Marco Rubio's compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show  —  During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) frequently repeated a compelling version of his family's history that had special resonance in South Florida.  He was the son of exiles, he told audiences …

Angry Manhattan residents lambast Zuccotti Park protesters  —  Infuriated lower Manhattan residents went ballistic on Zuccotti Park protesters at a chaotic Community Board 1 meeting tonight while blasting politicians for allowing the siege to continue without any end in sight.

Steve Jobs Biography Reveals He Told Obama, 'You're Headed For A One-Term Presidency' … In one of the most hotly-anticipated biographies of the year, “Steve Jobs,” author Walter Isaacson reveals that the Apple CEO offered to design political ads for President Obama's 2012 campaign despite …

Iowa: Cain 28% Romney 21% Paul 10%  —  Reflecting national trends, businessman Herman Cain has now jumped to the front of the Republican pack in Iowa.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Iowa caucus-goers shows that Cain is in front with 28% followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 21%.

When Condi Met Gaddafi  —  In an exclusive excerpt from Condoleezza Rice's new memoir, ‘No Higher Honor,’ the former secretary of state tells all about her meeting with the recently killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi: his obsession with her, his WMD stockpile—and the infamous ‘tent.’

Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland  —  Vice president Joe Biden, left, and Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive announces that the company will produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at the former General Motors Boxwood Plant, Oct. 27, 2009, in Wilmington, Del. (Rob Carr/AP Photo)

Senate Votes Down Trimmed Version of Obama's Jobs Bill  —  WASHINGTON - Despite a campaign-style push this week by President Barack Obama, the Senate on Thursday scuttled pared-back jobs legislation aimed at helping state and local governments avoid layoffs of teachers and firefighters.

Lindsey Graham: 'Let's Get In On The Ground.  There's A Lot Of Money To Be Made In The Future Of Libya'  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has had no shortage of criticisms for Obama administration's handling of NATO air support for Libyan rebels.  But with news this morning of Muammar Qaddafi's death …

Announcing Retirement, Dem Congressman Bashes Obama  —  Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., announced his retirement from Congress this afternoon — and he issued a scathing parting shot at President Obama's track record on his way out.  —  In a statement explaining his decision, Cardoza …

Gaddafi's death - who pulled the trigger?  —  (Reuters) - Disturbing images of a blood-stained and shaken Muammar Gaddafi being jostled by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator's dramatic death near his home town of Sirte.

The heat is on  —  A new analysis of the temperature record leaves little room for the doubters.  The world is warming  —  from the print edition  —  FOR those who question whether global warming is really happening, it is necessary to believe that the instrumental temperature record is wrong.

Is Herman Cain the Most Unctuous Black Man Alive?  —  Why the Hermanator experience is making me sick  —  This Presidential election has not lacked for clowns and in a circus Herman Cain fits right in.  But as the Black clown, Cain's foot in mouth moments mostly involve insulting the Black community.

First look at US pay data, it's awful  —  Anyone who wants to understand the enduring nature of Occupy Wall Street and similar protests across the country need only look at the first official data on 2010 paychecks, which the U.S. government posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

The art of the cheap shot  —  It's hard to dispute that Rick Perry's he-hired-an-illegal-immigrant attack on Mitt Romney was a cheap shot.  —  It's even harder to dispute that it worked beautifully.  —  Put aside the fact that Perry's broadside was recycled, and barely relevant to the debate.

Well, Good for WDAV  —  According to this update just now, the classical music public radio station WDAV, in North Carolina, will not dismiss Lisa Simeone from her role as a freelance (ie, non-employee) host of an opera (ie, non-political) program carried by NPR, just because she has also been a spokesperson for the Occupy DC movement.

Perry Campaign Chartered a Plane Used in Drug-Smuggling Ring  —  The campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, which said Wednesday it had underpaid wealthy donors for use of their private jets, has another ticklish plane problem. … For a campaign swing that started late last month …

What If We Paid Off The Debt?  The Secret Government Report  —  Planet Money has obtained a secret government report outlining what once looked like a potential crisis: The possibility that the U.S. government might pay off its entire debt.  —  It sounds ridiculous today.

Oh, This Is Good  —  So, we've been doing the Carter-Obama theme for quite a while here.  But we've been completely trumped with this video.

How the Austerity Class Rules Washington  —  This article appeared in the November 7, 2011 edition of The Nation.  —  Recommended by  —  In September the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a bipartisan deficit-hawk group based at the New America Foundation …

Mapping the FBI: Uncovering Abusive Surveillance and Racial Profiling  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation is collecting racial and ethnic information and “mapping” American communities around the country based on crude stereotypes about which groups commit different types of crimes.

Understanding the Second Great Contraction: An interview with Kenneth Rogoff  —  The economist and coauthor of This Time Is Different explains what history can teach us about the global downturn and why climbing out of it is still rife with risks.  —  Continued economic stagnation in Europe …

Cain Claims 999 Has A Secret Fix To Help The Poor: 'I Just Haven't Told The Public Or My Opponents About It Yet'  —  ThinkProgress filed this report from the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  —  The centerpiece of Herman Cain's economic agenda, the 999 Plan …

Are Herman Cain's 15 minutes finally over?  —  Last night, Herman Cain made a big splash when he backed into pro-choice language on abortion last night on CNN — apparently by accident — when he said he is personally fully against abortion but doesn't think that the government should tell women what to do.