The Pitiful Whimper of 2014  —  IMAGINE a house ablaze.  Now picture a team of firefighters pulling up to it.  They behold the flames shooting through its roof.  They feel its heat on their faces.  And they get in position to fight it.  —  With squirt guns.

Iowa Poll: Ernst takes 7-point lead  —  Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP's hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate.  —  Ernst, a state senator and military leader …

I barred Netanyahu from State Dept., Baker says  —  James Baker, a former secretary of State, didn't seem troubled during an interview on Sunday by recent anonymous comments from Obama administration officials knocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

Inside Manhattan's secret ‘cult’  —  Former “Congregation for the Light” member Paul Arthur Miller said members of “the Light” couldn't have artwork or trinkets in their homes unless it contained an owl or a cross with an “X” on it.  —  It's a secret society that claims that its followers descended from a …

Coulter: Democrats Targeting Low-IQ ‘Bottom 51 Percent’ Who Care About Women's Rights  —  Conservative columnist Ann Coulter on Sunday accused Democrats supporting women's rights to win the “bottom 51 percent” of voters “in terms of IQ.”  —  Conservative columnist Ann Coulter …

New York Marathon 2014: Wilson Kipsang Wins Race and World Majors Bonus  —  As Wilson Kipsang of Kenya and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia ran stride for stride into the last stretch of the New York City Marathon on Sunday morning, a long run turned into an unusually personal sprint.

ISIS Pitches to the Hosts of Shark Tank on SNL  —  SNL did a Shark Tank parody tonight with a twist: the hosts got a pitch from none other than representatives of ISIS.  Yes, the ISIS you're thinking of.  And these terrorists, one of them played by host Chris Rock, explained why the hosts …

The Climate-Change Solution No One Will Talk About  —  The equation seems fairly simple: The more the world's population rises, the greater the strain on dwindling resources and the greater the impact on the environment.  —  The solution?  Well, that's a little trickier to talk about.

Midterm Calculus: The Economy Elects Presidents.  Presidents Elect Congress.  —  The Economy Elects Presidents.  Presidents Elect Congress.  —  While presidential elections are shaped largely by economic performance, the largest factor in midterm elections is the president.  —  Credit: Kevin Whipple

GOP likely to win in AR and KY, Louisiana could still be close  —  PPP's final polls in Arkansas and Kentucky find Republicans in a strong position to win the Senate seats in those states on Tuesday, but the Louisiana Senate race still has the potential to be pretty competitive.