President Obama, Mitt Romney deadlocked in race, poll finds  —  AP - A pair of tepid jobs reports, landmark Supreme Court decisions on health-care and immigration laws, and an unprecedented barrage of negative ads have shaped the opening months of the fall presidential campaign.

Rep. Chaffetz: No need for Romney to release more tax records  —  Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) agrued Tuesday that Mitt Romney shouldn't release additional tax records.  —  “No, no I don't,” Chaffetz said on CNN's “Starting Point,” when asked if he thought the presumptive GOP nominee should make available the records available.

The Dark Side of Anti-"Swiss Bank Account" Politics  —  Democratic Swissophobia is hurting patriotic, middle-class Americans.  —  Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) may be too busy to pass a budget more than every 1,168 days or so, but he can always spare time for passing judgments …

Romney Courts Black Vote, an Obama Strength in '08  —  Four years ago, Barack Obama captured 96 percent of the black vote.  But this year, in an election in which every vote may matter, Mitt Romney is not giving up on that front.  —  On Wednesday, Mr. Romney will make a pitch …

Republican Rep: I Don't Think Someone Who Is Diagnosed With A Brain Tumor Should Have Health Care Provided  —  On Monday evening, Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) said that insurance companies should be allowed to discriminate against people with brain tumors during a House Rules Committee debate …

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare  —  Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama's health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

Fed Harms Itself by Missing Goals  —  Ben S. Bernanke has made transparency one of the defining themes of his time at the helm of the Federal Reserve.  The virtue of this transparency is that it's easy to evaluate how well the Fed is conducting monetary policy.

James Earl Jones: Tea Party Is ‘Racist’  —  From Sunday's edition of the syndicated Smiley & West show:  —  JAMES EARL JONES: I think I have figured out the Tea Party I think I I do understand racism because I was taught to be one by my grandmother.  My grandmother was part [tribal affiliation] …

BRAD PITT'S MOM IN FEAR AFTER SLAMMING OBAMA  —  Quaking after being attacked for opposing same-sex marriage  —  Jane Pitt, mother of actor Brad Pitt, has been scared into silence by the hate-filled, vulgar and even violent reaction to her public assertion that Barack Obama is …

Brett Kimberlin versus right-wing bloggers  —  Why are right-wing blogs obsessed with a convicted felon famous for once claiming he sold Dan Quayle drugs?  —  So there is this guy named Brett Kimberlin.  He is a true American weirdo from way back, and he's fairly brilliant at self-promotion and is involved in various liberal causes.

Mayor Bloomberg launches contest to stir development of tiny 300-square-foot apartments for singles  —  Larger than a jail cell, but smaller than mobile home, ministudios will reflect city's changing demographics.  They'll be big enough for bathroom, kitchen, sleeping and dining areas

Political Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations  —  Organized labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as generally thought, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, a finding that shines a light on an aspect of labor's political activity that has often been overlooked.

Embattled Dems buck President Obama on taxes  —  President Barack Obama's renewed push to raise taxes on people who make more than $250,000 is facing some strong head winds: Democrats running for Congress in 2012.  —  Several Democrats in critical House and Senate races say they prefer raising taxes …

HP, Deere, CVS, MillerCoors, BestBuy Exit Controversial ALEC Post-Trayvon Martin Shooting  —  By DAVID ZIELENZIGER: Subscribe to David's RSS feed  —  Five more companies, including Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), the No. 1 computer maker, have left the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council …

Let's Draft Our Kids  —  IN late June, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan, called for reinstating the draft.  “I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk,” he said at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin  —  According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax.

Americans' Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low  —  Liberals' and moderates' views are now similar to conservatives'  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' confidence in television news is at a new low by one percentage point, with 21% of adults expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it.

Wall Streeters Lose $2 Billion In 401(K) Bet On Own Firms  —  401K Heartbreaker for Big Bank Employees  —  Wall Street employees, who dispense financial advice to individuals and companies, aren't following a basic investing tenet with their own money: diversification.

Ex-GOP lawmaker says conservatives must end ‘denial’ on climate  —  Former South Carolina GOP Rep. Bob Inglis, who was vanquished by a Tea Party insurgent in 2010, is urging conservatives to stop denying that humans are contributing to global warming.  —  Inglis, who will lead a new initiative …