Watchdog: Christine O'Donnell “Clearly a Criminal”  —  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, today filed a pair of complaints concerning Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's use of more than $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

Carter: ‘Probably superior’ to other ex-presidents  —  Former President Jimmy Carter (right) standing off to the side in a photo with the living presidents (and then-President-elect Obama) in the Oval Office.  —  *** UPDATE 3:59 pm ET *** Former President Carter issued a written statement after his comments aired:

Obama To Hedge Fund Manager Who Complains Of Being ‘Whacked’: ‘Most Folks On Main Street’ Feel Beat Up  —  Today, President Obama participated in a live CNBC townhall event.  Recently, Obama has been feeling the “rage of the rich,” as Paul Krugman describes it today.

Town Hall Questioner To Obama: “I'm Exhausted Of Defending You”  —  “I'm one of your middle class Americans.  And quite frankly, I'm exhausted.  Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for,” a woman told President Obama at a town hall.

Republicans will unveil their new ‘Contract’ on Thursday in Virginia  —  Republicans will unveil their new “Contract With America” in Virginia on Thursday as they try to present a clear alternative to the Democrat-led Congress heading into the midterm elections.

Koch Industries Lawyer to White House: How Did You Get Our Tax Information?  —  Lately, the White House and its allies have been drawing attention to the political activities of libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch.  In an August 9 speech, President Obama singled out Americans for Prosperity …

IT'S TRUE- Proof That the DNC and Team Obama Are Targeting Tea Parties and Top Conservatives  —  These Are Dangerous Times  —  With one-in-seven Americans living in poverty, with unemployment at record levels, with an unprecedented national deficit, with foreclosures up and businesses …

52% of Voters Say Their Views Are More Like Palin's Than Obama's  —  Fifty-two percent (52%) of Likely U.S. Voters say their own views are closer to Sarah Palin's than they are to President Obama's, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Tea Party Leader Dick Armey: Social Security Is A Corrupt ‘Ponzi Scheme’  —  This past weekend, conservative activists and Tea Party groups gathered in Chicago for the Right Nation 2010 convention.  Among those who attended was former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, the chairman of one of the original Tea Party groups, FreedomWorks.

GOP worries Murkowski write-in bid could cost party a Senate seat  —  Republican leaders are angry with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) for jeopardizing their chances of winning the Senate.  —  Murkowski's decision to mount a write-in campaign risks splitting the Republican vote between …

UK Proposes All Paychecks Go to the State First  —  The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

Business Cycle Dating Committee, National Bureau of Economic Research  —  The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met yesterday by conference call.  At its meeting, the committee determined that a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009.

Generic Ballot Virtually Tied: Democrats 46%, Republicans 45%  —  Republicans losing strength in September compared with August  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's generic ballot for Congress for the week of Sept. 13-19 shows a 46% Democratic and 45% Republican split in registered voters' preferences for the midterm congressional elections.

Rauf's Group Claims Credit for ‘Training’ NY Times Reporter  —  A reporter who helped write the first and positive New York Times story on the Ground Zero Mosque was trained by the group run by mosque leader Feisal Abdul Rauf, according to that group's website.

‘Dancing’ Studio on Red Sarah Palin Alert  —  There will be high security tonight when Sarah Palin shows up to watch daughter Bristol perform on “Dancing with the Stars” ... TMZ has learned.  —  Our spies say security guards at CBS Television City in L.A. — the place where “Dancing” is broadcast — is on “heightened alert.”

Making the DREAM Real  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  This past week was quite exciting for supporters of the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants brought here as children, who complete some college or military service.

FBI probes were improper, Justice says  —  The FBI improperly opened and extended investigations of some U.S. activist groups and put members of an environmental advocacy organization on a terrorist watch list, even though they were planning nonviolent civil disobedience, the Justice Department said Monday.

Dem worries on Stewart rally  —  Jon Stewart's planned “Rally for Sanity” sounded a bit like a joke when he announced — without his permit application approved — that he'd hold it on October 30 in Washington, D.C.  —  But it's suddenly looking quite real: Nearly 100,000 people have written …

Lady Gaga Goes Political in Maine  —  PORTLAND, Me.  — There were no strobe lights, no outlandish costumes and only a mediocre sound system.  But Lady Gaga was here and the crowd jumped up and down, snapping photos as a whirl of platinum-blond hair emerged from an SUV and walked up a concrete ramp to a tiny stage.

On the Cheapness of Life  —  Andrew and Jack Shafer's reminiscence over the legacy of Martin Peretz, and quasi-defense of his bigotry, motivated me to do some of my own reflecting.  To the present business, there is no actual defense of the statement “Muslim life is cheap, particularly to Muslims.”

Nita Lowey rival wrote anti-integration, racially charged essay  —  Longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Nita Lowey's Republican challenger this fall is a Christian conservative author and activist whose writings have frowned on inter-racial marriage and movies like “Save the Last Dance,” …

Stimulus for Clunkers  —  A new study charts an economic failure.  —  By now, the only defense Democrats can mount of the Obama stimulus programs is that the economy would have been worse without them.  There's no way to disprove this counterfactual, but now we have some empirical evidence …