of new equipment purchase …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …