Conservatives launch “We are the 53 percent” to criticize 99 percenters  —  Conservative activists have created a Tumblr called “We are the 53 percent” that's meant to be a counterpunch to the viral “We are the 99 percent” site that's become a prominent symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Cain Surges, Nearly Ties Romney for Lead in GOP Preferences  —  Romney and Cain closely matched near 20%, with Perry at 15%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans' support for Herman Cain has surged to 18%, their support for Rick Perry has sagged to 15%, and their support for Mitt Romney remains relatively stable at 20%.

Warren raises $3.15M; Brown raises $1.55M  —  Elizabeth Warren raised more than $3 million in a little more than six weeks to fund her Senate bid in Massachusetts — more than twice the figure pulled in by incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).  —  The astounding figure anchors the notion …

Sign Of The Times  —  Macro in the park.  —  It's not centrist when Democrats do it.  —  Go Princeton!  (And NYU)  —  All hail the new laureates.  —  Financial Romanticism  —  Laissez-faire won't work.  —  October 09  —  Was Failure Inevitable?  —  Maybe, but trying couldn't and can't hurt.

Al-Qaeda joins those questioning legality of U.S. killing of citizen Anwar al-Awlaki  —  (Associated Press via SITE Intelligence Group) Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen has confirmed the deaths of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, the young American propagandist killed alongside …

Obama the loner  —  The Post's Scott Wilson penned a provocative piece over the weekend that cast President Obama's current political problems through the lens of his loner tendencies.  —  Is President Obama a loner?  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Wrote Wilson:

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Top One Million in First 24 Hours  —  Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet …

God Told Me To Run … GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain said Monday he didn't want to run for president, but God called him to join the race.  —  The Republican candidate told CBN News that's why he believes “God's been in this from the beginning.”  —  Cain said that when he felt God calling …

Chart of the day, median income edition  —  Why has no one thought to do this before?  Every month, the Current Population Survey goes out to a nationally representative sample of more than 50,000 interviewed households and their members.  And in one of the questions, those households …

'Mr. Cain, Who Is Lawrence O'Donnell to Tell You How to Be a Black Man?'  —  After Thursday evening's “interview” on MSNBC, Professor William Jacobson and others were outraged by Lawrence O'Donnell's self-righteous and disrespectful hectoring of Herman Cain.

Capitalist Tool  —  Meet Jesse LaGreca, Disney's Audio-Animatronic revolutionary.  —  “I'm the only working-class person you're going to see on Sunday news, political news,” declared Jesse LaGreca on “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” yesterday.  “Maybe ever.”

Karl Rove vs. the Koch brothers  —  Karl Rove's team and the Koch brothers' operatives quietly coordinated millions of dollars in political spending in 2010, but that alliance, which has flown largely under the radar, is showing signs of fraying.  —  And with each network planning to dwarf its 2010 effort …

Aimless Obama walks alone  —  The reports are not good, disturbing even.  I have heard basically the same story four times in the last 10 days, and the people doing the talking are in New York and Washington and are spread across the political spectrum.  —  The gist is this …