Police Clear Zuccotti Park of Protesters  —  Hundreds of New York City police officers cleared Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early Tuesday, arresting dozens of people there after warning them that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” …

Republican Candidates in Four-Way Dead Heat  —  Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are in a dead heat as the top choices for Iowans likely to attend the Jan. 3 Republican presidential caucuses.  —  A Bloomberg News poll shows Cain at 20 percent, Paul at 19 percent …

Scalia and Thomas dine with healthcare law challengers as court takes case  —  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks to a policy forum in Washington last month.  (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)  —  The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question …

Gingrich Said Paid by Freddie Mac to Win Allies  —  Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a “historian” who warned that the mortgage company's business model was “insane.”

Krugman vs Summers: The debate  —  I'm glad I found myself in Toronto this evening, because tonight's Munk Debate was illuminating and enjoyable.  The motion was that “North America faces a Japan-style era of high unemployment and slow growth”; Paul Krugman was arguing for it, while Larry Summers was arguing against.

Solyndra: Energy Dept. pushed firm to keep layoffs quiet until after midterms  —  The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

Allies Accuse James O'Keefe of ‘Hit Job’ in Undercover NPR Sting  —  The two men who pulled off James O'Keefe's NPR sting are now criticizing the conservative activist for what one calls a ‘hit job.’ They tell Howard Kurtz exclusively why they feel exploited.  —  The fake Muslim donor had played his role perfectly.

Herman Cain offered Henry Kissinger secretary of state post  —  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has posted a new set of Herman Cain videos online, including one in which the Republican presidential candidate says he offered Henry Kissinger a place in his administration, but was politely rebuffed by the former secretary of state.

Let's All Feel Superior  —  First came the atrocity, then came the vanity.  The atrocity is what Jerry Sandusky has been accused of doing at Penn State.  The vanity is the outraged reaction of a zillion commentators over the past week, whose indignation is based on the assumption …

Gary Johnson files FEC, FCC complaints over debate exclusion  —  Gary Johnson's presidential campaign is filing an official complaint with both the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over their candidate's exclusion from the most recent GOP debate, Johnson's campaign announced Tuesday.

More Accusations Surface in Penn State Abuse Case  —  STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Close to 10 additional suspected victims have come forward to the authorities since the arrest of the former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on Nov. 5 on 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys, according to people close to the investigation.

Students Lose Zeal for Aiding Obama Again  —  LAS VEGAS — For much of the presidential election of 2008, Barack Obama's campaign was Emma Guerrero's life.  She was one of a dozen volunteers who showed up at an Obama campaign office here every night, taking time from her studies at the University of Nevada …

Newt Gingrich to Brody File: Republican politicians 'don't rely enough on actually knowing things'  —  Newt Gingrich is a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination.  The Brody File is releasing more clips of my interview with Newt Gingrich done in Iowa late last month.

Wonkbook: What to watch in the ‘supercommittee’  —  We're just over a week from the Nov. 23 deadline for the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction — better known as the “supercommittee” — to report out a deal.  In fact, there's less time than that, as anything the panel comes up with must …

‘Secret farm bill’ primed for passage in debt deal  —  Lawmakers on the House and Senate Agriculture committees are trying to write a new five-year farm bill through the supercommittee process.  —  The legislators are using the supercommittee to avoid what would be a more public …