Conservatives Wary of Deal  —  Speaker John Boehner may be trying to finalize a plan to raise the debt limit, but House conservatives are already skeptical of his efforts.  In interviews, several of them tell me they're unlikely to support any deal that may emerge.

‘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 …

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.

Republican disapproval grows in budget battle, Post-ABC poll finds  —  By Scott Clement and Peyton M. Craighill, Published: October 7 at 3:01 pm  —  Disapproval of congressional Republicans' budget wrangling after a weeklong shutdown has shot up to 70 percent, with 51 percent disapproving …

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 …

Shutdown — 'A pox on everybody's house'  —  Democrats have the advantage in the government shutdown debate, but it's not the rout that many anticipated.  —  While polls show that more people blame Republicans than Democrats, the margin is not so lopsided that GOP leaders feel compelled to back down.

Meltdowns Hobble NSA Data Center  —  Investigators Stumped by What's Causing Power Surges That Destroy Equipment  —  Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency's spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth …

Park Service OKs immigration reform rally on ‘closed’ National Mall  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL IMMIGRATION GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN  —  A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown.

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 …

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 …

Rouhani Has Revealed His True Nuclear Intentions  —  Here is something to remember as nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran appear set to recommence: The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, the putative moderate on whose shoulders great American hopes have been placed …