Welcome, Union Brothers and Sisters  —  In my speech on Saturday in Iowa, I said: “Between bailouts for Wall Street cronies and stimulus projects for union bosses' security and ‘green energy’ giveaways, [Barack Obama] took care of his friends.  And now they're on course to raise a billion dollars …

They like him  —  There's a deluge of terrible poll numbers for the White House today, but I think this one from our Battleground Poll is the most interesting:  —  Obama receives particularly low marks for his economic stewardship, with only 39 percent saying they approve and 59 percent saying they disapprove.

Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades  —  Public pessimism about the direction of the country has jumped to its highest level in nearly three years, erasing the sense of hope that followed President Obama's inauguration and pushing his approval ratings to a record low, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Exclusive Audio: Inside the Koch Brothers' Secret Seminar  —  Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of this report, on the GOP superstar who rocked the Koch seminar crowd.  —  “We have Saddam Hussein,” declared billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, apparently referring to President Barack Obama …

Janet Napolitano: Shoes-on flight in sight  —  Air travelers will eventually be able to keep their shoes on to pass through security, but the restrictions on carrying liquids on board are likely to remain in place for some time, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a POLITICO Playbook breakfast Tuesday.

World Ends Today; Markets to Close Early?  —  The news out of Europe yesterday and this morning somehow puts me in mind of the long opening sequence in the John Landis feature film rendering of The Twilight Zone, in which Dan Ackroyd says to Albert Brooks, “You want to see something really scary?”

The 2012 Election Will Come Down to Seven States  —  National polls are nice, but Electoral College math is what matters.  —  Straw polls, real polls, debates, caucuses, primaries—that's the public side of presidential campaigns 14 months before Election Day.

Sources: Obama Administration to Drop Troop Levels in Iraq to 3,000  —  The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions …

Pelosi drops the word ‘stimulus’  —  Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats have dropped the word stimulus from their vocabulary.  —  Though the House minority leader and her caucus are still pushing an economic stimulus agenda to save the economy, they've radically changed …

Texas and Mass. Still at Health Coverage Extremes in U.S.  —  Southern states still see highest uninsured rates in the country  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas residents continue to be the most likely in the United States to lack health coverage, with 27.2% reporting being uninsured in the first half of 2011.

Ron Paul to attack Rick Perry in new ad  —  Ron Paul is taking on Rick Perry in a new television ad blasting the Texas governor for for supporting Al Gore's 1988 presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.  —  The 60-second spot, backed by a six-figure ad buy — the first negative ad attacking Perry …

New York 9th Congressional District Special Election Survey (9/6/11)  —  Baton Rouge, LA - Magellan Strategies BR today released the survey results of an automated survey of 2,055 likely voters in New York's 9th Congressional District.  The survey was conducted September 1st, 2011 and has a margin of error of 2.16%.

Boehner, Cantor want Obama to meet leaders before jobs speech  —  House GOP leaders on Tuesday asked President Obama to meet with congressional leaders from both parties to discuss his jobs plan ahead of his Thursday night address to Congress.  —  In a letter to Obama, House Speaker John Boehner …

Why are three free-trade deals languishing on Obama's desk?  —  According to the White House, President Obama has been huddling with advisers on a jobs plan he'll present to Congress this week.  One thing he could do immediately is finalize the free-trade deals with Colombia …

Baldwin slams Washington, Madison in first campaign speech  —  Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) used her first conference call as a Senate candidate as a populist attack on politicians in both Washington, D.C., and Madison, her hometown, accusing them as being “tone-deaf” and ignoring issues important to middle-class voters.

Currency Wars Could Save The World  —  Earlier today the central bank of Switzerland showed that there's a lot that can be done through the communications channel of monetary policy by simply stating that they will not allow the Swiss franc's price in Euros to rise above a certain level …

Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel  —  WASHINGTON — When Shamai K. Leibowitz, an F.B.I. translator, was sentenced to 20 months in prison last year for leaking classified information to a blogger, prosecutors revealed little about the case.  They identified the blogger in court papers only as “Recipient A.”

My Unfinished 9/11 Business  —  Ten years after the attacks, we memorialize the loss and we mark the heroism, but there is no organized remembrance of the other feelings that day aroused: the bewilderment, the vulnerability, the impotence.  It may be difficult to recall with our attention …

We Interview Vice President Joe Biden: He Owns a '67 Corvette and Loves Smoky Burnouts  —  America's vice president owns a '67 Corvette, and though he's not allowed to drive, he still enjoys the occasional smoky burnout.  —  C/D: You're the son of a car salesman?  —  JB: For 34 years, my dad managed dealerships in Delaware.

How a Young Dick Cheney Fixed Prices for Millions  —  In the Nixon White House, he helped Donald Rumsfeld implement wage and price controls at the urging of their boss  —  Imagine if Barack Obama proposed, as an economic recovery measure, that all prices and wages in America be frozen …

About Jeffrey Goldberg  —  Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for the Atlantic, is the author of “Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror.”  He was formerly a Washington correspondent and a Middle East correspondent for the New Yorker.  —  Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg

Europeans Talk of Sharp Change in Fiscal Affairs  —  As leaders in Europe try to contain a deepening financial crisis, they are also increasingly talking about making fundamental changes to the way their 17-nation economic union works.  —  The idea is to create a central financial authority …

Poll illustrates California voters' anger  —  Nearly 3 in 4 say the country is on the wrong track, and nearly half favor slashing government spending — a potentially dismal finding for President Obama, who will unveil a jobs plan this week.  —  California voters are increasingly downcast …