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.”

NRA: ‘Children Can Have Fun At The Shooting Range’  —  WASHINGTON — Less than two days after a 9-year-old girl in Arizona accidentally shot and killed a gun range instructor who was showing her how to fire an Uzi, the National Rifle Association on Wednesday touted new ways for children to “have fun” at shooting ranges.

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 …

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 …

Official: Russian forces back rebels with tanks in eastern Ukraine  —  Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) — Pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, battled government forces on two fronts Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said.

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 …

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 …

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.

Timothy Wu for Lieutenant Governor  —  The office of lieutenant governor in New York is a feeble one.  The current occupant — Robert Duffy, a former mayor of Rochester — was handpicked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2010 and spent the last four years promoting the governor's agenda around the state.

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.

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 …

Gillibrand To Male Colleague Who Called Her ‘Porky’: ‘Thanks A—hole’  —  In promoting her new book, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has come forward with several stories of being called “chubby,” “fat,” and “porky” by her male colleagues in Congress.  —  In one incident from her early days in the Senate …

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.

How U.S. Interventionists Abetted the Rise of ISIS  —  Our Middle Eastern policy is unhinged, flailing about to see who to act against next, with little regard to consequences.

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 …

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 …

Finding Al Franken  —  The comedian-turned-senator is running an unusually low-key reelection campaign, trying to avoid scrutiny.  Will Republicans get the last laugh?  —  ST. PAUL, Minn.—I flew to Minnesota with high hopes of talking with Sen. Al Franken, and his staff said I'd get my chance during a …