Romney Doesn't Understand Why You Can't Roll Down Windows On A Plane … On Monday, Mitt Romney offered a remedy to the problem that caused his wife's airplane to land prematurely last week: Allow passengers to roll down the airplane windows.  —  Ann Romney's plane was grounded Friday after the main cabin filled with smoke.

White House defends position on Israel, Iran  —  Defense comes amid GOP criticism that Obama minimized Iran threat, downgraded Israel's status as close US ally in interview.  —  WASHINGTON - The White House defended itself Monday from GOP criticism that US President Barack Obama …

Veterans retreating from Barack Obama  —  President Barack Obama is trying hard to win veterans, but it looks like they'd prefer a new commander in chief.  —  The Obama campaign had been hoping that veterans and their families — especially among the post-Sept. 11 generation that served …

Obama offers himself up as ‘eye candy’ on ‘The View’  —  * President aims to connect with women, a key voting block  —  * Obama says problems in economy won't be solved overnight  —  President Barack Obama on Monday sought to woo women voters at a taping of the daytime talk show “The View …

Christie on Romney: If Election Were Tomorrow ‘That Would Be a Problem’  —  Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images  —  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie addresses the 2012 Republican National Convention.  —  Republican Mitt Romney has been forced to take a more aggressive tack …

The 10% President  —  The annotated Obama: How 90% of the deficit becomes somebody else's fault.  —  A question raised by President Obama's immortal line on CBS's “60 Minutes” on Sunday—"I think that, you know, as President, I bear responsibility for everything, to some degree"—is what that degree really is.

Conservatives Embrace Alternate Polling Reality  —  Dean Chambers, founder of unskewedpolls.com, has reweighted national polling data based on Rasmussen partisan trends.  His results give Romney a wide lead.  —  Via: unskewedpolls.com  —  Republicans have taken their complaints …

Hillary Clinton Aide Tells Reporter To “F**k Off” And “Have A Good Life”  —  As the State Department's story about what happened in Benghazi crumbles, Clinton's personal spokesperson, Philippe Reines, loses his temper.  “Have a good day.  And by good day I mean F**k Off.”  —  Clinton and Reines in China in 2010.

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are sparring over how best to address U.S. challenges abroad in nearly back-to-back addresses at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting.  —  Following deadly anti-American protests in Muslim countries over the past two weeks …

Ancient (and Modern) Ignorance  —  I suppose the thing I most enjoy about religion commentary in the New York Times is the serenity of its ignorance.  All sorts of NYT writers just say stuff about religion, without much caring whether any of it is true.  A lovely recent example is this column …

Complaints Mount Against Michelle Obama's New Lunch Menu  —  In Wisconsin, high school athletes are complaining about not getting enough to eat each day, due to the skimpy new school lunch menu mandated by the United States Department of Agriculture and First Lady Michelle Obama.

‘Top-Two’ Election Change in California Upends Races  —  PLEASANTON, Calif. — Running against the Vietnam War, Representative Pete Stark entered Congress the year Richard M. Nixon was re-elected president.  Since then, ensconced in Democratic strongholds here in the Bay Area, Mr. Stark was easily re-elected 19 times.

Women Earn Less Than Men In 97 Percent Of Congressional Districts  —  Women are earning less than men in 97 percent of Congressional districts, the National Partnership for Women and Families has calculated.  That means that only 13 members of Congress have the privilege of representing …

State Rep. Mike Horner resigns after being linked to brothel in Orange County  —  TALLAHASSEE — State Rep. Mike Horner, a Republican from Kissimmee, has abruptly resigned his seat in the Florida House following reports linking his name to a prostitution investigation in Central Florida.

Todd Akin: Constituents Who Want My Attention Should ‘Write Me A Decent Check’  —  Rep. Todd Akin's (R-MO) Senate campaign has struggled to rebound after his claim that women could not get pregnant from “legitimate rape” led to a drop in fundraising and GOP establishment support.

No, Elizabeth Warren Did Not Engage in the Unauthorized Practice of Law  —  At Legal In.sur.rec.tion, Professor Jacobson contends that Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Senate candidate, liberal firebrand, and Harvard law professor, has engaged or appears to have engaged in the unauthorized practice …

Checking in on Financial Crises Recoveries  —  Seeing that it has been a year since the update to Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff's great work on financial crises, I thought it would be a good idea to check in on how the U.S. is doing relative to these other historical crises.

Will Obama Free the Blind Sheik?  —  The theologian of terrorism inspired the 1993 and 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.  The White House should state clearly that he will serve out his life term in the U.S.  —  Are senior Obama administration officials considering transferring to Egypt …

Obama campaign had twice the staff as Romney last month at same cost  —  (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images / September 22, 2012)  —  This post has been updated, as indicated below.  —  WASHINGTON — One of the big challenges Mitt Romney faced after effectively clinching the GOP presidential nomination …