Reid lost the debate to Angle  —  Let's get the easy part out of the way first:  —  Sharron Angle won The Big Debate.  —  Angle won because she looked relatively credible, appearing not to be the Wicked Witch of the West (Christine O'Donnell is the good witch of the Tea Party) and scoring many more rhetorical points.

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 sizable 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 …

Poll: Joe Manchin ahead by 10 points  —  Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin has opened up a double-digit lead over Republican John Raese in the West Virginia Senate special election, according to a new independent poll set for release Friday morning.  —  The Marshall University poll shows Manchin taking 48 percent …

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 …

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.

Wilders not guilty on all counts - Update  —  The public prosecution department on Friday afternoon stated that Geert Wilders is not guilty of discriminating against Muslims.  Earlier on Friday it announced he should also be found not guilty of inciting hatred.

Blair in running for bad sex award  —  Former prime minister's memoir nominated for prize dedicated to clumsy erotic scenes in fiction  —  Tony Blair has received a double insult from the Literary Review, with the nomination of his bestselling autobiography, A Journey, for its bad sex award.

Carly Fiorina's troubling telecom past  —  Before she became the controversial CEO of HP, Senate candidate Carly Fiorina was a star at Lucent.  What does her time at the telecom disaster say about her?  —  Carly Fiorina while at Lucent  —  In the spring of 1999, Lucent Technology's star …

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.

How Romney made a bestseller  —  Mitt Romney boosted sales of his book this spring by asking institutions to buy thousands of copies in exchange for his speeches, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.  —  Romney's book tour ran from early March to late May of this year …

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.

Kilmeade defends O'Reilly's View appearance: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim”  —  From the October 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:  —  Please upgrade your flash player.  The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player.

Mitch Daniels open to VAT, oil tax hike  —  Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels opened the door Thursday to supporting both a value added tax and a tariff on imported oil, bold proposals that could cause trouble for him with conservatives as he flirts with a long-shot bid for the presidency.

Obama Performing Well Relative to Congress' Low Ratings  —  Obama's 26-point average lead in approval is high versus past presidents' margins  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Since he took office, President Barack Obama's job approval ratings have averaged 26 percentage points higher than Congress' approval ratings …