Jon Huntsman Sr., longtime Romney backer, calls on him to release tax returns  —  The internet is alive with speculation that the secret source Harry Reid claims to have on Mitt Romney's tax returns is Utah industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr. He is the founder of Hunstman Corporation and the father …

UPDATED: Time, CNN Suspend Zakaria |  Talk About Concealed Carry: Fareed Zakaria Plagiarized Paragraph on History of Gun Control  —  [UPDATED below page break: TIME magazine, CNN have suspended Zakaria.]  When CNN host and Time editor-at-large Fareed Zakaria wrote a new piece called …

Romney wants his taxes, business record off table  —  Mitt Romney made an unusual suggestion in his interview with Chuck Todd yesterday, which First Read previewed thusly: … Talking about candidates' personal finances is hardly novel, nor is it irrelevant — how candidates make their money …

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano favored women pals for jobs: lawsuit  —  A veteran US law-enforcement official has filed a blockbuster discrimination lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, charging she pushed him aside to make way for a less-qualified woman who's …

President Barack Obama talks to supporters during a campaign rally at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Aug, 9, 2012.  —  *** It's not an even race - Obama's ahead: The Olympics are wrapping up and, at the end of July, when the Olympics began, we wrote that we were basically …

Romney's Strategy Isn't Working  —  The line from Romney headquarters last month was “every day we're not talking about the economy is a day we lose.”  This line, which came from the highest reaches of the campaign, was proffered to explain the unwillingness to provide substantive details on a host of policies besides the economy.

White House Approached Schwarzenegger in 2011  —  Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting back into the movie business with a lineup of six film projects-but at one point, things might have gone a very different way.  —  Mr. Schwarzenegger was approached by White House officials …

Top Romney Aide: Obama Has “Lost His Credibility”  —  “I don't think a world champion limbo dancer could get any lower than the Obama campaign right now.”  —  Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom at the campaign's Boston headquarters.  —  Image by JOSH REYNOLDS / AP

Biden: McConnell decided to withhold all cooperation even before we took office  —  I've got my copy of Michael Grunwald's new book on the making of stimulus, The New New Deal, and there are a lot of juicy nuggets in it.  In particular, it may shed new light on the degree to which Republicans …

The Killing  —  The Massachusetts multimillionaire who won his party's nomination largely on perceptions of “electability” had become the target of a ferocious blitz of negative advertising.  Partisans and media decried many of the attacks as misleading or false.

Smith becomes first gay general officer to serve openly  —  WASHINGTON — Army reserve officer Tammy Smith calls her recent promotion to brigadier general exciting and humbling, saying it gives her a chance to be a leader in advancing Army values and excellence.

Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol.  XXIX  —  Joe Klein reflected briefly on Mitt Romney this week, noting, “I can't remember a candidate so brazenly allergic to facts.  What a travesty.”  Kevin Drum offered some related thoughts. … The same afternoon, in an apparent attempt to push …

Ohio Limits Early Voting Hours In Democratic Counties, Expands In Republican Counties  —  Ohio has introduced a new tactic in their broader attempts to make it even harder for Democratic voters to get to the polls this year.  Early voting stations in Ohio's heavily Democratic counties …

Will Erskine Bowles be our next Treasury Secretary?  —  One of Washington's favorite guessing games — behind Mitt Romney's veepstakes, but way ahead of who will run the Commerce Department — is who will replace Timothy Franz Geithner as Treasury Secretary.

Leading LGBT Group Formed “Dark Money” Group To Oppose Gambling Effort  —  The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force won't answer questions about how this week's mailing to Maryland Democrats was funded.  Under state law, the financing may remain secret.  —  The National Gay & Lesbian Task …

Federal Judge Strikes Down Utah's Hairbraiding Licensing Scheme  —  Finds Cosmetology Regulations to Be a Violation of Hairbraider's Constitutional Rights  —  (703) 682-9320  —  Salt Lake City, Utah—In a major victory for economic liberty, a federal court ruled late yesterday …

Robertson: Gay Rights Advocates Should ‘Shut Their Mouth’  —  Yesterday on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that activists who don't want Chick-fil-A on their college campus due to the company's anti-gay advocacy should keep quiet: “I defy these homosexuals to bring forth a baby from that part …