Idaho Sen. Larry Craig Denies Allegations of Same-Sex Affairs  —  Mike Rogers, who calls himself "the nation's leading gay activist blogger" has just finished a nationally-broadcast interview on the Ed Schultz Radio Show in which he alleges that Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig has engaged in same-sex sexual activity.

Alaska Governor: Palin (R) 47%; Knowles (D) 40%  —  Tony Knowles (D) is gaining ground in his bid to become Alaska's next governor.  However, the latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Republican Sarah Palin with a seven-point lead over Knowles, 47% to 40% (see crosstabs).

What Democrats Would Do  —  Against their better judgment, the Democrats are starting to taste it.  In the House, the number of Republican incumbents polling under 50 percent considerably exceeds the number of seats the Democrats need to pick up to make Nancy Pelosi speaker.

DNC Takes Out Loan For DSCC  —  The DSCC's optimism about winning the Senate is apparently contagious as the DNC is going to pony up an extra $5-10M for the Senate committee, according to sources familiar with the previously reported arrangement between the two campaign orgs.

Bush Signs New Rules to Prosecute Terror Suspects  —  President Bush signed legislation Tuesday that creates new rules for prosecuting and interrogating terrorism suspects, a move Mr. Bush said would enable the Central Intelligence Agency to resume a once-secret program to question …

Funding Constrains Democrats  —  Party Chiefs See Chance to Take 40-Plus Seats With TV Push  —  Top Democrats said yesterday that they are planning to significantly expand the number of GOP House seats they will target during the final 20 days of the campaign but that financial disputes …

655,000 War Dead?  —  A bogus study on Iraq casualties.  —  After doing survey research in Iraq for nearly two years, I was surprised to read that a study by a group from Johns Hopkins University claims that 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war.

Lieberman Unleashed, Slaps Dodd  —  Ahh, back in New Haven.  Though the leaves are changing color, their hues are obscured by dark and drizzly weather.  Remind me never to write fiction, btw.  I'm sitting in Starbucks and making calls to piece together the Bolton decision.

Kenneth Lay's Conviction Erased From Record  —  Ruling Worries Employees and Investors Who Lost Billions  —  A federal judge in Houston this afternoon wiped away the fraud and conspiracy conviction of Kenneth L. Lay, the Enron Corp. founder who died of heart disease in July …

N. Korea May Be Preparing for 2nd Nuclear Test  —  North Korea may be preparing for a second nuclear test, South Korean and Japanese officials said today, as the Communist state threatened "merciless blows" against any country imposing the sanctions just adopted by the United Nations Security Council.

Opposition to G.O.P. Rises in Ohio, Poll Says  —  The bellwether state of Ohio appears to have become hostile terrain for Republicans this year, with voters there overwhelmingly saying Democrats are more likely to help create jobs and concluding by a wide margin that Republicans in the state …

Pro-Israeli editor beaten in Bangladesh  —  A Muslim journalist facing charges of sedition for advocating ties with Israel was recently attacked and beaten by a crowd in Bangladesh that allegedly included leading officials of the country's ruling party, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Lamont Hypocrisy Watch: Blogger Desperation Edition  —  There is no better barometer of the increasing desperation of the Lamont campaign than the reaction of Ned's biggest blogger boosters to yesterday's debate.  —  Instead of touting Ned's performance, which would have been a challenge …

Taking Out The Trash  —  DemFromCT has an interesting post up this morning over at Daily Kos discussing the rise of hyper-partisanship.  He quotes an interview with the authors of The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track,Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann:

Bush Sets Defense As Space Priority  —  U.S. Says Shift Is Not A Step Toward Arms; Experts Say It Could Be  —  President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interests."

Mehlman Caught with Hand in Abramoff Cookie Jar  —  Media Fail to Challenge Mehlman on Inconsistent Tales of his Relationship with Convicted GOP Lobbyist Jack Abramoff  —  Does Mehlman Really Not Remember Sabbath Dinner with Convicted Lobbyist?  —  Washington, DC - For months the media …

US full of Internet addicts: study  —  The United States could be rife with Internet addicts as clinically ill as alcoholics, an unprecedented study released suggested.  —  Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in Silicon Valley said their telephone survey indicated …

9 U.S. troops killed in Iraq bombings  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military reported Wednesday that nine American troops had been killed in bombings and combat, raising to 67 the number of U.S. troops killed in October.  —  A roadside bomb killed a provincial police intelligence chief in southern Iraq early Wednesday, police said.

Iraq Removes Leaders of Special Police  —  The Iraqi government removed the country's two most senior police commanders from their posts on Tuesday, in the first broad move against the top leadership of Iraq's unruly special police forces.  —  The two generals had led Iraq's special police commandos …

Weldon's Ties to Serbian Businessman Part of Probe  —  Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade were surprised three years ago to be invited to a luncheon in honor of visiting Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), hosted by Bogoljub Karic, a wealthy Serbian businessman who had been barred from visiting …