In this season of endless polling and horse race political coverage, we wanted to take a step back and consider what's really at stake in the upcoming election. The Politics brings together Los Angeles Review of Books's finest political coverage, including new pieces which have not yet appeared on the site. Featured articles:Freddy Deknatel: Obama's Foreign Policy QuagmireTom Gallagher: Endless War: Rachel Maddow and America's Power AddictionChris Lehmann: Dispatches from Tumorland: On Christopher Hitchens's "Mortality"Laurie Winer: The Mormon Candidate: A Profile of Mitt RomneyAaron Shulman: The Fifty Days of the Hotel Madrid: Spain, 15 M and the Occupy MovementKelly Candaele: Reporting from the DNC: An Interview with John HeilmannJon Wiener: J. Edgar: A History of the FBIPeter Jenkins: Iran and the Nuclear Question