Pa. Democrat admits helping Tea Party candidate  —  A Pennsylvania Democratic House candidate on Tuesday admitted to helping a third candidate get on the ballot in the hopes he would siphon votes away from his Republican opponent.  —  Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee running for the seat …

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 …

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:

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

You Knew They'd Hit The Wrong Markey Eventually  —  UPDATE #2: Rep. Ed Markey (the Democrat from Massachusetts — the male Markey) chimes in with his own quote: … UPDATE: We've created this handy-dandy tool that allows you to quickly figure out which Markey you are trying to discuss …

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.

Pelosi's Favorable Rating as Speaker Drops to 29%, a New Low  —  Nearly 6 in 10 independents now view her unfavorably  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorable rating is down seven percentage points since May to 29%, a new low for her since assuming the top congressional post.

AP-GfK Poll: Likely voters ready to embrace GOP  —  WASHINGTON — All signs point to huge Republican victories in two weeks, with the GOP now leading Democrats on virtually every measure in an Associated Press-GfK poll of people likely to vote in the first major elections of Barack Obama's presidency.

Just Knock It Off  —  Some of Israel's worst critics are fond of saying that Israel behaves like America's spoiled child.  I've always found that analogy excessive.  Say what you want about Israel's obstinacy at times, it remains the only country in the United Nations that another U.N. member …

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.

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.

The case for a foreclosure moratorium  —  John Taylor is president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and he's among those calling for a foreclosure moratorium — and not just because the paperwork was awry.  We spoke this afternoon.

Democrats suffer from Americans' unwillingness to accept economic reality  —  It's one of the great fallacies in politics: Candidate Jones says X, Y and Z during the campaign.  Candidate Jones wins the election.  Ergo, the public agrees with X, Y and Z.  —  Certainly there are times …

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 …

Presidential Material?  —  Three weeks before a pivotal midterm election, Republican Sen. John Thune addressed an energetic conservative crowd in Kalispell, providing a glimpse of what the 2012 presidential race might look like.  —  Thune, who defeated then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004 …

Decrees Of Separation  —  First Amendment: A law school audience fell into fits of laughter when a Senate candidate asked, “Where in the Constitution is separation of Church and State?”  In fact, the phrase is nowhere in the document.  —  Tuesday's debate between Delaware's U.S. Senate hopefuls …

Afternoon Fix: Huckabee bashes Conway in new ad and robocall; Democrats' House and Senate committees spread around $20 million; dead heat in Murray-Rossi race  —  Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m.!  —  EARLIER ON THE FIX

Rise of the bitter clingers  —  Many of my more enlightened friends like to ask me: How could someone as intellectually gifted, delightfully urbane, profoundly moral and breathlessly handsome not want to spit at these stupid Tea Party candidates with their stupid positions and their stupid stupidity?

The individual mandate's problem is not the Constitution  —  Here are some of the Republican senators who co-sponsored an individual mandate for health care when it was included in John Chafee's 1993 bill and are still serving in the upper chamber: Bob Bennett, Kit Bond, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar.

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 …

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.