NBC Wanted to Hire Jon Stewart As Host of Meet the Press  —  “They were ready to back the Brink's truck up,” one source said  —  This Sunday marks Chuck Todd's one-month anniversary in the anchor chair at Meet the Press.  Despite an opening-week ratings spike from his exclusive sit …

Roberts rebounds in Kansas Senate race, CNN/ORC poll finds  —  Washington (CNN) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts has galvanized enough rank-and-file Republican voters to close the gap with independent challenger Greg Orman in one of the nation's hottest races, a new CNN/ORC poll has found.

Frisco officials say risk is low that sheriff's deputy who visited Duncan's apartment has Ebola  —  Frisco officials say the chances are small that the sheriff's deputy who fell ill after visiting Thomas Eric Duncan's apartment last week has Ebola.  —  “The risk is minimal,” …

Exclusive: Senate Democrats Flooding South Dakota Airwaves  —  Will voters in South Dakota and Kansas save Senate Democrats?  —  The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will spend $1 million in South Dakota — mostly on television and the rest on field operations …

In Defense of Obama  —  President Obama signing the Affordable Care Act.  In our new cover story, Paul Krugman explores the president's successes.

Anthony Kennedy Halts Gay Marriage In Idaho, Nevada  —  Justice Anthony Kennedy issued an order to halt same-sex marriage in Idaho — and apparently also Nevada — on Wednesday after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the states' bans one day earlier.

Mary Landrieu replaces campaign manager  —  In what appears to be a significant October campaign shakeup, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is replacing her campaign manager and hiring her former chief of staff as a senior adviser.  —  The Democrat has pushed Adam Sullivan out of the manager role …

Jimmy Carter: President Obama blew it on ISIL  —  Former President Jimmy Carter is criticizing President Barack Obama's Middle East policy, saying he has shifting policies and waited too long to take action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  —  In an interviewed published Tuesday …

Can Liberalism Be Saved From Itself?  —  My recent collision with Ben Affleck on Bill Maher's show, Real Time, has provoked an extraordinary amount of controversy.  It seems a postmortem is in order.  —  For those who haven't seen the show, most of what I write here won't make sense unless you watch my segment:

The hardest-working man in Democratic politics  —  Hillary Clinton's potential challengers  —  Washington (CNN) — A Democrat with White House ambitions is furiously criss-crossing the country to help the party's candidates — and it's not Hillary Clinton.

Obama aides knew of possible White House link to Cartagena prostitution scandal  —  As nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia, Obama administration officials repeatedly denied that anyone from the White House was involved.

No, Islamic State Militants Have Not Been Caught by U.S. Border Patrol  —  Since the U.S. began airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State, Republicans have frequently connected the terrorist group to border security in the U.S. In August, Texas Governor Rick Perry called it a …

Leon Panetta Is What's Wrong With DC  —  Obama's former defense secretary is out with a scathing new memoir about his time in the White House.  But why should we buy anything he says?  —  When Harry Truman apocryphally said, “if you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog” he might have had someone like Leon Panetta in mind.

For McConnell, it's now or never  —  If Republicans fall short of expectations this fall, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) could face a leadership challenge.  —  Republican senators say there is much riding on the Nov. 4 elections for McConnell, who is gunning to become majority leader …

REJECTED: Kroger Managers Are Refusing To Accept Bullying Tactics of Moms Demand Action  —  The body language says it all.  A Kroger store manager in Ohio (right) refuses to be an unwilling participant in Moms Demand's latest bullying public relations stunt.

Ebola in Europe: What Went Wrong  —  In Spain, where a nurse came down with the extremely contagious disease, all the people concerned are trying to prove they did nothing wrong.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  —  ROME, Italy — When Teresa Romero Ramos, the Spanish nurse …

Tens of thousands of Walmart workers are about to lose their health insurance — and it's good news!  —  Walmart, the world's largest retailer, announced Tuesday that it would no longer offer health insurance benefits to its 26,000 part-time workers.  —  Nobody likes losing any kind of benefit at work.

Karl Rove Is Ruining the GOP  —  Karl Rove recently tried to advise Republicans on how the party can more effectively take back the Senate in November.  He made two main suggestions.  —  One was that Republican candidates must “make the case for electing someone new who will be a check …

POLICE PEPPER SPRAY WAKE COUNTY TEEN INSIDE HIS HOME AFTER HE'S MISTAKEN FOR BURGLAR  —  The parents of a Wake County high school student are outraged that police pepper-sprayed him inside their home after a neighbor mistook him for an intruder.  —  It happened Monday afternoon on England Avenue in Fuquay-Varina.

U.S. to Begin Ebola Screenings at 5 Airports  —  WASHINGTON — Federal officials said Wednesday that they would begin temperature screenings of passengers arriving from West Africa at five American airports, beginning with Kennedy International in New York as early as this weekend …

Republicans Eye Obamacare Showdown in Lame Duck  —  A group of Senate Republicans have their eye on another Obamacare showdown in the lame-duck session.  —  The 14 Republicans, led by Marco Rubio of Florida, wrote a letter urging Speaker John A. Boehner to “prohibit the Obama administration” …