Obama's Midterm Loss Record Could Make History  —  President Barack Obama is about to do what no president has done in the past 50 years: Have two horrible, terrible, awful midterm elections in a row.  —  In fact, Obama is likely to have the worst midterm numbers of any two-term president going back to Democrat Harry S. Truman.

Hillary Clinton network to meet for strategy session  —  The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary is planning a National Finance Council meeting featuring speakers like National Urban League president Marc Morial, former Obama 2012 pollster John Anzalone and longtime Bill Clinton …

The Prospect of a Republican Senate  —  In a rare fit of realism on Tuesday, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, admitted he would be unable to repeal the Affordable Care Act if Republicans win the Senate next week and he becomes majority leader.

Graphic: New details released in near-beheading murder of Stillwater teen, one in custody … STILLWATER, Okla. - A 21-year-old Stillwater man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of an area college student who, according to police, was nearly decapitated.

Senate candidates sharply divided on Islamic threat, Ebola, Obamacare  —  GOFFSTOWN — U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown got in the last punches in what was the final round of their debates before Tuesday's election.  —  Shaheen, the incumbent Democrat …

Apologizing to Japan  —  TOKYO — For almost two decades, Japan has been held up as a cautionary tale, an object lesson on how not to run an advanced economy.  After all, the island nation is the rising superpower that stumbled.  One day, it seemed, it was on the road to high-tech domination …

Guns Are a Greater Public Health Threat Than Ebola  —  Shepard Smith was the rare voice of reason during the most fevered hours of the Ebola madness that temporarily gripped the nation this month (October).  The Fox News anchor dedicated four minutes of a newscast to explaining what had been evident once you took a deep breath.

State Attorney General Candidates Cite Concerns Over Political Donations  —  WASHINGTON — The political associations run by Democratic and Republican attorneys general must discontinue taking money from corporations that are targets of investigations, the two candidates for the job in New York State said at a debate Thursday night.

The state is failing in almost every imaginable way.  The reason why is rooted in its violent and racist past.  —  Driven by its high poverty rate, Mississippi ranks low on health and wellness.  It has one the highest rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes in the country …

Is Social Psychology Biased Against Republicans?  —  On January 27, 2011, from a stage in the middle of the San Antonio Convention Center, Jonathan Haidt addressed the participants of the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.  The topic was an ambitious one …

HALLOWEEN 2014: Ebola suits, straitjackets and other costumes vetoed by PC police  —  Several universities have recently admonished their students not to wear a variety of costumes for Halloween that could potentially offend people, frighten people, or reinforce stereotypes.

They're Not Allowed to Talk.  But Candidates and PACs Are Brazenly Communicating All the Time.  —  Candidates, committees, and outside-group allies are sharing more information than ever thanks to a law easily bypassed and a Federal Election Commission stuck in gridlock.

Less Than Half of Americans Support Stricter Gun Laws  —  Story Highlights  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Less than half of Americans, 47%, say they favor stricter laws covering the sale of firearms, similar to views found last year.  But this percentage is significantly below the 58% recorded …

From Governors, a Mix of Hard-Line Acts and Conciliation Over Ebola  —  FORT KENT, Me.  — In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, issued a stern warning on Thursday to medical experts coming to an international conference on tropical diseases that they should stay away …

How Candy Conquered Halloween  —  In her book “Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure,” retired Rutgers University literature professor Samira Kawash investigates the surprisingly neglected story of how business and technological innovations turned the U.S. into what a 1907 visitor called “the great candy eating nation.”

Messing With Texas Again: Putting It Back Under Federal Supervision  —  Readers of the entire 147-page opinion issued earlier this month by a federal district court striking down Texas's strict voter identification law as unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act might …