New polls confirm Obama's Democratic base crumbles  —  With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said:  —  “I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.”

Krauthammer on Obama's Address: “I Thought I Was Cynical Until I Heard That Speech” (Video)  —  Charles Krauthammer unloaded on Obama tonight after his stale poll-driven speech to the nation.  Obama still has no plan.  —  “I thought I was cynical until I heard that speech.  It was purely partisan.

Congress In the Lead  —  Some of us like to think big.  We thought at the beginning of this debt crisis that it might be possible to reach a Grand Bargain.  This deal would make a serious dent in the country's awful debt problem.  It would begin to reform entitlements.

O'Reilly Shreds Media for Calling Norway Terrorist ‘Christian’  —  BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: “Impact” segment tonight: mass murder in Norway.  A vicious killer, Anders Breivik, has murdered at least 76 people in the Scandinavian nation of Norway.  Breivik is a brutal fanatic …

A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns  —  Soon after Seemona Sumasar started dating Jerry Ramrattan, she had an inkling that something might be wrong.  —  He said he was a police detective, but never seemed to go to work.  He seemed obsessed with “C.S.I.,” “Law & Order” and other television police dramas.

The Help-Wanted Sign Comes With a Frustrating Asterisk  —  The unemployed need not apply.  —  That is the message being broadcast by many of the nation's employers, making it even more difficult for 14 million jobless Americans to get back to work.  —  A recent review of job vacancy postings …

‘Off the hook’: Calls Pour Into Capitol Hill  —  ABC News' Sunlen Miller (@sunlenmiller) reports:  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has received over 600 calls between 8-10 this morning.  His office has six people now working the phones, and they continue to be “inundated.”

Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics  —  Twenty-to-One  —  By Rakesh Kochhar, Richard Fry and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends  —  The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times …

Soros to End Hedge-Fund Career, Return Money  —  George Soros, the billionaire best known for breaking the Bank of England, is returning money to outside investors in his $25.5 billion firm, ending a career as hedge-fund manager that spanned more than four decades.

Obama leaves Hispanic activists unsatisfied  —  President Obama might be looking for allies anywhere he can find them during the contentious debt limit debate that has consumed Washington this month.  But, as he learned Monday, he would be wise not to forget about his base while his focus is aimed at battling House Republicans.

Bachmann walks away from WQAD  —  Davenport, Iowa— Michele Bachmann made a visit to the Quad Cities last night to speak with supporters and give interviews to the local television media, that is, with one exception.  Despite promises to WQAD for a one-on-one interview the Congresswoman's managers openly …

‘Tell the police to hurry.  People are dying here!’  —  Julie Bremnes, 16, was one of the youths caught on Utoeya island during Anders Behring Breivik's killing spree on Friday.  —  She first called her mother, Marianne, at 1710 to tell her there was “a crazy man who is shooting here” on the island.

Bachmann has skipped 37 percent of votes since launching bid  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has missed nearly 40 percent of votes in the House since she formally launched her presidential campaign.  —  Bachmann's absentee rate, which is significantly higher than the two other House members running …

Where ya gonna go?  —  Ed Kilgore has a thoughtful piece in Salon about why liberal elites are so angry and why they have so little influence on the White House.  It's the numbers, basically. president Obama still has the support of the vast majority of the Democratic party and the activist liberal base …

Texas bucks national unemployment trend  —  Need a job?  —  Move to Texas  —  Finding work may not be quite that simple, but it sure seems that way.  While the nation's job growth has limped along since the economic recovery began two years ago, the Lone Star State is enlarging

Republican Leaders Voted for Drivers of U.S. Debt They Now Blame on Obama  —  House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington.  —  “In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt.

Raise Taxes on the Poor?  —  by Richard A. Epstein (Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and member of the Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force)  —  Yes.  A flat tax could help solve the debt crisis.  —  The negotiations over raising the U.S. debt limit have centered around tax policy …

Right wing money pours into Wisconsin recall wars  —  If you want to get a good sense of what's really happening in the Wisconsin recall wars, keep an eye on the right wing money that's now flooding into the races, in a last ditch effort to keep the state senate in Republican hands.