Reid: Coons, ‘my pet,’ will win  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday predicted to The Hill that Democratic Senate candidate Chris Coons will safely win the Nov. 2 general election against GOP nominee Christine O'Donnell.  —  Reid talked up the New Castle County executive following …

Exclusive: President Obama to This Week Name Elizabeth Warren to Special Advisory Role to White House/Treasury Dept to Form New Consumer Agency  —  President Obama will announce this week that Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau …

I hate to be shrill and all, but the tea bagging GOP nominee for NY governor is a pig.  (No offense to pigs.)  —  All In “Good Fun”  —  The Tea Party candidate for Governor of New York sent these lovely images (via WNYMedia) around to friends:  —  When one of his correspondents was offended that Youtube …

Catty Carla Bruni lifts lid on Michelle Obama's ‘hellish’ job  —  Michelle Obama thinks being America's First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet new book.  —  Miss Bruni reveals that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president's wife: 'Don't ask!

Battleground Poll: Voters see November GOP takeover of the House and Senate  —  Voters, by a 9-point margin, believe Republicans will pick up both the House and the Senate, even though they are evenly divided over whom they intend to back in six weeks, according to a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll.

On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View  —  Her work won't be in Seattle Weekly anymore, or anywhere else.  —  You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week.  That's because there is no more Molly.  —  The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully.

Shock Audio: Facing ‘Obligations’ From Leadership, Democrat Congresswoman Leaves Voicemail for Lobbyist Cash  —  A couple weeks ago, House Member Eleanor Holmes Norton made a fundraising call to a lobbyist.  The lobbyist wasn't available, so Holmes Norton left a voicemail.

Rebel Jim DeMint sparks GOP Senate civil war  —  South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint accidentally walked into a room full of lobbyists Wednesday morning and declared that “Republicans are not prepared to take over the Senate,” according to people in the room.  —  Some Republicans agree — and say he may be part of the reason why.

Teachers union helped unseat Fenty  —  The American Federation of Teachers spent heavily to unseat Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and to put the breaks on his aggressive efforts to shake up the city's schools system.  —  The national union spent roughly $1 million in contributions …

EXCLUSIVE: Venezuela Cancels Round-Trip ‘Terror Flight’ to Syria and Iran  —  Image taken from a video of the inside of the cabin of Flight IR744 in May 2007.  —  A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world's most terror-friendly nations …

Ayotte holds small lead  —  Kelly Ayotte will begin the general election in New Hampshire with a small lead over Paul Hodes, 47-43.  Although she remains the favorite in the race it's clear that the divisive primary has her in a much weaker position than 5 months ago and that this contest …

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL ASSESSES ‘MIDDLE EARTH’  —  Much has already been made of some of Christine O'Donnell's notable quotables in the past, especially in the wake of her huge upset over Rep. Mike Castle in Tuesday's GOP Senate primary in Delaware.  —  But did you know this?

Crime Blotter Has a Regular: Yankees Caps  —  Two men and a woman broke into a locker at a Manhattan gym in February and stole credit cards, the first in a series of similar thefts.  —  Three months later, in May, a young man tried to rob a Chase bank in the Bronx armed with only a note, which he slipped to a teller.