Nevada Fight Night fizzles  —  LAS VEGAS - Republican Sharron Angle lashed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the only debate of the Nevada Senate race Thursday night, telling the Democrat to “man up” at one point and questioning how he got wealthy during his years in Congress.

The Mortgage Morass  —  American officials used to lecture other countries about their economic failings and tell them that they needed to emulate the U.S. model.  The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, in particular, led to a lot of self-satisfied moralizing.

Tea Party Set to Win Enough Races for Wide Influence  —  Enough Tea Party-supported candidates are running strongly in competitive and Republican-leaning Congressional races that the movement stands a good chance of establishing a sizeable caucus to push its agenda in the House and the Senate, according to a New York Times analysis.

Monetary Policy Objectives and Tools in a Low-Inflation Environment  —  The topic of this conference—the formulation and conduct of monetary policy in a low-inflation environment—is timely indeed.  From the late 1960s until a decade or so ago, bringing inflation under control was viewed …

FIRST LADY CAMPAIGNS INSIDE POLLING PLACE  —  First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law — when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!  —  The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.

Social Security benefits will remain flat for 2nd straight year, government says  —  For the second year in a row, the nearly 54 million retirees and other Americans who receive Social Security benefits will not get any cost-of-living increase in 2011 in their monthly checks, government officials announced Friday morning.

Campaign spending by outside groups skyrockets  —  WASHINGTON — Spending by outside groups to influence congressional races surged past the $220 million mark this week, as party committees and conservative groups pump last-minute cash into ads in advance of the Nov. 2 election.

Challenging Health Care Law, Suit Advances  —  In a foreboding ruling for the Obama administration, a federal judge in Florida decreed Thursday that a legal challenge to the new health care law by officials from 20 states could move forward and warned that he would have to be persuaded …

From a Maine House, a National Foreclosure Freeze  —  DENMARK, Me.  — The house that set off the national furor over faulty foreclosures is blue-gray and weathered.  The porch is piled with furniture and knickknacks awaiting the next yard sale.  In the driveway is a busted pickup truck.

Murkowski goes up with Stevens ads  —  Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski will start airing the long-awaited campaign ad featuring the late Sen. Ted Stevens this week.  —  In the ad, Stevens, who died in a plane crash earlier this year, tells voters, “We need Lisa,” according to footage of the advertisement obtained exclusively by POLITICO.

The Outlook for November 2nd  —  Larry J. Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics  —  As alert readers of the Crystal Ball will note, we have not changed our projection of +47 Republican net House seats in many weeks.  We made this prediction prior to Labor Day, and we were the first to say definitively …

Pentagon to comply with court order to end 'don't ask, don't tell'  —  The Pentagon announced Thursday that it will comply with a court order to stop enforcing its “don't ask, don't tell” policy barring gays from serving openly in the military, even as the Obama administration asked a federal judge to delay implementation of the ruling.

NPR Poll Offers Sliver Of Hope For Democrats  —  With only 18 days left until Election Day, an NPR survey of likely voters in battleground districts found that while the overall field still tilts to the GOP, Democrats are closing the gap in some places.  —  The good news for Democrats …

Barack Obama sees rise of ‘tribal attitude’  —  President Barack Obama thinks that the recession has caused a temporary increase in racial tension by stoking “tribal attitude” among people in economic distress.  —  During an hour-long town hall with young people simulcast on MTV …

California NOW President: ‘Meg Whitman Could Be Described As A Political Whore’  —  Last week, the National Organization for Women and the PAC of the California NOW chapter took heat for their endorsement of state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) over Meg Whitman (R) in the gubernatorial race …