At Flagging Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture  —  In January 2008, soon after the venerable Tribune Company was sold for $8.2 billion, Randy Michaels, a new top executive, ran into several other senior colleagues at the InterContinental Hotel next to the Tribune Tower in Chicago.

Obama-Clinton ticket ‘on the table,’ Woodward says  —  (CNN) - Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the “Dream Ticket” in 2008.  It didn't happen.  —  But what about 2012?  —  “It's on the table,” veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA.

Not So Hidden Influences … Like This Story Follow Slate's Fighting Words … - In 2008, Ross Douthat Said the GOP Needed To Change To Win.  What Does He Say Now?  - Finally, the Feds May Crack Down on Loathsome, Predatory Payday Lenders- The Beauty and Horror of the Shiloh Battlefield- Do Jews Run the Media?

POLL: GOP leads widely, Dems in danger but race for House tight  —  In a poll of 12 hotly contested races that could decide who controls the House in the 112th Congress, Republican challengers are beating freshman Democrats in 11 — and in the last one, the race is tied.

Internal Emails Suggest Palin to Run for President  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  ~Sarah Palin addresses the Conservative Patriots Group rally in Wasilla, Alaska on 9/11/10  —  It has long been speculated that former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin would mount a bid for the White House in 2012.

Limbaugh Calls President Obama a ‘Jackass’  —  ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports:  —  Derision of the president on his program is nothing new, but Rush Limbaugh's tone today may have struck the ears of regular listeners as particularly disdainful, taking his contempt of the president to a new level.

Obama Strains to Get Liberals Back Into Fold Ahead of Vote  —  WASHINGTON — With four weeks until Congressional elections that will shape the remainder of his term, President Obama is increasingly focused on generating enthusiasm within the base that helped put him in the White House two years ago …

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Obama will win in 2012  —  California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted that President Barack Obama will win re-election in two years, especially if the Republican Party re-takes control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections.

Taliban in high-level talks with Karzai government, sources say  —  Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.  —  The talks follow inconclusive meetings …

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell: Michael Steele is dancing for his GOP ‘master’  —  I don't believe in reading racial tea leaves just for political gain, but what was Lawrence O'Donnell thinking?  Here's how he described RNC Chairman Michael Steele on his MSNBC program tonight:

Obamacare waivers: Torquemada Sebelius spares McDonald's, unions  —  After an embarrassing leak about the dire potential consequences of forcing one of America's largest companies to abide by onerous Obamacare coverage mandates, HHS Secretary Kathleen “Torquemada” Sebelius decided that McDonald's …

Truth about the public option momentarily emerges, quickly scampers back into hiding  —  (updated below)  —  As I've noted before, the column of mine which produced the greatest level of hate mail and anger in the last year — both in terms of intensity and quantity — was this one from August …

‘Likely’ Voters: How Pollsters Define And Choose Them  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  We have seen the “likely voter” polling problem rear its head several times in recent weeks, but few examples have been as vivid as three national surveys released in the last 24 hours.

Beck On Family's Home Burning Down As Firefighters Watched: ‘We Are Going To Have To Have These Things’  —  As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, last week South Fulton Fire Department firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, stood by and watched as the Cranick family's home burned down …

Presidential seal falls off podium as Obama speaks  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - The presidential seal has fallen off President Barack Obama's podium and clattered to the stage as Obama delivered a speech to a women's conference.  —  The president was joking with the audience and getting some laughs when he realized what happened.

Voter Disgust Isn't About the Issues  —  KEANSBURG, N.J. — If you tune in to any of this week's candidate debates around the country, or watch any of the ads that are beginning to dominate the airwaves, you will hear that next month's midterm elections are about all the things you probably thought …

Black People Have Other Things to Worry About.  —  Jeffrey Goldberg wants to know two things: First, do Republicans actually believe they can win African American voters while supporting politicians who endorse Confederacy-worship, and second, how can African Americans in the South live surrounded …

Democrats Look to Cultivate Pot Vote in 2012  —  Party Considers Legalization Efforts in Swing States Amid Signs California Measure Is Exciting Young, Liberal Voters  —  Democratic strategists are studying a California marijuana-legalization initiative to see if similar ballot measures could energize young …

The midterms: Hey, big spenders  —  The New York Times editorial page: “The United States Chamber of Commerce ... is actively soliciting foreign money, and government enforcers seem to be doing nothing to stop it... The possible commingling of secret foreign money into these groups raises fresh questions …

Tea Parties Forge Alliances in Bid to Advance Agendas  —  RICHMOND, Va.—The tea-party movement is turning more professional.  —  Around the country, tea-party groups are building increasingly sophisticated political organizations and overcoming early bickering to push legislative platforms …

N.J. stops 100 road, rail projects  —  TRENTON - New Jersey transportation officials said Tuesday they had indefinitely suspended about 100 state-funded road and rail projects in their early stages as the cash-strapped state grapples with how to pay for needed infrastructure improvements over the long haul.

Portman Holds 19-Point Lead In Ohio Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Angry, Pessimistic Voters Back Republican  —  Republican Rob Portman remains far ahead of Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, 55 - 36 percent among likely voters, in Ohio's U.S. Senate race according to a Quinnipiac University …

Top 100 most influential Right-wingers: 25-1  —  The final part of our list looking at who wields power on the Right of British politics.  —  Compiled by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati  —  Former Prime Minister  —  It took the election of a new Conservative Prime Minister to finally nail …

Moe Tucker, Velvet Underground Drummer, Stuns Fans With Tea Party Support (VIDEO)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  It's safe to assume that most Velvet Underground fans never imagined that “All Tomorrow's Parties” would end up referring to Tea Party rallies in Georgia.

Green Supremacists  —  An environmentalist fantasy of violent totalitarianism.  —  What kind of people blow up children?  —  White supremacists, for one example.  On the morning of Sept. 15, 1963, members of a Ku Klux Klan “splinter group” set off dynamite under the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church …

The Incidence of Unemployment and Underemployment, by Income  —  As we ponder the plight of the over-$250K household income group (see the poignant story here), I think it worthwhile to examine the unemployment and underemployment rates for lower-income households.

Palin: Abortion ‘essential’ issue in midterm elections  —  Houston, Texas (CNN) - Sarah Palin starkly framed the midterm elections on Tuesday as a choice between political candidates who favor a “culture of life” and those on the opposite side of the issue wanting to implement “a culture of death.”

Social Security Sense and Nonsense  —  In a new paper, I've tried to correct some of the misinformation that critics of Social Security have been spreading about the program.  —  Here are the facts.  Social Security is a well-run, fiscally responsible program.

Spaghetti Tacos: Silly Enough for Young Eaters  —  IT started as a gag: spaghetti tacos.  —  On an episode of the hit Nickelodeon series “iCarly,” the lead character's eccentric older brother, Spencer, makes dinner one night.  Glimpsed on screen, the dish consists of red-sauce-coated pasta stuffed into hard taco shells.