Exclusive: In heated '07 speech, Obama lavishes praise on Wright, says feds 'don't care' about New Orleans [VIDEO]  —  In a video obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama tells an audience of black ministers, including the Rev. Jeremiah Wright …

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama holds lead in Ohio; statistical tie in Va., Fla.  —  Slideshow: On the campaign trail  —  In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.  —  Launch slideshow

Mitt's ‘W’ problem  —  DENVER — It's a matter of when, not if, President Barack Obama turns to Mitt Romney at the first face-off here Wednesday night and repeats some variation of the same line the president and his campaign have used all year: Mitt, electing you would mean a return …

CNN Poll: Big shifts on role of government  —  Denver (CNN) - Hours before the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a showdown that will focus on domestic issues, a new national survey indicates that Americans have undergone some major changes …

Complicity in Duplicity?  —  A woman named Rice in a top administration job, ambitious to move up to secretary of state, hitting the Sunday talk shows to aggressively promote a Middle East narrative that's good for the president but destined to crumble under scrutiny.

Romney's 'you didn't build that' attack: An epic FAIL  —  Others have touched on this already, but it really deserves highlighting here, too.  Check this out, from the new NBC/WSJ poll: … Romney built much of his convention around Obama's “you didn't build that” comments, but only 32 percent were impacted negatively by them.

New Todd Akin Videos Reveal His Dystopian Nightmare Vision of America  —  Todd Akin is scared.  —  After becoming a national scandal with his claims that “legitimate rape” cannot result in pregnancy, Rep. Todd Akin has been slowly regaining lost ground in the contest against incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill for a Missouri Senate seat.

First Debate Often Helps Challenger in Polls  —  Conventional wisdom holds that the first presidential debate offers an especially good opportunity for the challenging candidate, who for the first time gets to stand on a literal public stage, and a proverbial level playing field, with the incumbent president.

MICHELLE: ‘BARACK HAS DONE PHENOMENAL JOB WORKING AROUND CONGRESS’  —  MICHELLE OBAMA ON The TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW: Well, we're understanding that, you know, you can have a president you love, but if you don't have a congress that's willing to work, you know, you wind up stalled in so many ways.

Morning Jay: This Race Has Just Begun  —  The most recent RealClearPolitics average of the national polls shows President Obama holding a 3.1 point lead over Mitt Romney, 49.1 to 46.0.  Additionally, his net job approval rating is now back to about even, 48.8 approve to 48.5 disapprove.

Romney floats deduction cap  —  Mitt Romney floated the idea of a $17,000 limit on itemized tax deductions Tuesday night — and is likely to get a quick lesson in the risks of providing details about his tax plans.  —  While a $17,000 limit would hit hardest on people in the highest tax brackets …

Exclusive: President Obama Considered Putting Osama bin Laden on Trial if Taken Alive … In an adaptation from his new book, The Finish—first reported for Vanity Fair—magazine contributing editor Mark Bowden reveals that President Obama intended to put Osama bin Laden on trial …

On Eve Of First Debate, NPR Poll Shows Romney Within Striking Distance  —  Early voting has begun in the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia and Iowa.  Voting booths are set up for early voting at the Black Hawk County Courthouse last Thursday in Waterloo, Iowa.

Obama campaign's robocall about early voting called misleading  —  Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley is warning voters about potentially misleading early voting information after his office received hundreds of inquiries from voters Tuesday wanting to cast early ballots.Early voting …

Iran police break up protests over currency crisis  —  Many shops in the central bazaar have closed in sympathy with the demonstrators  —  Riot police in Iran have broken up several protests in the capital over sharp falls in the currency, the rial.  —  Traders protested outside the central bank …

N.Y. City Subpoenas Ken Burns Film on '89 Jogger Rape  —  In a new movie, the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns explores the lives of the men who were convicted, and later exonerated, in the racially charged 1989 Central Park jogger rape case.  —  Now lawyers for New York City want to explore …

Is unlimited growth a thing of the past?  —  Might growth be ending?  This is a heretical question.  Yet an expert on productivity, Robert Gordon of Northwestern university, has raised it in a provocative paper.  In this, he challenges the conventional view of economists that “economic growth ... will continue indefinitely.”

William Katz: Urgent Agenda  —  HOME ABOUT OUR ARCHIVE CONTACT  —  LOVE IT, LOVE IT - AT 9:13 A.M. ET: I've had the privilege of appearing on the New York talk show hosted by the great Mike Scully, on WVOX.  Mike sends along a picture of this great yard sign, which was put up in Glenview, Illinois:

Paul Ryan: 30 Percent ‘Want Their Welfare State,’ 70 Percent ‘Want The American Dream’ (VIDEO) … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Paul Ryan, Video, 30 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, We Are The 47 Percent, Mitt Romney 2012 …