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.

WSJ/NBC Poll: A Donald Trump Surprise  —  By Jonathan Weisman and Scott Greenberg  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears to be the early front-runner in the largely unformed race for the Republican nomination for president, but real estate magnate Donald Trump may be a surprise contender …

Obama says more work to do to create opportunity  —  Obama tells Sharpton's group his administration has more work to do to create opportunities  —  NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama is telling a civil rights group that his administration has more work to do to create opportunities …

'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.

Judge gives ‘Juror No. 799’ indefinite jury duty after she makes racist remarks on questionnaire  —  An incensed federal judge sentenced a racist Brooklyn woman to indefinite jury duty on Tuesday after she trashed the NYPD and minorities.  —  “This is an outrage, and so are you!”

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes  —  WASHINGTON - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has appealed directly to President Barack Obama to halt what the Libyan leader called “an unjust war,” and wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

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.