Obama in Close Race Against Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Paul  —  Romney has slight edge over Obama, Bachmann slightly lags  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama is closely matched against each of four possible Republican opponents when registered voters are asked whom they would support …

The right's bizarre response to Libya events  —  With the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadafi seemingly toppled by the rebels, the Obama administration is feeling vindicated in its decision to intervene.  But the right can't decide whether to be happy Ghadafi is gone or miserable that Obama had something to do with it.

FCC finally kills off fairness doctrine  —  The FCC gave the coup de grace to the fairness doctrine Monday as the commission axed more than 80 media industry rules.  —  Earlier this summer FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski agreed to erase the post WWII-era rule, but the action Monday puts …

The Libya War argument  —  In April, 2003, American troops entered Baghdad and Saddam Hussein was forced to flee; six months later, the dictator was captured ("caught like a rat in a hole," giddy American media outlets celebrated) and eventually hanged.  Each of those incidents caused massive numbers …

What could Obama have done?  —  (Andrew Harrer - Bloomberg) As Jon Chait says, the New York Times tried to run a feature in which they “asked a range of Americans who don't labor in politics or the media what they'd do if they were president” and returned with a feature in which an range …

Enigmas and Lies in Libya  —  As rebel forces enter Tripoli, the big question is what will happen to the Qaddafi regime.  Most of the pundits expected Qaddafi to go months ago.  It looked as though the end were truly nigh when Musa Kusa, his former head of intelligence and the power behind the throne …

Just One Week Into His Campaign, Rick Perry Disavows His Nine-Month-Old Book  —  Last November, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) published Fed Up, a 240-page ode to tentherism, which argues that everything from child labor laws to the Clean Air Act to Medicare violates the Constitution.

Prosecutor Asks Court to Drop Charges Against Strauss-Kahn  —  Prosecutors in the office of Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, have filed papers requesting that all charges be dropped against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund.

Goldman CEO hires high-profile defense attorney  —  (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has hired Reid Weingarten, a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose past clients include a former Enron accounting officer, according to a government source familiar with the matter.

Opinion: Subsidizing Netflix  —  One of the success stories of the Internet era has been Netflix, the company that provides movies and TV shows to home viewers.  In its earlier years, Netflix was a snail-mail-only service.  You ordered a movie.  It showed up in your mailbox.

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Joe Biden: ‘I Fully Understand’ China's One Child Policy  —  Good news, reproductive rights advocates and neo-Malthusian environmentalists!  Vice President Joe Biden has no problem with the government forcibly sterilizing people and compelling abortions.  From his remarks at Sichuan University …

South Carolina Tea Party Chair Posts Joke About Killing The Obamas On Facebook  —  Shery Lanford Smith, the chairwoman of Sumter Tea Party in South Carolina is under fire after posting a joke about killing President and First Lady Obama on her Facebook profile last Thursday.

Freeman to POTUS: ‘Get pissed off’  —  When President Obama jumped on the back nine of the celebrity-clogged Vineyard Golf Club course on Sunday, he ran into none other than Morgan Freeman, Oscar winner and Obama backer.  —  Freeman, it turns out, was as free with advice for Obama …

Libyan Draft Constitution: Sharia is ‘Principal Source of Legislation’  —  The dust has not yet settled over the Libyan capital of Tripoli since rebels took control over the weekend.  But already, a draft constitutional charter for the transitional state has appeared online (embedded below).

Jason Chaffetz is out, but Orrin Hatch isn't in the clear  —  After publicly dangling the prospect for months, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz was set to announce Monday he won't challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch next year, removing a menacing threat to the six-term senator's reelection prospects.

National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama  —  The latest posting by the Treasury Department shows the national debt has now increased $4 trillion on President Obama's watch.  —  The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office.  The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.