Kloppenburg declares victory  —  By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel  —  Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg declared victory Wednesday, based on results reported by the Associated Press.  —  The Associated Press shows Kloppenburg received 740,090 votes and incumbent David Prosser received 739,886 votes.

Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts Announce New Agreement; Beck to ‘Transition Off’ Daily TV Program  —  Editor's note: After a great deal of speculation about Glenn Beck's future on television, here is the freshly-inked news release.  There will be a couple of key headlines out of this …

Paul Ryan's Multiple Unicorns  —  Gosh.  For a plan that supposedly sets a new standard of seriousness, Paul Ryan's vision (pdf) depends an awful lot on unicorn sightings — belief in the impossible.  Let me review the top three unicorns.  —  First, the plan assumes that tax cuts will set off a literally unprecedented boom.

John Boehner Cries Amid Government Shutdown Standoff  —  ABC's Jonathan Karl reports:  —  He did it again.  —  John Boehner was driven to tears again today.  This time it happened at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans.  —  According to sources inside the meeting …

Teen Finds Campaign Worker At Back Door At 3AM  —  ANKENY, Iowa — A 15-year-old girl found a campaign worker from Alabama banging on her Ankeny family's back door early Wednesday morning.  —  Chloe Steward told KCCI she heard her dog barking around 3 a.m. and went to investigate.

NBC/WSJ poll: Trump tied for 2nd in 2012 GOP field  —  Mark Murray writes:"You're fired" isn't a message Republican primary voters and Tea Party supporters are telling real-estate mogul Donald Trump, at least not yet.  —  According to the latest national NBC/WSJ poll, former Massachusetts …

'I'd kill myself first!'  John Edwards ‘suicidal’ over facing jail, claim pals  —  Disgraced politician John Edwards is said to be deeply depressed - to the point of being suicidal - over the prospect of a criminal trial that could end with him being jailed if found guilty.

Bachmann: Why I'm qualified to be president  —  Michele Bachmann, after Bill O'Reilly asks her if she has the frame of reference to be the leader of the free world.

West Wing briefing: Obama headed out of D.C. as shutdown looms  —  A fiery President Obama insisted Tuesday that if he and congressional leaders couldn't reach a deal to avert a government shutdown, “I want a meeting again tomorrow here at the White House.”  —  “I will invite the same folks that we invited today,” he added.

Memory Hole Alert  —  Wow.  Yesterday afternoon I downloaded the tables from that Heritage report that's the basis for the Ryan plan.  The first page looked like this:  —  You can see the unemployment forecast, with the amazing 2.8 percent prediction, in the fourth set of figures.

NJ Gov. Christie Calls Teachers Union ‘Political Thugs’  —  “They chose to continue to get their salary increases rather than be part of the shared sacrifice,” he said.  —  Dismissing objections to his blunt talk, Christie said, “We're from New Jersey and when you're from New Jersey, what that means is you give as good as you get.”