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President Obama carries a significant, but far from determinative, edge over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the race for 270 electoral votes this fall, according to the first detailed analysis of the map conducted by the Fix.

If a foreign visitor --a modern-day Alexis De Tocqueville, let?s say -- wanted to understand the state of religion in America today, a good place to start would have been Nationals Park in Washington D.C. three weeks ago, where the megachurch pastor Joel Osteen preached to a sold-out house. Osteen?s bipartisan reach and global influence makes him one of the most plausible contemporary heirs to Billy Graham. But unlike Graham, his message tends to be doctrine-free and relentlessly upbeat, rarely mentioning sin and regularly suggesting that God wants nothing more than to shower worldly blessings on believers.

?And he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks

Mona Eltahawy?s Foreign Policy cover story ?Why Do They Hate Us? triggered an avalanche of passionate responses. But few have addressed how her arguments impact indigenous Arab women?s rights activists or the article?s primary audience-- how American policy makers-- can best support the cause of gender justice in the Middle East.

Andrew Sullivan made a splash this week with his Newsweek cover story calling President Obama ?the first gay president,? writing that:

?Barack Obama had to come out of a different closet [than gays]. He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family. The America he grew up in had no space for a boy like him: black yet enveloped by loving whiteness, estranged from a father he longed for (another common gay experience), hurtling between being a Barry and a Barack, needing an American racial identity as he grew older but chafing also against it and over-embracing it at times.

Updated: 6:15 p.m. EST with a clarified quote*.

In the seemingly endless war over abortion rights in America, battles are waged in legislatures, in courts and, most recently, on the Internet.

The strategy of using abortion-related keywords to send a woman searching the web for abortion information More...

Lifeline has traditionally provided ?discounts on one basic monthly telephone service (wireline or wireless) for qualified subscribers.? While announcing a More...

Sangeeta Ghosh, assistant corporate counsel for Kent County, Mich., says should the 51-year-old man charged in two cases of failing to disclose his HIV-positive status to sexual partners make bail, the county is prepared to ask a court to force him to take antiretroviral medications.

“The county is More...

Former Michigan state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk is likely to announce next week that he will challenge Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) in the GOP primary in August.

Hoogendyk unsuccessfully challenged Upton for the seat two years ago, when he was able to garner only 43 percent of the vote, More...

The website is almost a replica of a project by Foundation President Tarren Bragdon at his last place of employment, the Maine Heritage Policy Center. More...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that confirm a long-growing trend. U.S. Census Bureau data show the United States is on its way to becoming "majority minority," with almost half of all young children currently from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian. As of July 1, 2011, 50.4 percent of babies younger than age 1 were minorities or of more than one race, up from 49.5 percent in 2010, the data showed. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The parents of two Chinese graduate students slain near the University of Southern California last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the school of misrepresenting the area as safe and failing to provide security patrols. The 15-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court comes just over a month after Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were fatally shot as they were sitting in a 2003 BMW car that had been double-parked. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A small group of anti-war demonstrators staged a peaceful "die in" on Thursday at President Barack Obama's election campaign headquarters in Chicago to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas. Despite calling ahead, some of the roughly 50 protesters said they were unable to deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its "violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. ...

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An FBI expert found crucial evidence in the Trayvon Martin case was inconclusive, saying it was impossible to tell if the voice screaming for help belonged to the black Florida teenager or his shooter George Zimmerman just before the neighborhood watch captain pulled the trigger. That detail came from a mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. ...

(NECN: Providence, RI) - Outgoing Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri delivered his final State of the State address Tuesday night. The major focus was on the economy. The state has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, and Carcieri was pushing for job growth.

Carcieri proposed a tax credit for companies that hire workers, and says the state budget will contain measures to spur lending to small firms and other forms of business-tax relief.

The following is prepared text for Gov. Carcieri's address:

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(NECN: Providence, RI) - Outgoing Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri delivered his final State of the State address Tuesday night. The major focus was on the economy. The state has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, and Carcieri was pushing for job growth.

Carcieri proposed a tax credit for companies that hire workers, and says the state budget will contain measures to spur lending to small firms and other forms of business-tax relief.

The following are prepared remarks from Governor Carcieri:

read more

(NECN) - In the 2010 contest for Governor of Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick's approval rating is down, but he's still the man to beat. A Republican with State House experience and a flush campaign account is hoping to send patrick packing.

Charlie Baker, former President and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and candidate for Governor joins Jim Braude on Broadside. Baker has chosen Senate Minority leader Richard Tisei as his running mate.

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(NECN: Jim Braude) - President Obama is stumbling, and there is a new person to blame.

You remember this guy, David Plouffe, the mastermind of President Obama's 2008 campaign victory.

Well, as you know, he's back after getting a "S.O.S" call from the White House ... "Ship of State sinking fast."

Here's my memo to Plouffe on three things he needs to fix real fast.

First, either cancel your idea of a "spending freeze", or cancel the president's subscription to the New York Times.

Did you read the latest from Paul Krugman?

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(NECN: Alysha Palumbo - Boston, MA) - It was story that shocked a community.

Two years ago, 39-year-old Marcy Thibault was driving her five-year-old niece and four-year-old nephew to her Bellingham, Massachusetts home for a sleep over, when she stopped on 495 in Lowell and carried the two children out onto the highway, where they were hit and killed by cars.

Attorney Andrew Meyers said, "Certainly the family would never have allowed their children to be in her care if they had any concept whatsoever that she could or would have a dangerous event that she had."

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