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 …

President Loses ‘Iron Hand,’ Gains Donilon  —  The key to understanding why President Obama picked deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon to replace Gen. James Jones has three grooves: one, Donilon is a civilian policy wonk loyal to the President who has been involved in every facet …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Obama Hits GOP Proposal to Cut Education Spending  —  Obama promotes learning agenda, says he won't 'shortchange our children's education' like GOP  —  Offering voters a reason to keep Democrats in power on Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama says Republicans would cut education spending …

‘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 …

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 …

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 …

Voting Test Falls Victim to Hackers  —  Hackers infiltrated the District of Columbia's online voting system last week.  They changed all votes for mayor to Master Control Pro and elected HAL 9000 the council chairman.  The blaring University of Michigan fight song played whenever a new ballot was successfully cast.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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: