Wisconsin recall: Democrats prepare for recall recount  —  Brace yourself: Wisconsin Democrats say they are preparing for the event that the hotly contested recall race could drag on for weeks, or even longer.  —  Floating the prospect of a recount is, of course, a message that bolsters …

Fear factors: What worries Romney backers  —  Mitt Romney has done the unthinkable: silenced the legions of conservatives who saw him as too starched, too ideologically wobbly and too Richie Rich to win a few months ago.  —  Now comes the hard part: getting those same conservatives …

The 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook  —  Over the past few years, the federal government has been recording budget deficits that are the largest as a share of the economy since 1945.  Consequently, the amount of federal debt held by the public has surged.  By the end of this year …

How Romney Pushed State Health Bill  —  Emails Show Governor Defending Insurance Mandate for Massachusetts Residents  —  When Mitt Romney left office as Massachusetts governor, his aides removed all emails from a server computer in the governor's office, and purchased and carted off hard drives …

Proposition 8 ruling opens door to Supreme Court test  —  A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected an appeal of February's ruling that overturned Proposition 8, a move that is likely to send the debate over same-sex marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court.  —  The decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court …

Obama's awkward embrace of the devil... who wears Prada  —  As Americans grapple with disastrous unemployment numbers, the Obama campaign releases a video starring blatantly elitist Vogue editor Anna Wintour  —  In last week's column, I wrote that the Obama campaign woes in May were mainly the result of circumstance.

Bill Clinton is out of control  —  Bill Clinton has to be the smartest guy in the room even when he's not in the room.  —  Clinton is not on Barack Obama's campaign staff, is not a trusted adviser, does not set Obama's strategy.  —  But Bill Clinton is pretty good at sabotaging Obama's strategy.

Ali Akbar Says, ‘World War Three’  —  Ali Akbar with Tea Party candidate Doug Hoffman, October 2009  —  Monday afternoon I was off the grid when Ali Akbar called to tell me that “Breitbart Unmasked” had published a photo and the address of his mother's home in Texas in a viciously mendacious attack on the National Bloggers Club.

Newsweek hires Atlantic's Megan McArdle  —  Megan McArdle, the Atlantic's libertarian economics blogger, is joining Newsweek & The Daily Beast, POLITICO has learned.  —  McArdle, who is currently on book leave, has blogged about business and economics for the Atlantic since 2007.

Spain Warns Market Access Being Shut  —  MADRID—Spain urged euro-zone partners on Tuesday to act more swiftly to help support its enfeebled banks, with Budget Minister Cristóbal Montoro saying that the government has effectively lost access to capital markets because of steep risk premiums demanded by sovereign bond investors.

NASA Gets Two New Hubble Telescopes — Absolutely Free  —  It hardly bears mentioning that the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most extraordinarily successful scientific instruments of all time.  Since 1993, when the telescope's flawed mirror was set right by a set …

Therapy Survivor Calls Out Ex-Gay Advocate's Bullying On Dr. Drew  —  Last night on his HLN show, Dr. Drew interviewed Janet Boynes, friend of Marcus and Michele Bachmann, about her ex-gay identity and advocacy.  She unsurprisingly reiterated her belief that “change is possible through …

Robert Barro: Why This Slow Recovery Is Like No Recovery  —  The U.S. economy lost about 10% relative to trendline growth.  To make up the shortfall, we need to average more than 3% growth a year for several years.  —  Last week's dismal jobs report showed little change in payroll employment …