Gary Tuchman and Ismael Estrada
CNN
St. Paul, Minnesota (CNN) - It's 3 p.m. on a busy weekday afternoon at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul.
Deep in the crowd of people enjoying buckets of chocolate chip cookies and fried corn dogs is two-term Rep. Michele Bachmann. The mother of five and foster parent to 23 others runs past fair-goers including parents pushing strollers to get to her next spot on conservative radio.
"We need to move quickly!" shouts one of her staff members. "We're on in two minutes!"
As she and her staff move briskly through the crowd, people shout both encouragement and insults at Bachmann. The Republican lawmaker has become a heroine and villain to voters in her 6th District because of controversial statements about the Obama administration, gay rights and taxes.
Updated: 2:41 p.m.
CNN Wire Staff
Copiapo, Chile (CNN) - NASA teams usually use their knowledge to help astronauts many miles above the earth's surface. But on Tuesday, a group of experts from the U.S. space agency will share their advice for the 33 miners who have been trapped 2,300 feet underground in Chile since August 5.
"It's an opportunity for us to bring the space flight experience back down to the ground," Dr. Michael Duncan, the deputy chief medical officer at Johnson Space Center, said before NASA's four-person team left for Chile last month.
The team includes two medical doctors, a psychologist and an engineer.
Jim Acosta and Bonney Kapp
CNN
Salt Lake City, Utah (CNN) - Utah's Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Mike Lee, is a vocal defender of what's become the bible of the Tea Party revolution: the U.S. Constitution.
"I hereby pledge to you that I will not vote for a single bill that I can't justify by the text and original understanding of the Constitution," he promised voters at a Tea Party rally this year.
But Lee, an attorney and former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, has advocated some breathtaking changes to the Constitution.
Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director
Washington (CNN) - Republicans have a slight edge over Democrats on the economy, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 46 percent of Americans say that Republicans in Congress would do a better job dealing with the economy, with 43 percent saying that Congressional Democrats would do a better job on the top issue on the minds of Americans. The GOP's three point advantage is within the poll's sampling error.
The Republicans' 3-point edge is a big shift from last year, when the Democrats held a 52 to 39 percent advantage. The GOP leads 51 percent to 32 percent on the economy among Independents, and they have a 9-point advantage on the issue among voters 65 and older.
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Reporter's Note: A long time ago President Obama asked the public for input on how to run the country, and I started writing a series of letters to the White House offering advice. I can only imagine how much he regrets the invitation at this point.
Dear Mr. President,
Sometimes I wonder if it bothers you to imagine what members of your own party say about you in private. Then I see how they treat you in public. I spent a good portion of today sifting through the rapidly expanding pool of cess that constitutes the political ads this season, and as best I can tell they all have one of two views of you.
From the Republican side: This president is a disaster. His policies are costly and ill-considered. And if you vote for anyone in his party, boy will you be sorry.
And from the Democratic side: President Obama? No…no. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of him.
FULL POST
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - The pastor of a Florida church planning to burn Qurans told CNN Tuesday while the congregation plans to go through with the action to protest the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by al Qaeda, the church is "weighing" its intentions.
Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida, who was interviewed on CNN's "American Morning, said the congregation is taking seriously the warning from the U.S. military that the act could cause problems for American troops.
"We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it," said Jones said.
"We are definitely weighing the situation. We are weighing the thing that we're about to do. What it possibly could cause. What is our actual message. What are we trying to get across."
The planned action has drawn sharp criticism from Muslims around the world and U.S. officials.
Updated: 11:14 a.m.
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