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.

Rove foresees GOP victory  —  White House political strategist Karl Rove yesterday confidently predicted that the Republican Party would hold the House and the Senate in next month's elections, dismissing fallout from the sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley.

ACLU Express Outrage As Bush Signs Terror Interrogation Into Law  —  So Bush signs the bill into law that will allow terrorists to be interrogated harshly, as they should be, and allow many top Al Qaeda agents to be brought to justice through military tribunals.

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.

Which Way to Win?  —  As we head toward Election Day 2006, political analysts are focusing on a few dozen tossup races that will determine whether the Democrats take the House and Senate.  But there's a larger, overarching battle this year between two visions of America …

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 …

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."

Video: Tony Blair calls the veil a "mark of separation"  —  Thanks much to kasper kasper, our man in the UK, for clipping this.  The news services are already buzzing about it.  —  Blair, like the public, is siding with Jack Straw, but I don't know what he hopes or expects to happen here.

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 …

Reuters Cameraman Remanded for Inciting Rock Attacks  —  On Tuesday, a Reuters cameraman was remanded to prison until trial for his part in rock-throwing attacks on security forces in Bil'in, where the separation fence is a constant target of protesters.  —  The cameraman, Imad Muhammad Intisar Boghnat …

Some Seek 'Pink Purge' in the GOP  —  WASHINGTON — In recent years, the Republican Party aimed to broaden its appeal with a "big-tent" strategy of reaching out to voters who might typically lean Democratic.  But now a debate is growing within the GOP about whether the tent has become too big …

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.

Alarm Bells for G.O.P. in a Battleground State  —  Supporters of both candidates in the Senate race in Ohio hit the streets on Friday in Dayton.  Senator Mike DeWine, a Republican, is trailing.  —  The bellwether state of Ohio appears to have become hostile terrain for Republicans this year …

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.

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.

Elections May Leave Bush An Early Lame Duck  —  On desks around the West Wing sit digital clocks counting down the days and hours left in the Bush presidency, reminders to the White House staff to use the time left as effectively as possible.  As of 8 a.m. today, those clocks will read 825 days, four hours.

Iraq war cost years of progress in Afghanistan - UK brigadier  —  Commander echoes criticism of Blair's foreign policy by head of army  —  The invasion of Iraq prevented British forces from helping to secure Afghanistan much sooner and has left a dangerous vacuum in the country for four years …