• CEOs press Congress to deal with deficit
  The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (11/11)     

• Lawmakers agree on likelihood of deficit deal, but not on components or timing
  National Journal (11/11)     

• Does the presidential electoral system need a makeover?
  The Constitution requires the president to be selected by electors designated by the states. Each state is apportioned electoral votes according to its total number of senators and representatives in Congress, and the District of Columbia is assigned three votes. Three times in our history, most recently in 2000, the candidate who won the popular vote lost the electoral vote and the election. There was speculation that something similar may happen this year. It did not, but President Barack Obama won 61% of the electoral votes with only 51% of the popular vote. Does this discrepancy show a need to reform the way we elect our president? What do you think?

No -- the system does not need reform. It should be left as is

Yes -- amend the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College and decide the race by popular vote

Yes -- modify the system to allow proportional distribution of electoral votes within each state

Yes -- states should assign their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote

Yes -- reform the system through means other than those mentioned above

• Wall Street titans Larry Fink, Roger Altman floated to replace Geithner
  CNBC (11/9)     

• Speculation flies over Pelosi's future
  San Francisco Chronicle/Politics Blog (11/8)     

• Thune won't challenge Cornyn for Senate whip spot
  Politico (Washington, D.C.) (11/8)

• Threatening e-mails led FBI to uncover Petraeus affair
  National Journal (11/12)     

• Editorial: Time to face the hard truth on the deficit
  The Wall Street Journal (11/11)     

• Columnist Daniel Indiviglio: Millionaire-only tax may be political winner
  BreakingViews.com (11/9)

• Contributor Newt Gingrich: Republicans were wrong
  Politico (Washington, D.C.) (11/12)     

• Columnist Dana Milbank: Republicans search for answers
  The Washington Post (11/9)     

• Columnist Ben Stein: Petraeus cover-up is a disgrace
  The American Spectator (11/12)

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Business & Politics readers in the past week.

• How Obama won (Slate)

• Flawed polls will mean election-night surprise, says Romney pollster (Politico (Washington, D.C.))

• Why Romney lost: (Politico (Washington, D.C.))

• Does 4 more years equal a mandate? (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Wall Street might pay dearly for backing Romney (Forbes)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

One of the things I learnt when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself I could not change others." --Nelson Mandela, South African statesman