Bartlett: 'It's Never Been A Stay The Course Strategy'  —  On CBS this morning, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett claimed that the administration has "never" had "a stay-the-course strategy."  Watch it:  —  President Bush made the same claim over the weekend.  It's not true.

REPORT: Bush Officials Were 'Rooting' For North Korea to Test Nuclear Weapon  —  Senior Bush administration officials wanted North Korea to test a nuclear weapon because it would prove their point that the regime must be overthrown.  —  This astonishing revelation was buried in the middle …

MTP Transcript for Oct. 22  —  Barack Obama, David Broder, Charlie Cook, John Harwood, Robert Novak  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Only 16 days until the midterm elections.  Will the Democrats retake control of the Congress?  What would they do if they did?

State Dept. Official Apologizes for Criticism of Iraq Policy  —  A senior State Department official apologized Sunday night for saying that the United States had acted with "arrogance" and "stupidity" in its campaign in Iraq.  —  The apology from Alberto Fernandez, director of the office …

Mud in the face  —  Clinton foe: 'Whew' she was hideous before 'work'  —  Hillary Clinton's Republican challenger is getting personal and it's not pretty: He says the senator used to be ugly - and speculates she got "millions of dollars" in plastic surgery.  —  "You ever see a picture of her back then?

BEST GOP HOPE: SCARE 'EM SILLY  —  WITH only two weeks left 'til Election Day, Republicans won't save themselves with phony optimism - pathetic claims that, somehow, they're mounting a comeback.  They need to sound a note of alarm and fill the airwaves with specifics of exactly what will happen if the Democrats triumph.

War, What is it Good For?  —  Drum writes: … Well, no, not really.  This is silly.  Perhaps a detailed explanation of how those gears were turning tells us a lot about a person's views of the world, but the final up or down vote?  Not so much.  —  This provides an opportunity to revisit …

Open Secrets: Voting In The Blogosphere  —  Secret ballots are taken for granted in America these days, but it wasn't always the norm that it is now.  The first president elected by secret ballot was Grover Cleveland in 1892, so until Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, more presidents had been elected by open ballot than in secret.

Active-Duty Troops Launch Campaign to Press Congress to End U.S. Occupation of Iraq  —  65 Members to Send "Appeals for Redress" Under the Military Whistle-blower Protection Act  —  Contact: Trevor Fitzgibbon, 202-246-5303, or Alex Howe, or Laura Gross, 202-822-5200, for Fenton Communications

God knows why faith is thriving  —  A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and vitality of religion.  —  As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of the mind."

Turmoil in Hastert's Office as Key Staff Testifies  —  Rhonda Schwartz Reports:  —  Top aides to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) are expected to testify this week in the House Ethics Committee investigation of the Foley page scandal.  —  Hastert may also appear …

Poll: GOP could lose control of Congress  —  Just two weeks before Election Day, poll results continue to signal that Republicans could lose control of one or both chambers of Congress.  —  ELECTIONLINE: What do you think?  —  The latest USA TODAY/Gallup national poll, taken over the weekend, shows that:

Lancet-go-round  —  Tim Lambert easily dispenses with criticism of the Hopkins/Lancet study of "excess deaths" in Iraq grounded in the divergence between their estimate of Iraq's pre-war death rate and the UN's estimate.  The UN's estimate turns out to have just been a kind of guess with no real methodological grounding at all.

BBC admits: We are biased on religion and politics  —  Internal corporation memo on 'impartiality' summit leaked to British media exposes truth on BBC bias  —  LONDON - The British Broadcasting Corporation has been struggling for several years against criticisms and claims of biased reporting concerning …

Washington Whispers  —  Calling President Bush's third and best treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, a different kind of bird than Washington is used to doesn't ruffle the feathers of the former Goldman Sachs chairman.  How could it?  A nature buff who got his start in birding at 26 …

Lamont camp presses complaints over Lieberman 'slush fund'  —  Officials in Ned Lamont's U.S. Senate campaign said today they expect to file complaints with both federal and state authorities concerning $387,000 in "petty cash" U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman spent before the Democratic primary election.

The Dow Jones Industrials Reach New High  —  Wall Street extended its October rally Monday as investors grew more optimistic about upcoming earnings reports and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will cut capital spending to drive overall returns.  The Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 110 points and crossed 12,100 for the first time.

Rush Limbaugh attacks Michael J. Fox: " ...he was either off the medication or he was acting.  He is an actor, after all."  —  Rush Limbaugh will say anything to attack anyone who challenges George Bush and his policies.  This time, his target is Michael J. Fox.  Meds are something Rush does have a little experience with.

We Can't Just Withdraw  —  I f only Iraq were like Vietnam.  After the 60-day siege of An Loc in the spring of 1972, where heavily outnumbered South Vietnamese troops and their American advisors rebuffed several North Vietnamese divisions, the Saigon government found itself …

Guns buyback has no effect on murder rate  —  HALF a billion dollars spent buying back hundreds of thousands of guns after the Port Arthur massacre had no effect on the homicide rate, says a study published in an influential British journal.  —  The report by two Australian academics …

The battlefield widens for House GOP seats  —  A tide of discontent has made a growing number of races competitive.  —  LA CRESCENT, MINN. — The temperature is dropping, but six-term Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) is sweating more than usual for this time of year.