An associate of Jerry Brown calls Meg Whitman a “whore” over pension reform (AUDIO)  —  In a private conversation that was inadvertently taped by a voicemail machine, an associate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown can be heard referring to his Republican opponent Meg Whitman as a …

Cuts in Government Led U.S. Economy to Lose 95,000 Jobs  —  The economy shed 95,000 nonfarm jobs in September, the Labor Department reported Friday, with most of the decline the result of the layoffs by local governments and of temporary decennial Census workers.

Donilon to Replace Jones as National Security Adviser  —  President Obama will announce on Friday that Gen. James Jones, the national security adviser, is resigning and will be replaced by Thomas E. Donilon, the principal deputy national security adviser, senior administration officials said.

Federal judge upholds health care law  —  A federal judge in Michigan has upheld as Constitutional a provision in the health care reform bill requiring uninsured individuals to purchase insurance.  —  U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh ruled Thursday that the so-called individual mandate …

Nobel Peace Prize Given to Jailed Chinese Dissident  —  BEIJING — Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for his writings, won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of …

The End of the Tunnel  —  The Erie Canal.  Hoover Dam.  The Interstate Highway System.  Visionary public projects are part of the American tradition, and have been a major driver of our economic development.  —  And right now, by any rational calculation, would be an especially good time to improve the nation's infrastructure.

A Florida Double Crist?  —  Kendrick Meek might drop out of the Florida senate race and thereby pave the path to victory for Charlie Crist.  —  TAMPA — Republican leaders in the Sunshine State are fretting that a deal may be in the works to get Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek …

Lou Dobbs: ‘I have done nothing illegal’  —  Lou Dobbs is firing back against claims of hiring undocumented workers.  In an exclusive interview on Msnbc's Lawrence O'Donnell on Thursday, the radio host said, “The bottom line is I have done nothing illegal.”

Paladino Meltdown Watch.  —  Faced with a political race that didn't involve proving he hated Muslims more than the other candidate, Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino's candidacy has struggled to gain ground on Democrat Andrew Cuomo.  An initial Quinnipiac poll showed Paladino …

Sarah Palin in West Palm Beach: “I'll run for president if the American people want me to!”  —  Former vice-presidential hopeful and governor of Alaska Sarah Palin told a small studio audience during the taping of a Newsmax.com webcast Wednesday in West Palm Beach that she would run for president in 2012 if …

The Colbert Democrats  —  A president's first midterm election is inevitably a referendum on his two years in office.  The bad news for Democrats is that President Obama's “reelect” number is 38 percent — precisely Bill Clinton's in October 1994, the eve of the wave election …

Flawed Foreclosure Documents Thwart Home Sales  —  OCALA, Fla. — Amanda Ducksworth was supposed to move in to her new home this week, a three-bedroom steal here in central Florida with a horse farm across the road.  Instead, she is camped out with her 7-year-old son at her boss's house.

Rory Reid: Healthcare reform could end up hurting Nevada  —  Gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid (D) said Thursday that the new health reform law could hurt Nevada.  —  During a televised debate, Rory Reid, the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said he does not support the legal challenges against the health overhaul.

Al-Qaeda takes a big hit  —  ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Mohammad Usman was little-known other than for being wanted for the killing of a police officer in 1997 and his connections with prayer leaders at the Taliban-friendly Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad in the early 2000s.

BUSTED!  Video Documents Role of Democrat Consultant Neal Rauhauser in Smear Campaign Against Tea Party  —  WARNING: This video is filled with profanity.  What it documents — including pedophilia-inspired Twitter attacks against children of a Tea Party supporter — involves a network of …

Joe Miller Received Medicaid Benefits He Thinks Are Unconstitutional  —  Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller has repeatedly claimed that federal health care benefits violate the Constitution.  It turns out, however, that “Mr. Noun, Verb, and Unconstitutional” doesn't actually think that the Constitution applies to himself.

Despite Anger At D.C., Dems Lead In All New York Races, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Women Propel Gillibrand To Double-Digit Lead  —  Democrats are surging in all New York statewide races as little-known Republican candidates struggle for name recognition, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Unemployment Probably Rose as U.S. Companies Limited Hiring  —  Unemployment probably climbed in September for a second consecutive month as slower U.S. growth prompted companies to limit hiring, economists said before a report today.  —  The jobless rate rose to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent in August …

Plouffe: For GOP, anything short of sweep would be ‘colossal failure’  —  Trying to reshape expectations for the midterm elections, David Plouffe said Thursday that the Republicans should be expected to make a full sweep of Congress - and key gubernatorial races - given the environmental advantages they have.

Rep. Adler campaign accused of propping up ‘Tea Party’ candidate in N.J.  —  The campaign of Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.), who faces a serious GOP challenge this fall, is being accused of manufacturing a Tea Party candidate in New Jersey's 3rd congressional district to help the incumbent's reelection bid.

The Real Israel Lobby  —  Now we know who constitutes the real Israel lobby: the American public.  Especially the Republican-leaning part of it.  —  Consider the results of a new poll, a survey of 1000 likely voters done October 3 to 5 by McLaughlin and Associates for the Emergency Committee for Israel.

Caught Spying on Student, FBI Demands GPS Tracker Back  —  A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online.  The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real …