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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

Extending tax cuts would help stabilize the economy (Rep. J. Gresham Barrett)  —  For months, American families and small businesses have been struggling to survive.  High unemployment rates and lack of economic growth have hampered our nation's financial recovery.

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.

Tea Partiers Bring Cause to Washington  —  WASHINGTON — Thousands of Tea Party supporters marched to the foot of Capitol Hill Sunday, declaring their determination to topple the Democratic majority in Congress on election day.  —  “If we do not succeed in November, all that once …

High life of the poverty quango bosses: Officials ‘living it up in luxury hotels at taxpayers’ expense'  —  Officials at an anti-poverty quango are ‘ living it up’ in luxury hotels at taxpayers' expense, devastating documents reveal.  —  Executives at the Commonwealth Development Corporation …

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 …