Democratic cracks open in debt-limit fight  —  For the past several weeks, Senate Democrats and the White House have shown a remarkable amount of unity in the controversial fight surrounding the debt ceiling.  —  Then came shutdown Day Seven.  —  Just as top Senate Democrats began to lay …

Why the Government Shutdown Isn't Anywhere Near Over—in 1 Graph  —  Two parties, divided by a common loathing  —  Americans are perfectly, identically, symmetrically split on whether the GOP is justified in demanding major changes to Obamacare in exchange for funding the rest of the government, according to a new Pew Research poll.

‘Truckers for the Constitution’ Plan to Slow D.C. Beltway, Arrest Congressmen  —  Police must detain ‘accessories’ to ‘treason’ or truckers will, organizer says  —  Tractor-trailer drivers will intentionally clog the inner loop of the Washington, D.C., beltway beginning on the morning of Oct. 11 …

The Attorney General tries to reverse a Supreme Court ruling by the back door.  —  For Eric Holder, American racial history is frozen in the 1960s.  The Supreme Court ruled in June that a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is no longer justified due to racial progress …

Republicans Didn't Sabotage Health Exchanges, Obama Did  —  For the first week that the federal health-care exchanges were running ... well, crawling ... the Obama administration claimed that no one could get through because of overwhelming pent-up demand.  Essentially it spent a week arguing …

HealthCare.gov simple, user-friendly  —  Engineers are working day and night on upgrades to cope with high demand.  —  CONNECT  —  When the Health Insurance Marketplace opened last week, demand was so high, it exceeded even optimists' expectations.  On the first day alone …

POLITICO poll: Government shutdown backlash boosts Terry McAuliffe  —  Democrat Terry McAuliffe has opened up a significant lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor's race amid broad public disapproval of the federal government shutdown, according to a POLITICO poll of the 2013 gubernatorial election.

Bachmann: Obama arming terrorists proof 'we're in God's end times'  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) over the weekend accused President Obama of arming al Qaeda militants in Syria and said it was evidence “we're in God's end times.”  —  “This happened and as of today the United States is willingly …

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe says he feels ‘great’ after emergency heart surgery  —  After a routine test found extreme blockage in five arteries, the Republican senator returned to Tulsa and had quadruple bypass surgery Friday.  —  Sen. Jim Inhofe underwent emergency heart surgery in Tulsa …

Biden campaign stop for Cory Booker canceled  —  Vice President Joe Biden has canceled a trip to New Jersey to campaign for Democrat Cory Booker because of the government shutdown.  —  Booker's campaign announced Tuesday that the vice president will not appear at a Friday event for the candidate in New Jersey.

Ro Khanna raises $500K against Rep. Honda  —  Former Obama administration official Ro Khanna (D) has raised another $500,000 for his campaign against Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), cementing his position as a well-funded challenger to the longtime congressman.  —  Khanna's latest haul is a drop-off …

Obama and the Debt  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — THE Republicans in the House of Representatives who declare that they may refuse to raise the debt limit threaten to do more than plunge the government into default.  They are proposing a blatant violation of the 14th Amendment, which states that …

There's a Major Foodborne Illness Outbreak and the Government's Shut Down  —  Late-breaking news, and I'll update as I find out more: While the government is shut down, with food-safety personnel and disease detectives sent home and forbidden to work, a major foodborne-illness outbreak has begun.