CNN Poll: Was Bush better president than Obama?  —  (CNN) - Americans are divided over whether President Barack Obama or his predecessor has performed better in the White House, according to a new national poll.  —  And a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday also indicates …

Why no one will miss Jim Jones, the departing national security adviser.  —  The harshest and most telling critique of Gen. James Jones' tenure as national security adviser is that his absence will barely be noticed.  President Obama announced today that Jones is resigning and that his deputy, Tom Donilon, will replace him.

Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi?  —  An election year already notable for its menagerie of extreme and unusual candidates can add another one: Rich Iott, the Republican nominee for Congress from Ohio's 9th District, and a Tea Party favorite, who for years donned …

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie agrees to reconsider Hudson River tunnel project  —  TRENTON — A day after Gov. Chris Christie axed the $8.7 billion Hudson River rail tunnel project over its soaring costs, a reprieve of sorts was granted.  —  Following a meeting in Trenton this afternoon …

‘This is the biggest fraud in the history of the capital markets’  —  Janet Tavakoli is the founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc. She sounded some of the earliest warnings on the structured finance market, leading the University of Chicago to profile her as a …

Harry Reid Pleads with Nevada: Remember All I've Done  —  This post originally appeared on Slate.  —  RENO, Nev.— It used to be that if you needed to get a divorce, you came here.  Harry Reid came to Reno to stop one.  Nevada voters want a split from the Senate majority leader …

Activism of Thomas's Wife Could Raise Judicial Issues  —  RICHMOND, Va. — As one of the keynote speakers here Friday at a state convention billed as the largest Tea Party event ever, Virginia Thomas gave the throng of more than 2,000 activists a full-throated call to arms for conservative principles.

GUESS WHO'S VOTING?.... The other day, I had an idea for a short election-related video, so I jotted down a few notes.  Of course, I don't know anything about turning back-of-the-napkin ideas into a finished product, so I took the concept to my friend Bill Simmon, a skilled filmmaker …

Donna Brazille: Mystery funds undermine democracy  —  (CNN) — Give them credit where credit is due: Republicans know how to spend big dollars.  In this election, Republican political strategists and their rich, anonymous supporters are really thinking big.

GLENN BECK REVEALS HE'LL UNDERGO MEDICAL TESTS FOR COMBINATION OF CONDITIONS  —  This morning on his radio program, Glenn Beck discussed in more detail some of the physical challenges he's been facing.  Glenn told his audience that he will be taking several days off next week to undergo tests at a hospital “out west.”

CNN courts Couric  —  Tweet  —  Friends of Katie Couric are saying the chances of her remaining at CBS are getting slimmer.  —  CNN appears especially eager to sign Couric now that the new show starring ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer is off to a stumbling start.  —  Jeff Bewkes, the CEO …

Rock-Throwing Palestinian Boy Hit by Car in Jerusalem  —  A group of masked boys converge on a car and begin throwing rocks at it in Jerusalem.  In the midst of the chaos, the car up-ends one of the rock-throwers and speeds off.  —  This website uses IntenseDebate comments …

Foreclosure Fraud For Dummies, 1: The Chains and the Stakes  —  The current wave of foreclosure fraud and the consequences for the economy are difficult to follow.  As such, I'm going to write a few posts to simplify what is going on so you can follow stories as they unfold.

Sarah Palin speaks to electability issue  —  Speaking to a group of well-connected Republicans at a private dinner in Florida this week, Sarah Palin implicitly addressed questions about her own electability by noting that critics also said Ronald Reagan couldn't win in 1980, three attendees told POLITICO.

A different way to make a big difference in 2010  —  As the election approaches, the buzz in Democratic activist circles is the need for GOTV.  If we can turn out the vote, and get the composition of the electorate back to what it was in 2008, then Democrats will win.

In spiked Vanity Fair piece, Jewish leaders worry about Obama  —  Prominent American Jewish leaders cast doubt on President Obama's policy in the Middle East in a long article posted today on Huffington Post by the writers Ed Klein and Richard Chesnoff.  —  The most striking material is from the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman:

APNewsBreak: Johnson nets savings on prison labor  —  Republican Senate candidate Ron Johnson, who has campaigned against government subsidies to business, employs up to nine prison inmates at his plastics factories whose health care costs are paid by the state, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Why Barack Obama is an anti-colonialist  —  If you want to understand what is going on in the White House today, you have to begin with Barack Obama.  No, not that Barack Obama.  I mean Barack Obama Sr., the president's father.  Obama gets his identity and his ideology from his father.

DSCC Moving Money Out of Missouri  —  The DSCC is moving TV ad money out of Missouri, a sign that the Senate race may be moving beyond Democrats' grasp.  —  Four Republican sources who monitor media buying and three Missouri TV stations have confirmed to Hotline On Call that the DSCC has canceled reservations from Oct. 11 to Oct. 25.

China blanks Nobel Peace prize searches  —  Beijing, China (CNN) — With news media across the globe reacting to this year's Nobel Peace Prize announcement, authorities in the winner's homeland are racing to delete his name from all public domains.  —  Type “Liu Xiaobo” — or “Nobel Peace Prize …

Summers calls for infrastructure spending  —  Larry Summers, the outgoing director of the White House National Economic Council, said the US must ramp up spending on domestic infrastructure to drive the economic recovery.  —  Speaking at the Financial Times's View from the Top conference in New York …

Bank of America halts all foreclosure sales  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Bank of America is halting foreclosure sales in all 50 states as part of a widening investigation into flaws in the process, the company announced Friday.  —  The announcement came a week after the nation's largest bank …