Exclusive: GOP poll of women: Party ‘stuck in past’  —  A detailed report commissioned by two major Republican groups — including one backed by Karl Rove — paints a dismal picture for Republicans, concluding female voters view the party as “intolerant,” “lacking in compassion” and “stuck in the past.”

Two legal guests tell CNN their Brown shooting audio might be a hoax  —  For more than 24-hours, CNN has been regularly playing a clip of audio which purports to reveal the exact moment when 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson.  Each time it was played …

U.S. Budget Gap Narrows to Smallest Since 2007, CBO Says  —  The U.S. budget deficit will narrow less than forecast this year even as it falls to the lowest level since 2007 as a share of the economy, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  —  The projected shortfall will be $506 billion …

Poll: Romney breaks away in Iowa  —  The day after Mitt Romney opened the door to another possible presidential run, a new poll shows he has a huge lead among likely 2016 Iowa Republican caucus voters.  —  According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday …

Why Hagan wins North Carolina  —  Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is the target of what could be the most aggressive, dishonest, vindictive and lavishly financed negative campaign against any statewide candidate I've ever seen, yet according to the summary of polling from Real Clear Politics …

A 9-Year-Old at a Shooting Range, a Spraying Uzi and Outrage  —  WHITE HILLS, Ariz. — The four-hour tours offered by one of the big gun ranges here are a popular tourist attraction: Starting at $200 a person, a bus will pick up visitors at their hotel in Las Vegas, 25 miles to the north …

Rahm, Gutierrez want Chicago to be model for immigrant benefits  —  Chicago Democrats are hoping to make the Windy City the model for enrolling illegal immigrants into whatever new benefits the Obama administration might adopt.  —  Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel …

Obama Shouldn't Bomb ISIS in Syria  —  We have no strategy for intervening there, and no reason to think it will work.  —  Let's hope that President Obama does not bomb ISIS inside Syria—unless, maybe, the airstrikes are coordinated with some other country's troops on the ground.

Former Iowa State Senator Pleads Guilty to Concealing Federal Campaign Expenditures  —  A former Iowa State Senator pleaded guilty today to concealing payments he received from a presidential campaign in exchange for switching his support and services from one candidate to another and to obstructing …

The Extreme Partisanship of John Roberts's Supreme Court  —  Like Barack Obama, the chief justice came into office promising an age of apolitical comity.  And like the president, he has seen his dream die.  —  “Politics are closely divided,” John Roberts told scholar Jeffrey Rosen after his first term as chief justice.

Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to Ukip and forces byelection  —  Carswell says he is resigning from parliament and standing for Ukip at a byelection in his Essex seat of Clacton  —  A hand grenade has been thrown into David Cameron's general election campaign after the Eurosceptic Tory …

The Biggest Tax Scam Ever  —  Some of America's top corporations are parking profits overseas and ducking hundreds of billions in taxes.  And how's Congress responding?  It's rewarding them for ripping us off  —  In July, the American pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, maker of the world's top-selling drug …

Did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos?  —  David Chase finally answers the question he wants fans to stop asking  —  The main topic of conversation about The Sopranos, seven years after the series finale, is still whether Tony Soprano, mob boss of North Jersey, is dead or not.

ZARA apologizes, says yellow star shirts will be ‘exterminated’  —  Following an international outcry this morning over a striped children's shirt embossed with a yellow Star of David, fashion company Zara began removing the product page from its websites.  While the statement …

Across the Country, the Federal Government Fights For Muslim Worship Spaces  —  The government of the United States is suing the town of St. Anthony, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb with a population a little over 8,000, to force the town to allow development of an Islamic center in an area reserved for industrial development.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Peers called me ‘porky’  —  “Don't lose too much weight now.  I like my girls chubby,” one lawmaker told Gillibrand.  AP Photo  —  Close  —  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand reveals in her new book that a number of her male colleagues on Capitol Hill made remarks about her weight …

FBI Examining Whether Russia Is Tied to JPMorgan Hacking  —  Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August, infiltrating and stealing data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and at least one other bank, an incident the FBI is investigating as a possible retaliation …