Polling Results  —  October 20, 2006 - Lieberman Opens 17-Point Lead In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dem Challenger Gains Slightly On Rell  —  Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 …

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. SUPREME COURT REVERSES NINTH CIRCUIT ORDER BARRING ARIZONA VOTER ID LAW  —  The opinion is here.  The state asked for a stay from Justice Kennedy, but he referred it to the entire Court, which treated the motion as a petition for cert.  The Court unanimously reversed …

Why is the White House so Eerily Confident about the Coming Elections?  —  All week I've been reading in disparate sources from Drudge to US News and World Report about Bush, Rove and Cheney being overly confident about the midterm elections.  Even Republican strategists are increasingly concerned …

After Pat's Birthday  —  Editor's note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.  Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer  —  So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the reelection of a congressman who last year settled a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he beat his mistress during a five-year affair.

John McCain unveils his Grand Plan for Victory in Iraq  —  When pro-war advocates talk about Iraq these days, what they say is not only misguided and false, but almost always incoherent.  In explaining why we ought to stay, they are reduced to a form of babbling that sounds almost adolescent …

Exclusive: Feds Probe a Top Democrat's Relationship with AIPAC  —  The Department of Justice is investigating whether Rep. Jane Harman and the pro-Israel group worked together to get her reappointed as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee  —  Did a Democratic member …

Former delegate gets purported Diebold code … Diebold Election Systems Inc. expressed alarm and state election officials contacted the FBI yesterday after a former legislator received an anonymous package containing what appears to be the computer code that ran Maryland's polls in 2004.

KGB Letter Outlines Sen. Kennedy's Overtures to Soviets, Prof Says  —  (CNSNews.com) - The antipathy that congressional Democrats have today toward President George W. Bush is reminiscent of their distrust of President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War, a political science professor says.

Bush is wrong: Iraq is not Vietnam  —  President Bush has for the first time conceded a similarity between events in Iraq and those in Vietnam 40 years ago.  Asked in a television interview on Wednesday if he now saw a similarity between the recent escalation of American losses in Iraq …

CREW asks DOJ to investigate Weldon for e-mails outlining possible threats of retaliation against his opponent's contributors  —  E-mails received by CREW have prompted us to ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) violated the law …

2006 House Ratings  —  2006 Rothenberg Political Report  —  House Ratings  —  For race-by-race analysis and explanation of the ratings, you must be a subscriber to the print edition of the Rothenberg Political Report.  For a subscription form, click here.

Shiite Militia Seizes Control of Iraqi City  —  A Shiite militia that has been accused of a wave of sectarian attacks on Iraq's Sunni minority has seized control of the city of Amara in southeastern Iraq, attacking police stations and erecting checkpoints, witnesses in the city said today.