Clarence Thomas's Wife Asks Anita Hill for Apology  —  WASHINGTON — Nearly 20 years after Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Justice Thomas's wife has called Ms. Hill, seeking an apology.

‘Obama Has Turned Out to Be an Utter Disaster’  —  Karl Rove was one of President George W. Bush's closest advisers.  SPIEGEL spoke with the political analyst about the widespread anger against Barack Obama and the prospects of Tea Party success in the coming midterm elections.

Speaker Pelosi ‘majority makers’ are facing electoral challenges  —  Two-term Democrats, whose victories helped secure the Speaker's job for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), are facing the possibility of a near-wipeout in the Nov. 2 election.  —  Of 10 reelection races involving sophomore Democrats …

Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead  —  A secretive network of Republican donors is heading to the Palm Springs area for a long weekend in January, but it will not be to relax after a hard-fought election — it will be to plan for the next one.  —  Koch Industries …

Rep. Kirk wants outside groups to disclose donors  —  Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that outside groups spending to influence his Senate race with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias should disclose their donors and be “fully transparent.”  —  Kirk made the comments in response to a question …

GOP in Lead in Final Lap  —  A vigorous post-Labor Day Democratic offensive has failed to diminish the resurgent Republicans' lead among likely voters, leaving the GOP poised for major gains in congressional elections two weeks away, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Obama to appear on ‘The Daily Show’  —  President is set to tape appearance on Oct. 27  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is taking his campaign message to “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.  —  White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer says Obama is taping an appearance on Oct. 27, just days before the Nov. 2 elections.

Poll: Joe Sestak overtakes Pat Toomey  —  New U.S. Senate poll shows Democrat with three-point lead.  —  WASHINGTON — Joe Sestak has pulled ahead of Pat Toomey after trailing for months in their closely watched Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race, an independent poll confirms.

Barney Frank gives $200K to his campaign  —  Longtime Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank has given his re-election campaign $200,000 as he faces his toughest race in years.  —  A campaign finance report filed Tuesday showed that Frank, the chairman of the powerful House Financial Services committee, lent himself the money Tuesday.

Britain Details Radical Cuts in Spending, Citing Debt  —  LONDON — Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer unveiled the country's steepest public spending cuts in decades on Wednesday, sharply reducing welfare benefits and eliminating almost half a million public sector jobs over the next four years …

Rachel Maddow at Most Shameless: Claims GOP Congressman ‘Received Advance Notice’ of Oklahoma City Bombing  —  “Lean Forward,” MSNBC's new slogan suggests.  The better to stick a shiv in your opponent's back.  —  Ethics-averse Rachel Maddow did exactly that on her MSNBC show last night.

EPA in the crosshairs  —  “If we have the gavel, I can assure you that the oversight subcommittee will be very busy,” Upton told POLITICO, adding that Browner can also expect frequent invitations to testify.  “We'll have a seat reserved for her,” he said.  —  Energy and Commerce …

Is Obama Skipping Temple Over Headgear?  —  From Russell Goldman and Jake Tapper:  —  On an upcoming trip to India, President Obama will skip visiting one of the country's most sacred shrines out of fear that wearing the requisite headgear might make him appear Muslim, according to reports from the United States and India.

Taliban Elite, Aided by NATO, Join Talks for Afghan Peace  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Talks to end the war in Afghanistan involve extensive, face-to-face discussions with Taliban commanders from the highest levels of the group's leadership, who are secretly leaving their sanctuaries in Pakistan …

Wall Street Bailout Returns 8.2% Profit Beating Treasury Bonds  —  The U.S. government's bailout of financial firms through the Troubled Asset Relief Program provided taxpayers with higher returns than they could have made buying 30-year Treasury bonds — enough money to fund the Securities …

Sold-Out Crowd Gives Former President Bush Three Standing Ovations During Speech  —  Former President George W. Bush pulled back the curtain of the Oval Office and gave East Texans a picture of what his job was like during the high and low points.  —  With trademark humor and conviction …

Where France Goes . . .  . . . other Western entitlement nations are likely to follow.  —  Americans arriving in Paris these days will notice that France's planes, trains and automobiles are all being slowed or stopped by nationwide protests over President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal to raise …

Making Ignorance Chic  —  Casanova's rule for seduction was to tell a beautiful woman she was intelligent and an intelligent woman she was beautiful.  —  The false choice between intellectualism and sexuality in women has persisted through the ages.  There was no more poignant victim of it than Marilyn Monroe.

Democrats bank on early voting to bridge enthusiasm gap  —  LAS VEGAS - Walter Grimsley woke up Saturday morning and remembered he had an errand to run.  He had to go vote.  —  The government retiree's phone had been ringing every few hours with reminder calls from Democratic volunteers.

The limits of voter registration  —  New York political consultant Jerry Skurnik takes the opportunity of a local politician's indictment for using public money to fund his own campaign's voter registration efforts to look at the efficacy of such operations.

Fed Wants Banks to Buy Back Some Bad Mortgages  —  To the long list of those picking fights with banks over bad mortgages, add the Federal Reserve.  —  Two years after the Fed bought billions of dollars in mortgage securities as part of the financial bailout, its New York arm is questioning the paperwork …