Op-Ed Contributor: The Bush White House Was Deaf to 9/11 Warnings  —  IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history.  —  On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda.

Among likely voters, Obama-Romney close  —  Last week's Democratic National Convention helped President Obama improve his standing against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but did little to reduce voter concern about his handling of the economy.

In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege  —  The high-stakes strike by 26,000 public school teachers in Chicago is only the latest episode in which the nation's teachers' unions have been thrown on the defensive in the face of demands for far-reaching changes.

The Kerry-ization of Mitt Romney  —  Mitt Romney is getting the full John Kerry treatment on national security — and some top Republicans are alarmed by what they see as his ham-handed response to it.  —  Romney — whose convention speech didn't include a salute to the troops or a reference to Afghanistan …

EXCLUSIVE: Parents of SEAL Team Six member say unit endangered by Obama administration statements  —  Identifying the Special Operations Force behind the Usama bin Laden raid amounted to placing a target on the back of the team members as well as their families, according to the parents of Aaron Vaughn …

Niall Ferguson: Why Obama Is Winning  —  The economy's in the tank, yet Romney can't seem to gain an edge.  One thing's for sure: this election is about personal likability.  It's not the economy, stupid.  —  It's a paradox.  The economy is in the doldrums.  Yet the incumbent is ahead in the polls.

With GOP jittery, Romney faces test of resolve  —  Mitt Romney and his top aides are running an essentially faith-based campaign.  Whatever the polls say at the moment, whatever the pundits say, whatever some nervous Republicans say, Team Romney simply does not believe President Obama can win re-election in today's terrible economy.

Fear of a Black President  —  As a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with America's original sin, slavery.  But as our first black president, he has avoided mention of race almost entirely.  In having to be “twice as good” and “half as black,” …

Obama's Hayes Of History  —  History: As President Obama fumbled with an iPhone, the blogosphere recalled he had earlier falsely bad-mouthed President Rutherford B. Hayes as a technological troglodyte.  It's not his error that annoys but his arrogance.  —  For a man who would have Americans believe …

Scott Van Duzer, the Obama hugger: Shop facing boycott  —  The owner of a Florida pizza shop says people are boycotting his business because he bear-hugged President Barack Obama on Sunday.  —  “People are saying a lot of bad things and boycotting my restaurant,” Scott Van Duzer, 46, told POLITICO.

'He says he's got a 53-point plan or whatever'  —  Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) spoke at the Republican National Convention a couple of weeks ago, and like most speakers, didn't have much to say about the man his party was nominating for president.  In his 1,300-word speech, Kasich said …

The Most Anti-Gay Piece Of Political Mail This Year  —  There is still time, but a mailer first reported by Politico and prepared in the name of “The Committee To Save The Erie County Republican Party” in New York was never sent — but has set a mighty low bar.

Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen killed in airstrike  —  Associated Press/SITE Intelligence Group, File - FILE - In this undated frame grab from video posted on a militant-leaning Web site, and provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, shows Saeed al-Shihri, deputy ...more