Press Conference of the President  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.  Thank you.  I've just returned from Baghdad, and I was inspired to be able to visit the capital of a free and democratic Iraq.  —  It was a pleasure to meet face-to-face with the Prime Minister.

Democrats in disarray as Bush basks in glow of Iraq trip  —  US President George W. Bush's triumphant return from his unannounced visit in Iraq found opposition Democrats more divided than ever on US policy in the wartorn country, and how best to capitalize on administration missteps there.

Robert Luskin Sends Bush's Brain Message on Plane: 'Case Over'; Attacks Blogosphere  —  The message reached Karl Rove on his BlackBerry: "FITZGERALD CALLED.  CASE OVER."  —  Strapped into his seat, his cell phone darkened in preparation for takeoff on a flight to New Hampshire …

Schumer: Dems Have Their 8th  —  At a briefing for the Washington, D.C. political press corps today, DSCC chair Chuck Schumer was in a mood to marvel and brag.  Last night, with the victory of Jim Webb, Democrats finally found their eighth competitive Senate contest.

EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Orders U.S. Reporters to Exit Guantanamo  —  NEW YORK In the aftermath of the three suicides at the notorious Guantanamo prison facility in Cuba last Saturday, reporters with the Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald were ordered by the office of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to leave the island today.

'New Direction' is new theme for Democratic plan  —  WASHINGTON — Democratic House and Senate leaders are planning to reduce the cost of student loans and prescription drugs, raise the minimum wage and launch an effort to develop alternative fuels if they win back control of Congress.

Boehner On The Contrasts GOPers Will Try To Draw With Dems  —  House Maj. Leader John Boehner (R-OH), in a "confidential" memo to his caucus, previews the distinctions GOPers will draw with Dems as the debate over Iraq gets underway.  The House will consider a resolution equating the war in Iraq with the broader war on terror.

Humor attempt falls flat  —  Cpl. Joshua Belile thought up the words to "Hadji Girl" in September while drinking coffee with buddies in Iraq.  —  It was just a joke, Belile says, a play on lines from a movie.  His fellow Marines seemed to enjoy the song, so they got Belile up on a stage with his guitar.

It's 'Putdown With Keith Olbermann'  —  Now that Dan Abrams has given up his MSNBC show to run the third-place cable news outlet, he might want to focus on the rising tensions between two of his prime-time personalities: Keith Olbermann and Rita Cosby.  —  Olbermann, whose …

RWN's Ann Coulter Interview #3  —  John Hawkins: Do you think teachers are underpaid?  —  Ann Coulter: The good ones are, that's why they deserve merit pay.  The bad ones are  —  overpaid.  Too bad their unions don't let us distinguish between the two.  —  John Hawkins: Is global warming occurring and caused by mankind?

Virginia Tees up a Senate Race  —  Virginia's voters — about 1.5 percent of them, anyway — have given James Webb a narrow victory in the Democratic Senate primary, setting up a race with incumbent George Allen that promises to be among the most interesting in the country.

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe  —  "The Inconvenient Truth" is indeed inconvenient to alarmists  —  "Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth" …

Detainees in Despair  —  I WAS released from the United States military's prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in July 2004.  As I was about to board a plane that would take me home to France, the last detainee I saw was a young Yemeni.  He was overwhelmed by emotion.

A Prison We Need to Escape  —  When I hear U.S. officials describe the suicides of three Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay last Saturday as "asymmetric warfare" and "a good PR move," I know it's time to close that camp — not just because of what it's doing to the prisoners but because of how it is dehumanizing the American captors.

The Price of Day Care Can Be High  —  THERE is one place in North America where parents of young children don't have to worry about child care.  In Quebec, full-time day care costs just $7 a day — Canadian dollars, at that — thanks to a government program aimed at one of the thorniest problems …