POLITICO poll shows mounting danger for Dems  —  President Barack Obama's job approval slump and voters' entrenched wariness of his health care law are dogging Democrats ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, and Republicans have captured a lead in the areas home to the year's most competitive races, according to a new POLITICO poll.

Exclusive: VA Scandal Hits New Hospital  —  Veterans with serious heart conditions, gangrene, and even brain tumors waited months for care at the Albuquerque VA hospital, a whistleblowing doctor tells The Daily Beast.  —  Add Albuquerque, New Mexico's to the growing list of VA hospitals accused …

U.S. Charges Chinese Army Personnel With Cyberspying  —  WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice said on Monday that it had charged five individuals in China's People's Liberation Army in connection with stealing trade secrets from some of the largest American companies, including Westinghouse, United States Steel and Alcoa.

Springtime for Bankers  —  By any normal standard, economic policy since the onset of the financial crisis has been a dismal failure.  It's true that we avoided a full replay of the Great Depression.  But employment has taken more than six years to claw its way back to pre-crisis levels …

What to Watch for in Three Primaries  —  Not much matters six months before a midterm election, but Tuesday's primaries are an exception.  Republicans will have an opportunity to nominate candidates in three potentially competitive Senate contests: in Kentucky, Georgia and Oregon.  Here's what you need to know.

Abramson's Exit at The Times Puts Tensions on Display  —  Back in 2010, before she became executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson sent me a handwritten attaboy note about a big story.  It still hangs in my cubicle: “You wrote a story about the trashing of a once great American institution and people never tire of that.”

Higher ed becoming a joke: Column  —  American colleges are fraught with petty politics and bad economics.  —  As college graduates around the country fling their caps into the air, college and university administrators are ending the year in a less positive state.

Watch the Homophobic Ad That a Losing Candidate is Running in Georgia  —  The Georgia airwaves are largely full of TV ads for Republican Senate candidates (and a few for Michelle Nunn, who's sailing to a Democratic primary win), and I saw maybe eight of them while in the state last week.

In Arkansas, Obama is a Four-letter Word Hampering Democrats  —  What Bill Clinton's home state says about racial politics, control of the Senate, and Hillary Clinton in 2016.  —  Jerry Hood gives Richard Wyatt a trim while talking politics at his Little Rock barbershop.  (Ron Fournier)

Marco Rubio's ‘pot’ hole  —  Why won't Sen. Marco Rubio say whether he's ever smoked pot?  —  The Florida Republican, who maintains a strict stance against the legalization of marijuana, refuses to answer whether he's ever personally smoked it.  Rubio told “Politics Confidential” …

No more liberal apologies as Elizabeth Warren takes the offensive  —  BOSTON  —  Elizabeth Warren is cast as many things: a populist, a left-winger, the paladin against the bankers and the rich, the Democrats' alternative to Hillary Clinton, the policy wonk with a heart.

Student Debt Grows Faster at Universities With Highest-Paid Leaders, Study Finds  —  At the 25 public universities with the highest-paid presidents, both student debt and the use of part-time adjunct faculty grew far faster than at the average state university from 2005 to 2012 …

President Obama golfed with Bain Capital lobbyist  —  One of President Barack Obama's golf partners this weekend was a lobbyist for the financial firm Bain Capital.  —  According to a White House pool report, Obama hit the links on Saturday at the exclusive Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville …

Targeted?  Gun sellers say ‘high risk’ label from feds cuts off banking options, restricts business  —  Obama plan pressures financial institutions  —  Gun retailers say the Obama administration is trying to put them out of business with regulations and investigations that bypass Congress …

Workers at N.Y.U.'s Abu Dhabi Site Faced Harsh Conditions  —  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The strike had entered its second day when construction workers at Labor Camp 42 got word that their bosses from the BK Gulf corporation had come to negotiate.  Mohammed Amir Waheed Sirkar …

AT&T to Acquire DIRECTV  — Creates Content Distribution Leader Across Mobile, Video & Broadband Platforms  — The premier pay TV brand with the best content relationships now poised to deliver video to multiple screens - mobile, TV, laptops and more - to meet consumers' future viewing and programming preferences