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 …

Statement by the President on Libya Blue Heron Farm, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody.  I just completed a call with my National Security Council on the situation in Libya.  And earlier today I spoke to Prime Minister Cameron about the extraordinary events taking place there.

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 …

Will Palin be in by Labor Day?  ‘I doubt it’  —  (CNN) - Karl Rove caused a commotion in recent days by predicting that Sarah Palin will run for president and hinting that she could announce her campaign during a speech to a tea party group in Iowa over Labor Day weekend.  —  That might be news to Palin.

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 …

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.

In LD8, Delany derailed by wife's email to Lewis  —  Former Assemblyman Pat Delany abruptly resigned last month from his post representing the 8th district after his wife sent a racially tinged email to senate challenger Carl Lewis, the former Olympic Gold medalist.

Sharma to step down as S&P president  —  Deven Sharma is stepping down as president of Standard & Poor's only weeks after the rating agency issued an unprecedented downgrade of the credit of the US, the company said.  —  Mr Sharma will remain as an adviser to S&P's owner, McGraw-Hill …

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 …

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.

AFL-CIO seeks to boost clout with super PAC  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The AFL-CIO hopes to boost its clout by launching a new political action committee that could raise unlimited amounts of money, part of the federation's goal of building a year-round political organizing structure.

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 …

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.

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.

Bachmann stands by $2 gasoline pledge  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is doubling down on her vow to drive gasoline prices to less than $2 per gallon if she's elected president, a pledge that 2012 GOP rival Jon Huntsman said isn't rooted in the “real world.”