TODAY's "HOTS"

Ted Forstmann "Extortion"?

A lawsuit is accusing the billionaire dealmaker of racism, escort use, and gambling against his client, Tiger Woods. Lies, Forstmann tells The Daily Beast's Charlie Gasparino exclusively, from a "shakedown artist." Forstmann has made many brilliant bets—his stance against junk bonds in the 1980s, Gulfstream Aerospace in the 1990s, calling the credit crisis in 2008—and like any Wall Street veteran, more than a few clunkers. One of his worst calls, he says, involves a friendship with a man named James Agate. That decision is now costing him dearly—Agate's leveling salacious allegations against him, and now Forstmann is speaking out for the first time about the feud.

New York's Insane Political Circus

The state's candidates for governor, "debating" Monday night, threaten to wreck America's ability to export democracy around the globe. Pity the poor people of New York: Can there ever have been a state so rich, so abundantly endowed with talent and enterprise, to have had a political choice so abject, so meager, so embarrassing? The Daily Beast's Tunku Varadarajan reports on a showing that ensured Cuomo's win.

How the Media Blew the Midterms

Even top journalists were blindsided by Christine O'Donnell, don't get the Tea Party, and feel Obama's getting short shrift. The media narrative has solidified: Voters are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. But if you read between the lines, there's a hint that the likely outcome is somehow unjust. The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz explains what the mainstream press got wrong.

Banks Restart Foreclosures

Bank of America and GMAC are restarting foreclosures after problems with paperwork caused the banks to halt the process in 23 states. Bank of America reopened 100,000 home-seizure files after saying it found no major problems in its paperwork procedures. GMAC didn't say how many foreclosures it would restart work on. Lenders are pushing back against a growing political backlash over allegations that their employees signed hundreds of foreclosure documents a day without bothering to read them. A Bank of America spokesman said the move was a "first step" in efforts to debunk "speculation" that the mortgage market has big problems. The company will begin selling seized homes in November.

Read it at The Wall Street Journal

Judge Rejects Don't Ask, Don't Tell Stay

A federal judge rejected the government's request to stay her decision overturning Don't Ask, Don't Tell while the ruling is appealed, saying the feds had failed to prove that stopping the anti-gay policy would cause "irreparable harm" to the armed forces. The government said halting the policy would endanger national security and undermine the Defense Department's study to figure out the best policy for dealing with open gays. U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips dismissed that argument, saying her decision only required the military to stop kicking out gays, not to end its quest for a new way of dealing with them. The government offered no evidence that gays would hurt unit cohesion or readiness.

Read it at Los Angeles Times