Too Close to Call in Delaware  —  It looks like there's a real possibility of a major upset in the Delaware Senate primary on Tuesday night, with insurgent conservative Christine O'Donnell leading longtime Congressman and Governor Mike Castle 47-44.  That 3 point lead is well within the poll's margin of error.

An Apology  —  Nicholas Kristof and I do not see the world—and America's role in it—in the same way.  I have sometimes expressed my disagreements with his opinions vociferously (vociferousness is my business).  But in yesterday's The New York Times, he quotes two sentences that I recently wrote …

Boehner concedes only three percent of small businesses affected by extending tax cuts  —  As you know, John Boehner made big news yesterday on CBS when he seemed to allow that he would support it if Dems held a vote on whether to extend just the tax cuts of those who make less than $250,000.

Forbes Embraces Birtherism Lite.  —  Sometimes it's best to think of racism as intellectual laziness.  That is, it reflects a failure to evaluate people for who they actually are, because its easier to slip them into a familiar, predetermined category that doesn't upset other related conclusions a person might have come to as a result.

The public hates almost everything Congress has done  —  Gallup has released a new poll asking respondents to assess the major accomplishments of Congress in the last two years: the national health care bill, the stimulus, the bailout of auto companies, the bailout of major banks and financial institutions …

America Is a Joke  —  The worst of times for politics and media has been the best of times for The Daily Show's host—and unfortunately things are getting even funnier.  —  I  —  t's hard to top a kick in the nuts.  —  Especially when the kicker is Linda McMahon, the Connecticut Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Welcome back, Congress  —  Congress is back in session today, and it's got a lot on its agenda.  A food safety bill, for instance.  The Bush tax cuts.  An infrastructure bank.  Ratification of the START treaty.  But as Brookings' Thomas Mann says in this preview, they're not likely to actually do any of it.

Gangster Government Stifles Criticism of Obamacare  —  “There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases.”  —  That sounds like a stern headmistress dressing down some sophomores who have been misbehaving.  But it's actually from a letter sent Thursday …

Americans Spending More Time Following the News  —  Ideological News Sources: Who Watches and Why  —  OVERVIEW  —  There are many more ways to get the news these days, and as a consequence Americans are spending more time with the news than over much of the past decade.

China, Japan, America  —  Last week Japan's minister of finance declared that he and his colleagues wanted a discussion with China about the latter's purchases of Japanese bonds, to “examine its intention” — diplomat-speak for “Stop it right now.”  The news made me want to bang my head against the wall in frustration.

The Exit Interviews: Sen. Bob Bennett  —  Q: What things do you think are most misunderstood by the public about being a senator or how Congress works?  —  A: They have no understanding of what we do.  They expect that we spend most of our time on the Senate floor debating.

Halperin's Take: Brown Escalates War of Words With Bill Clinton  —  HALPERIN'S TAKE: The Whitman ad is probably the best TV spot by any campaign all cycle.  Clinton and Brown have always had a rough relationship, which probably hit rock bottom...  ... in 1992, when, in the same debate …

Meghan McCain's Dirty, Sexy Politics  —  On June 20, 2002, the United States Supreme Court decreed, in the case of Atkins v. Virginia, that the mildly mentally retarded were categorically exempt from capital punishment, reasoning that fully functional adults of diminished mental capacity …

The prez's new 150,000-jobs killer  —  Tweet  —  The president and many in Congress are using this year's catastrophe in the Gulf to push for sweeping, unrelated measures that would punish not only the US oil and gas industry but the American economy as a whole.

Hollywood Reporter to Become a Weekly Magazine  —  LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood Reporter has been dying a slow death for a decade, bleeding from layoffs, vanishing advertisers and diminished relevance in a news cycle now dominated by cutthroat entertainment blogs.

A Scary Thought  —  Here's a scary thought: Let's say the European sovereign debt crisis flares up again, and one or two Euro banks fail.  (Not a bank like UBS or Deutsche Bank, but a medium-sized bank like Bank of Greece or a Landesbank.)  That, in turn, causes a U.S. money market fund …

Exclusive: Florida Governor Charlie Crist prepared to endorse broad swath of gay rights  —  MIAMI — Charlie Crist, the current governor of Florida and Independent candidate for US Senate, is prepared to issue a ringing endorsement of gay rights in a document slated to be released as early as this week …

MIDTERM BIEBER FEVER  —  Internet-savvy types know that teen heartthrob Justin Bieber pretty much rules the web.  Just last week, rumor spread that Bieber's fan base was so active on Twitter that the microblogging website has servers dedicated just to him.  Twitter didn't confirm, but they didn't deny it, either.

Andy Card: Newt Gingrich is not ‘helpful’  —  Former White House chief of staff Andy Card said Monday that Newt Gingrich's recent claim that Barack Obama has a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview is not “helpful” to Republicans trying to win in November.  —  Gingrich floated the birther …

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES.... Last year, on Sept. 12, anti-government zealots rallied in Washington to demand ... whatever it is anti-government zealots want.  At the time, the fairly impressive turnout was the only aspect of the event that really mattered.