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 …

Florida pastor weighs plan to burn Quran  —  Feeling passionate about this story?  Put your thoughts on video and share them with CNN iReport.  —  (CNN) — The pastor of a Florida church planning to burn Qurans told CNN Tuesday while the congregation plans to go through with the action …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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:

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 …

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 …

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 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 …

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.

A Sign of the Court's Polarization: Choice of 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 …

John Podesta predicts White House ‘soul-searching’  —  John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress and leader of Barack Obama's presidential transition team, expects to see some “soul-searching” and “changes” in the White House after November's elections.

‘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 …

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.

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits  —  Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms.  Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space.

A Republican takeover of the House will make Capitol Hill a much less relevant place for President Obama, and is likely to turn the administration's focus toward working through federal agencies and regulation — which it can do unilaterally — rather than trying to pass new legislation.