As G.O.P. Mopes, Bush Adds the Duties of Optimist in Chief  —  The capital is filled with Republicans convinced that they will lose the House and maybe the Senate.  So last week, the White House and party leaders convened a "friends and allies" teleconference to dispute what Ken Mehlman …

Obama Says He'll Consider A 2008 Bid for The Presidency  —  Democratic Senator to Decide After Elections  —  Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign yesterday, saying he has begun to weigh a possible candidacy and will make a decision after the November elections.

Youths set passenger bus alight in Paris  —  A band of up to 30 youths forced passengers out of a bus in a southern Paris suburb in broad daylight, set it on fire and then stoned firefighters who came to the rescue, a police official said.  —  Police cordoned off the neighbourhood in Grigny …

Call to Action: Google-Bombing the Election  —  First, I want to thank everyone who has participated in the Use It Or Lose It campaign, designed to drive Democratic money from safe incumbents toward competitive Democratic challengers.  That campaign will continue throughout next week …

Radical Islam finds US 'sterile ground'  —  Home-grown terror cells are largely missing in action, a contrast to Europe's situation.  —  NEW YORK - The Islamist radicalism that inspired young Muslims to attack their own countries - in London, Madrid, and Bali - has not yielded similar incidents in the United States, at least so far.

Babbling Idiots  —  Up until now I've resolutely ignored the mindless media chatter about a possible "change of course" in Iraq, both because of the absurdity of the metaphor (sinking ships can have only one course — straight down) and because so much of it appears designed simply …

US 'cannot stay course' in Iraq  —  The US is not winning in Iraq and will not be able to stay the course in the long-term, a US state department insider has said.  —  Former intelligence official Wayne White told the BBC that violence in Iraq was "getting worse".

The Path to Power  —  Tennessee's Harold Ford Jr. is running from his party in one of the must-win Senate races for the Democrats.  His story-and the stakes on Election Day.  —  The sun is just rising over Chattanooga when Harold Ford Jr. begins to pray.  A young African-American congressman …

Chavez claims victory of sorts at U.N.  —  CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela achieved its objective at the United Nations by preventing Washington's preferred candidate from winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council.  —  Venezuela is trailing Guatemala …

Blair gives Iraq 12 months to be ready for handover  —  Tony Blair will put pressure on the Iraqi government today to demonstrate that its security forces will be ready to take over from the British army in southern provinces within roughly a year.  —  Amid mounting international concern …

Lamont Questions Lieberman's Spending  —  HARTFORD, Conn. — Ned Lamont's campaign says Sen. Joe Lieberman has failed to account for $387,000 in petty cash his campaign spent days before the state's August Democratic primary.  —  "Whenever this much cash is floating around it certainly raises suspicions …

A Nadir of U.S. Power  —  It's not exactly morning in America.  —  In Iraq, things get ever uglier, and the old remedy of extra troops now seems tragically futile.  The Bush team has recently tried putting thousands of additional soldiers into Baghdad, and the result after two months is that violence there has increased.

Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections  —  Researchers, Candidates Have Little Confidence in Machines Designed to Make Elections Easier to Call  —  Cheryl Kagan, a former Maryland Democratic legislator, was shocked when she opened her mail Wednesday morning.  —  Inside, she discovered three computer discs.

Sudan Orders U.N. Envoy to Leave Country  —  Sudan's government ordered the chief United Nations envoy out of the country today, saying he was an enemy of the country and its armed forces.  —  Secretary General Kofi Annan said that he was reviewing the letter from the Khartoum government …

The Wisdom of Survivalist Crowds  —  Glenn Reynolds' last article here at TCS drew attention to the seeming growth of disaster preparedness and survivalist tendencies in the mainstream population - even though such have usually been the stuff of small subcultures outside the mainstream.

CNN blasted, praised over sniper video  —  CNN's decision to air a video showing snipers targeting U.S. troops in Iraq provoked both rage and praise yesterday, with some calling it a brave move by the cable network and others labeling it a propaganda coup for terrorists.

Mike McGavick for U.S. Senate  —  In Sen. Maria Cantwell and challenger Mike McGavick, Washington has two fully qualified choices for the Senate.  The better choice is the Republican, McGavick.  —  Some see this election as a referendum on George W. Bush.  If we did, we would be for a solid Democratic ticket.