Report: N. Korean Leader Regrets Test  —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country's nuclear test to a Chinese delegation and said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if Washington backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.

GOP to Air Ad Warning of Terror Attacks  —  The Republican Party will begin airing a hard-hitting ad this weekend that warns of more cataclysmic terror attacks against the U.S. homeland.  —  The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998.

Major Change Expected In Strategy for Iraq War  —  The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war …

Republican Woes Lead to Feuding by Conservatives  —  Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies.  Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down.  Hawks say President Bush is bungling the war in Iraq.  And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley's sexual messages to teenage pages.

House Intel Chair Suspends Staff Member  —  WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has suspended a Democratic staff member pending an investigation into whether he leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to the news media.

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases  —  Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds …

Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God  —  MIAMI (AFP) - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.  —  "He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Calif. Campaign in Turmoil Over Letters  —  Aide to GOP Candidate Sent Mailing Saying Immigrants Are Barred From Voting  —  A California Republican's congressional campaign went into meltdown Thursday after he said a staff member was responsible for sending thousands of letters to new voters …

Close Race In 2nd District  —  Poll Finds Tiny Lead For Simmons Over Courtney  —  In the nationally watched struggle for the 2nd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and Democratic challenger Joe Courtney are locked in a statistical draw, according to a Hartford Courant/University …

Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2006  —  Stephen Slivinski is director of budget studies at the Cato Institute and author of Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government (Nelson Current, 2006).  —  Executive Summary

The Exceptional Nation  —  If demography is destiny, then news of America's decline is (like Mark Twain's death) decidedly premature.  —  Statisticians tell us Oct. 17 (at 7:46 a.m. EDT, according to the Census Bureau's estimate) was the day America's population reached, then surpassed, 300 million people.

Carson trails Dickerson  —  With virtually no help from GOP, Dickerson is in tight congressional race with incumbent  —  A new poll shows Democratic U.S. Rep. Julia Carson narrowly trailing Republican Eric Dickerson — an outcome that, if it holds on Election Day, would be one of the biggest upsets in Indiana politics.

"The Rumor"  —  I heard "The Rumor" early yesterday.  The calls and e-mails started slow but quickly picked up throughout the day.  —  "The Rumor" had it that a certain Illinois Republican congressman was about to be busted for having sexual relations with an underage female page.

America's Next Top Pundit  —  What does it take to be a talking head?  —  Whenever news breaks — on the fall campaign trail, in North Korea, in the most trivial corners of Hollywood — thousands of pundits have something to say.  What most of them don't have is somewhere to say it.