Shifting Reports on Libya Killings May Cost Obama  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's shifting accounts of the fatal attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, have left President Obama suddenly exposed on the national security and foreign policy issues …

Obama administration tells contractors again: Don't issue layoff notices  —  The Obama administration issued new guidance intended for defense contractors Friday afternoon, reiterating the administration's position that the companies should not be issuing layoff notices over sequestration.

Goodbye, Columbus: Why top Ohio Republicans think Romney has lost the state  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio - There are only two plausible explanations for what is going on this week in this swing state central to virtually all Mitt Romney's victory strategies.  —  Either many top Ohio Republicans …

Cramming and Pruning for First Presidential Debate  —  WASHINGTON — In a conference room at the Democratic headquarters, President Obama has been preparing for the debate next week, but the reviews of his staff are already in.  Too long, they tell him.  Cut that answer.  Give crisper explanations.

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger |  1926 - 2012: Arthur O. Sulzberger, Publisher Who Transformed Times, Dies at 86  —  Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who guided The New York Times and its parent company through a long, sometimes turbulent period of expansion and change on a scale not seen since …

Introducing The New Polling Firm of Madoff, Marist, Quinnipiac and Ponzi  —  After a few weeks spent tracking down and questioning pollsters and the reporters of polls, I can assure the reader that pollsters are the modern-day alchemists.  They promise to turn numbers into predictive gold.

Ann Romney: If elected, “mental well-being” Mitt's biggest challenge  —  Ann Romney greets supporters at Bartley Ranch Thursday Sept. 27, 2012 in Reno, Nev. / AP PHOTO/THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, MARILYN NEWTON  —  (CBS News) Ann Romney's biggest concern if her husband becomes president …

Romney Foreign Policy Adviser Calls Obama's Libya Response ‘Limp Wristed’  —  A foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney on Friday called President Obama's foreign policy “limp wristed.”  —  Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton employed the term, usually used as a slur against or allusion to gay men …

2012 map could be deja vu for Obama  —  Some political scientists and Democratic strategists believe it's now possible that President Barack Obama could replicate his break-out Electoral College map from 2008, with the exception of Indiana, even if the popular vote is closer than four years ago.

SFC Speer's Killer Leaves Gitmo  —  Omar Khadr has been sent from Guantanamo to Canada, after returning from the jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Khadr is slated to stay in custody for the time being.  It is difficult to think of a more mythologized figure in the post-9/11 war on terror.

Member of ‘Obama Boyz’ gang charged in St. Louis shootings  —  ST. LOUIS  • A St. Louis teen who authorities say is a member of a gang called the “Obama Boyz” has been charged with two shootings on Saturday.  —  Anthony Jamal Lee, 18, fired at a group of people from the window of a Grand Prix at 2:17 p.m., according to charges.

Mass Lawyers Weekly readers want investigation of Elizabeth Warren license problem  —  Mass Lawyers Weekly ran a reader poll today regarding the following question: … I heard about the poll in an email just after 1:30 p.m. today.  I did not publicize the poll because while online polls …

Jim Webb on ‘Givers’ and ‘Takers’  —  I have known, respected, and come very much to like Jim Webb over the course of more than 30 years.  We originally met because of deep disagreements about the Vietnam War.  He went to Annapolis, served with distinction and bravery as Marine officer …

GOP Senate Candidate Akin: ‘Free Enterprise’ Means Being Allowed To Deny Equal Pay To Women  —  Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has struggled with a well-established woman problem in his Senate campaign, ever since he claimed women could not get pregnant from “legitimate rape.”

Bob Dole on life after losing the 1996 presidential election  —  In eulogizing Gerald Ford at his Grand Rapids, Mich., funeral in January 2007, Jimmy Carter described a New Yorker cartoon that both men had found amusing.  In it a small boy informs his mother, “When I grow up, I want to be a former president.”