Battleground Tracking Poll: Mitt Romney takes lead  —  DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney has taken a narrow national lead, tightened the gender gap and expanded his edge over President Barack Obama on who would best grow the economy.  —  A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll …

Cutter: Libya response has been a ‘very transparent process’  —  Deputy Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter on Monday defended the administration's response to last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, saying that the ongoing investigation had been a “very transparent process.”

George McGovern, the man who never gave up  —  Bob Dole, a Republican from Kansas, was the Senate majority leader from 1985 to 1987 and 1995 to 1996 and the Republican nominee for president in 1996.  —  When I learned that George McGovern was nearing the end of his remarkable life …

Obama vs. Romney: How they plan to win  —  It's momentum vs. the map.  —  With a little more than two weeks left until judgment day, Barack Obama's campaign is embracing a fundamentally defensive strategy centered on winning Ohio at all costs — while unleashing a new barrage of blistering attacks …

Obama campaign denies Willie Brown's claim of Obama-Wright outreach conference call  —  Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, reported Saturday that President Barack Obama held a semi-secret conference call with the racist preacher Jeremiah Wright and other ministers last weekend to boost African-American turnout.

World Cycling Body Strips Armstrong of Titles … GENEVA—Lance Armstrong was officially stripped of his titles Monday by cycling's governing body in the latest chapter in the doping allegations against the seven times Tour de France champion.  —  The International Cycling Union, or UCI …

‘Gender Gap’ Near Historic Highs  —  If only women voted, President Obama would be on track for a landslide re-election, equaling or exceeding his margin of victory over John McCain in 2008.  Mr. Obama would be an overwhelming favorite in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and most every other place …

Revenge of the Soccer Moms: Why Are Women Abandoning Obama?  —  CHANTILLY, Virginia — Remember the War on Women?  —  A few months ago, it seemed like the battle for women's votes was one Democrats had decisively won.  While (male) Republican politicians talked about transvaginal ultrasounds …

The Unreality of the Past Four Years  —  The Benghazi fiasco is a brutally illuminating portrait of the Obama White House in crisis mode.  —  In the 1967 film “A Guide for the Married Man,” a husband, played by a peerless Walter Matthau, is given lessons in ways to cheat on his wife safely.

Mitt Romney's toughest debate  —  Mitt Romney has a clear-eyed and self-aware view of his chances in the final debate Monday, according to top advisers: It will be almost impossible to win, since the debate is focused exclusively on foreign policy, a strength for President Barack Obama.

THE CHOICE  —  The morning was cold and the sky was bright.  Aretha Franklin wore a large and interesting hat.  Yo-Yo Ma urged his frozen fingers to play the cello, and the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, a civil-rights comrade of Martin Luther King, Jr.,'s, read a benediction that began with …

ObamaCare: Rhetoric Vs. Reality  —  WASHINGTON — Just recently, the Internal Revenue Service issued an 18-page, single-spaced notice explaining how to distinguish between full-time and part-time workers under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").  The difference matters …

Rep. Steve King Won't Say If He Believes Contraception Should Be Legal  —  Iowa Congressman Steve King (R) pointedly refused to say whether he believes contraception should be sold legally in the United States.  King, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, criticized the seminal Supreme Court decision …

The Secret of Our Non-Success  —  The U.S. economy finally seems to be recovering in earnest, with housing on the rebound and job creation outpacing growth in the working-age population.  But the news is good, not great — it will still take years to restore full employment — and it has been a very long time coming.