Exclusive: Chamber Receives At Least $885,000 From Over 80 Foreign Companies In Disclosed Donations Alone  —  Last week, ThinkProgress published an exclusive story about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's foreign fundraising operation.  We noted the Chamber raises money from foreign-owned businesses for its 501 …

Education of a President  —  On a busy afternoon in the West Wing late last month, President Barack Obama seemed relaxed and unhurried as he sat down in a newly reupholstered brown leather chair in the Oval Office.  He had just returned from the East Room, where he signed the Small Business Jobs Act …

O'Donnell Stumbles on Supreme Court Question in Debate  —  Democratic candidate Chris Coons, left, and Republican candidate Christine O'Donnell wait for the start of a televised Delaware Senate debate at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. … Was it a Sarah Palin moment?

Rabbi Breaks With Paladino Over Apology  —  Well, that didn't last long.  —  The alliance between the Republican Carl P. Paladino and an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn has fallen apart, with the rabbi denouncing Mr. Paladino on Wednesday for his apology over remarks he had made about homosexuality on Sunday.

Anti-Obama billboard raises eyebrows  —  Caricatures are racist and homophobic, local Dems say  —  A Grand Junction billboard depicting President Barack Obama as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican bandit and a gay man is getting national attention.  —  The billboard, erected along …

WH's Jarrett: Dead Gay Bully Victim  —  Made ‘Lifestyle Choice’  —  The last time I heard anyone use the obnoxious phrase “lifestyle choice” to describe a gay person's sexual orientation was during the Bill Clinton presidency when the gays were accused of wanting “special rights.”

Pew: cellphone bias may be bigger than in '08  —  In a new analysis sure to add to the uncertainty about the upcoming election, the Pew Research Center reports that a large number of pre-election polls might be biased.  —  Polls that don't interview people on cellphones …

Military ballots may not count in Illinois  —  CHICAGO (WLS) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the state of Illinois missed the deadline for mailing absentee ballots to members of the military and other overseas American voters as part of a new federal overseas voting law.

Raese, missile defense, and ‘lasers in the sky’  —  From NBC's Shawna Thomas and Carrie Dann  —  INWOOD W.V.— West Virginia Republican candidate John Raese on Tuesday outlined his focus on national defense by calling for an extensive laser-based missile defense system.  —  A very extensive one.

Dem's hippie ad: ‘Does not support Pelosi...voted with GOP 65% of the time’  —  As Democrats in conservative districts scramble to distance themselves from the national Democratic leadership, Georgia Rep. Jim Marshall outdoes the rest with what's a cultural attack ad aimed at contrasting him with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Exclusive: Court Document Details Congressman's Past Spousal Abuse  —  Ohio Democrat Congressman Charlie Wilson was first elected to Congress in the Democrat wave year of 2006.  Prior to that, he had been a long-time member of the Ohio state legislature, first elected to the Ohio House in 1996 and the Ohio Senate in 2004.

The enormous mortgage-bond scandal  —  You thought the foreclosure mess was bad?  You're right about that.  But it gets so much worse once you start adding in a whole bunch of parallel messes in the world of mortgage bonds.  For instance, as Tracy Alloway says, mortgage-bond documentation generally …

Public Employees and Elections: A Conflict of Interest?  —  None of my family and friends is allowed to appear on Wheel of Fortune.  Same goes for my kids' teachers or the guys who rotate my tires.  If there's not a real conflict of interest, there is, at least, the appearance of one.

The wrong bogeyman  —  Here's a sidebar to the debate tonight between Chris Coons and Christine ODonnell (see the post below for a discussion of that debate).  One of the first things Coons said was that he has a proven record as a job creator by virtue, in part, of his ability as a County Executive …

Reuel Gerecht on Pamela Geller's Foul Anti-Muslim Ideology  —  In a recent New York Times interview, the blogger Pamela Geller leveled many serious charges against Islam; she stated that Muslims curse Jews and Christians during their five-times-a-day prayer; that the only good Muslim is a secular Muslim …

White House Meeting for Black Journalists Doesn't Stay Off-The-Record for Long  —  The White House is usually quite good at keeping a muzzle on the media after one of its off-the-record sessions with President Obama and senior members of his administration.  —  But not this week.

POLL: Majority of voters say they want a viable third party in American politics  —  A majority of likely voters think a viable third party would be good for American politics, according to a new poll of likely voters in 10 key open House districts.  —  Those voters are split, however …

Ex-Overseer of Auto Industry Accepts Ban in S.E.C. Deal  —  Steven Rattner, the former car czar, has agreed to a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over kickback claims involving the New York State pension fund, a person with knowledge of the negotiation said Wednesday.

Dudley Says He “Was a Minority”; Black Lawmaker Disagrees  —  When Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Dudley addressed the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs' monthly “Coffee & Issues” breakfast on Sept. 24, he reprised a comment he'd made at an earlier interview with the Urban League of Portland.

Linda Norgrove: Navy Seal faces disciplinary action  —  Guardian learns commando hurled explosive device during rescue as he had not seen UK aid worker taking cover nearby  —  Startling details of the daring rescue mission that ended in the death of the British aid worker Linda Norgrove …

Great uncertainty still lies before us  —  For months, the narrative has been imprinted on our brains: Weighed down by an economy that still feels mired in recession and a president whose popularity is sagging as a result, Democrats face electoral Armageddon in November.

Obama administration expected to appeal ruling on gays in military  —  By:  —  CNN's Terry Frieden and Xuan Thai  —  Washington (CNN) - The Obama administration is expected to appeal as soon as Wednesday a federal judge's ruling that halted the Defense Department from enforcing its policy …

Sink continues to lead  —  Alex Sink continues to lead the Florida Governor's race by a 46-41 margin over Rick Scott.  —  The big story in this race is the independents.  In most states across the country Republicans are dominating with them but the intense unpopularity of Scott is making this contest an exception to that rule.

GOP-ers promised committee slots  —  Two Republican House candidates in the last day have announced that House Minority Leader John Boehner has promised them valuable committee assignments.  —  Rep. Charles Djou of Hawaii was promised a seat on the Appropriations Committee and Vicky Hartzler …

Let's Not Start Lionizing The Anti-Foreclosure Deadbeats  —  Now that all fifty states have launched a joint investigation into fauxclosuregate, it's probably time to soberly address the fact that nearly everyone who has been ‘victimized’ by robo-signers and foreclosure mills is in default on their home loans.

Just Admit it, Newspapers: You're Scared of Muslims  —  As Radley Balko noted in yesterday's Morning Links, the Washington Post and other newspapers pulled Wiley Miller's syndicated “Non Sequitur” cartoon from their comics pages two Sundays back, because Miller pulled a familiar-to-Reason-readers …