Tougher Questions for the Candidates  —  In my latest column, I wrote about asking our presidential candidates more questions regarding their religious beliefs.  Here's the general questionnaire I sent to the candidates:  —  1. Is it fair to question presidential candidates about details of their faith?

‘Angry’ Mitt Romney ‘Loses His Cool’ With Voter At New Hampshire Town Hall  —  Former GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney got into a heated exchange with a voter at a New Hampshire town hall event Wednesday over his support for a balanced budget amendment, and by the mainstream media's …

IN GOPer: I Just Talked About Baseball With The Young Man I Solicited On Craigslist  —  State Rep. Phillip Hinkle, the anti-gay marriage Indiana Republican accused of offering to pay a young man he met over Craigslist for “a good time,” admits that he paid the man but contends …

Huntsman Up Close  —  This afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a journalists' Q&A with former Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R) put on by Bloomberg View.  I'll probably write about it more going forward.  But I just wanted to share some quick impressions while they are fresh in my mind.

AFL-CIO president: Obama is aligned with tea party, not fixing jobs  —  Richard Trumka, president of union giant AFL-CIO, delivered a scathing review of President Barack Obama at a press breakfast Thursday morning.  He accused him of abandoning Democratic ideals and aligning himself with the conservative tea party.

Potomac Falls woman removed from son's Boy Scout troop  —  (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) |  From left, Jaden Steele, 9, Jackson Steele, 12, and mothers Denise Steele and Jackie Funk, load their plates with tacos for dinner in their Potomac Falls home.

With Hurricane Bearing Down Cantor Spox Says Disaster Relief Should Be Paid For With Spending Cuts  —  Looks like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will extend his requirement that federal disaster relief be paid for by cutting spending elsewhere in the budget to Hurricane Irene.

Gaddafi's desperate bid to save regime revealed  —  Secret documents detail clandestine lobbying of Nato and even Obama following fear of full-scale US invasion  —  The Gaddafi regime carried out an extraordinary clandestine lobbying operation to try to stop Nato's bombardment of Libya …

Rick Perry Sought State Profits From Teacher Life Insurance Scheme … WASHINGTON — Two weeks before Thanksgiving in 2003, top officials from Texas Governor Rick Perry's office pitched an unusual offer to the state's retired teachers: Let's get into the death business.

Obama Leadership Image Takes a Hit, GOP Ratings Decline  —  Continued Dissatisfaction with Republican Field  —  OVERVIEW  —  The public is profoundly discontented with conditions in the country, its government, political leadership and several of its major institutions.

Robertson Suggests Crack In The Washington Monument Was A Sign From God  —  During The 700 Club's “The Sign Of The Times” series on the end of the world this week, Pat Robertson today addressed Tuesday's earthquake on the east coast that left a four-foot long crack in the Washington Monument.

Nikki Haley joins Michele Bachmann town hall  —  NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Several minutes into a Michele Bachmann town hall meeting here Thursday, freshman Republican Tim Scott announced he had a question from an undecided voter named Nikki.  —  Gov. Nikki Haley walked out from behind …

Special prosecutor: No charges for Prosser, Bradley in fracas  —  Neither Supreme Court Justice David Prosser nor fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will face criminal charges for a June altercation, a special prosecutor has determined.  (673)  —  FROM: News » Politics

Clock ticking on Sarah Palin entry into 2012 presidential race  —  Even for Sarah Palin, there are deadlines.  —  The former Alaska governor seems to believe that most of the rules of politics don't apply to her - that with her media appeal and her grassroots following …

State Supreme Court Sides With Teachers' Union On Evaluations … The State Supreme Court ruled on the side of the state teachers' union Wednesday, saying that according to an existing law only 20 percent of teachers' evaluations can be based on standardized test scores.

Irene an extremely dangerous storm surge threat to the mid-Atlantic and New England  —  Back in 1938, long before satellites, radar, the hurricane hunters, and the modern weather forecasting system, the great New England hurricane of 1938 roared northwards into Long Island, New York at 60 mph …

Fiscalization Watch  —  A correspondent informs me that Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, has just given a speech asserting that excessive public debt caused the 2008 crisis.  In fact, I'm told, he said that … OK, we can prove that wrong immediately: I dispute it …

Japan's low unemployment is easily explained  —  Tyler Cowen, Karl Smith, Scott Sumner, and Matt Yglesias raise a question about the Japanese economy: Why is Japan's unemployment rate so low (<5%) when Japan's growth has been so low for so long?  —  This is not a puzzle to me.