HASTERT SAYS HE DID NOTHING WRONG IN FOLEY PAGE SCANDAL  —  WASHINGTON — House Speaker Dennis Hastert defiantly declared Thursday that he'd done nothing wrong relating to the growing Capitol Hill page scandal, and vowed to run again for speaker after the GOP wins back the House in next month's election.

Three More Former Pages Accuse Foley of Online Sexual Approaches  —  Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz & Maddy Sauer Report:  —  Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

A special comment about lying  —  Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics  —  SPECIAL COMMENT  —  While the leadership in Congress has self-destructed over the revelations of an unmatched, and unrelieved, march through a cesspool ...

GOP's Hold on Evangelicals Weakening  —  Party's Showing in Midterm Elections May Be Hurt as Polls Indicate Support Dropping in Base  —  ANOKA, Minn. — Lynn Sunde, an evangelical Christian, is considering what for her is a radical step.  Come November, she may vote for a Democrat for Congress.

Interdicting speech at Columbia  —  Eliana Johnson reports in the New York Sun that leftists are interdicting speech at Columbia: … The Columbia Spectator has considerably more coverage here, including this video of the protests that made it impossible for Jim Gilchrist to speak:  —  Commentary

Apple Of the Times  —  R.W. "Johnny" Apple, who died Wednesday at age 71, was the best political reporter of his era.  He was also the best food writer, the best wine writer, the best travel writer and the best architecture critic, and he could have been the best garden and sports writer if he had wanted to be.

Kim's message: War is coming to US soil  —  Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.  Please click here if you are interested in contributing.  —  The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on October 3 …

Pelosi says she would drain GOP 'swamp'  —  WASHINGTON - Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.  —  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

Wetterling ad overstates facts  —  The TV spot by the Sixth District candidate is wrong in stating that members of Congress admitted to a coverup - none has.  —  Patty Wetterling's latest TV ad, in which she calls for "the immediate expulsion of any congressman involved in a crime or coverup" …

Patrick says he gave money to aid convict  —  Donation helped pay for DNA test  —  Deval L. Patrick, who a week ago said his ``sole involvement" in the campaign to free a convicted rapist was a letter he wrote more than a decade ago, acknowledged last night that he made a financial contribution …

Iraq Looms Large in Nationalized Election  —  Congressional Race Unchanged After Foley's Resignation  —  Summary of Findings  —  Iraq has become the central issue of the midterm elections.  There is more dismay about how the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going than at any point since the war began more than three years ago.

Bush says he can edit security reports  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists.

Anti-U.S. Attack Videos Spread on the Internet  —  Videos showing insurgent attacks against American troops in Iraq, long available in Baghdad shops and on Jihadist Web sites, have steadily migrated in recent months to popular Internet video-sharing sites, including YouTube and Google Video.

Senator Says U.S. Should Rethink Iraq Strategy  —  The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Thursday that the situation in Iraq was "drifting sideways" and said that the United States should consider a "change of course" if violence did not diminish soon.