Call a Waaahmbulance: NAACP exhaustively details how the Tea Party's connections empower racism  —  Cue the right-wing wailing and gnashing of teeth: The NAACP has now fully backed up its accusations of racism within the Tea Party movement with a meticulously documented report …

BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Stays DADT Injunction  —  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued a temporary stay of U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips's Oct. 12 order in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States halting all enforcement of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.

CNN/Time Poll: All tied up in Alaska Senate race  —  (CNN) - A new poll indicates a dead-even race in the Alaska battle between Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who's running for re-election as a write-in candidate.  But a CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation …

Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters  —  Media Matters, the liberal activist group that wages a rhetorical war against Fox News Channel and others in the conservative press, will announce on Wednesday the receipt of a $1 million donation from the philanthropist George Soros.

Dark money: Super PACs fueled by $97.5 million that can't be traced to donors  —  Of the $189 million spent so far by Super PACs, non-profits and labor unions to influence the 2010 mid-term elections, $97.5 million has come from groups that do not disclose any donors, an analysis …

Bush defends bailout of financial firms  —  Former President George W. Bush said a decision to use taxpayer money to bolster the financial system in 2008 wasn't difficult and was needed to avoid an economic collapse.  —  “Depression, no depression,” Bush told about 2,000 people during …

MEMO: Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election  —  In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups …

Every big Senate race just got closer  —  A new wave of polling shows virtually every close Senate race growing even more competitive, raising the pressure on both parties in the final days of the midterm campaign.  —  In several states, Democratic candidates are on the upswing.

Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers  —  A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War — a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking …

Shouts & Murmurs: Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas's Wife Calls You  —  Like many Americans, over the past several years I have been the recipient of multiple unwelcome voicemails from the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  These calls have come in the middle of the night …

Maddow Falsely Claims Politician Had Advance Warning of Oklahoma City Bombing  —  I'm pretty sure that this was an error, not a knowing misstatement—when you're on a daily news cycle, the sad fact is that you probably won't remember everything you've ever said.  Nonetheless, this demands a retraction:

Glenn Beck: Evolution Is 'Ridiculous — I Haven't Seen A Half-Monkey, Half-Person Yet'  —  Have you ever seen a half-monkey, half-person?  No?  Well neither has Glenn Beck, which is how he knows evolution doesn't exist.  —  On his radio show today, Beck wondered how many people …

Spitzer's Harvard Club Application?  Rejected  —  In his emergence from political disgrace, Eliot Spitzer has played multiple roles: political commentator, financial columnist, college professor, and, most recently, CNN host.  —  One role he will not be playing: a member of the Harvard Club of New York City.

Audit: NJ Turnpike Wasted Millions On Perks  —  MYFOXNY.COM - Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses.  In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included.

EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda Leader Dined at the Pentagon Just Months After 9/11  —  Oct. 2008: American-born Al Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.  —  Anwar Al-Awlaki may be the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, but he was also a lunch guest of military brass …

Citing Rep. Grayson's ‘gutter theatrics,’ GOP challenger refuses to debate  —  After Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) attacked his Republican challenger Dan Webster as “Taliban Dan” in a recent campaign ad, Webster is refusing to share the stage with him for a debate.

Obama Team On Furor Over Foreclosures: ‘Problem For The Banks and Servicers To Fix’  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday that the Obama administration will attempt to protect homeowners and police the kind of paperwork fraud …

Rival Gives Frank Some Unflattering New Steps  —  REVERE, Mass. — Representative Barney Frank was dancing around the issues — first doing a version of the Running Man, then the Sprinkler, then a disco boogie.  —  The latest on President Obama, his administration and other news from Washington and around the nation.

A Culture of Poverty  —  In 2008, I was sent out to the Democratic convention to work on a piece for this magazine about Michelle Obama.  I had just been hired on as a contributing editor, and was ecstatic.  There was a community of young bloggers out there—Chris Bodenner, Alyssa Rosenberg, Dayo Olapade etc.

Most Voters Oppose the Reelection of Anyone Who Voted for the Health Care Law, Auto Bailouts, Stimulus Plan  —  Incumbents, beware: The major votes you've cast in Congress over the past couple years appear likely to come back to haunt you this Election Day.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports …

Nine stories the press is underreporting — fraud, fraud and more fraud  —  From liars' loans to liars' liens, the financial and foreclosure crisis has been one big story of banks defrauding their customers — a vast criminal enterprise.  You wouldn't know it from a lot of the media coverage, though.

Majority of independent voters say Dem leadership is more left wing than they are  —  In another potentially troubling sign for Democratic candidates, three in five independent voters in key House districts say Congress's Democratic leadership is to the left of them on the political spectrum.