Bush's New Tack Steers Clear of 'Stay the Course'  —  President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course."  A complete distortion, they say.  "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday.

Polls: Democrats closer to taking Senate control  —  But polls show no evidence of a national Democratic 'tidal wave' … Today show  —  NBC News Election Unit  —  NEW YORK - Two weeks out from the midterm elections, a second round of MSNBC/McClatchy polls, conducted by Mason-Dixon in eight states …

Democrats Urge Their Flush Candidates to Share the Wealth  —  The balance in the campaign account of Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts, is $4,886,325.  It is a muscular sum for a member of the House, and ordinarily it would be hailed as an exhibit of fund-raising savvy.

Cash Lieberman Spent In Primary Draws Complaint  —  Ned Lamont's campaign filed an elections complaint Monday that says Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman failed to properly account for nearly $400,000 in cash during the last days of the Democratic primary.  —  Lamont's campaign asked …

Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility  —  Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.  —  A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

RNC anti-Ford ad, deconstructed  —  A Republican National Committee ad has got Harold Ford Jr.'s campaign screaming "racism" in Tennessee.  They wouldn't be screaming if the ad wasn't so effective — and funny:  —  Here's the script (H/T Hotline), highlighting the blond bimbo's comments.

Bush says he uses "the Google."  —  Watch it:  —  Digg It!  —  Transcript:

Women Scarcer On Evening News  —  B&C Contributing Editor Andrew Tyndall analyzed the first six weeks of Katie Couric's tenure atop the CBS Evening News and found that woman have gotten fewer assignments.  —  When former Today host Katie Couric arrived at the anchor chair of the CBS Evening News …

This Time, It's Not the Economy  —  In many ways, the economy has not looked so good in a long time.  —  The price of gas at the pump has tumbled since midsummer.  Unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in more than five years.  On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average …

Peace activist jailed for attack on singer  —  A smirking peace activist who left a rising rock star fighting for his life after a row over his girlfriend was jailed for eight months today.  —  Christiaan Briggs, 30, attacked 19-year-old singer Billy Leeson and left him in a coma …

NYT-ea culpa: Times mouthpiece acknowledges error  —  What do you call it when the ombudsman of the New York Times admits he made a mistake?  —  A good start.  —  New York Times ombudsman Byron Calame has initiated what we can only hope will be a trend in America's holier-than-thou media …

Michael J. Fox Records TV Ad for Cardin  —  Actor Questions Steele's Stance on Funding for Stem Cell Research  —  Appearing grimly unsteady from his long bout with Parkinson's disease, actor Michael J. Fox is inserting his halting voice into the campaign for the U.S. Senate …

The Don't Show Me State  —  The liberal assault on voter ID laws.  —  People in the good state of Missouri need photo identification to cash a check, board a plane or apply for food stamps.  But the state Supreme Court has ruled that a photo ID requirement to vote is too great a burden on the elderly and the poor.

Chicago Voter Database Hacked  —  Civic Group Claims It Could Have Tampered With Voter Roles  —  As if there weren't enough concerns about the integrity of the vote, a non-partisan civic organization today claimed it had hacked into the voter database for the 1.35 million voters in the city of Chicago.

European Muslims worry about frank new Islam debate  —  PARIS (Reuters) - Britain's heated debate about Islamic veils reflects a growing frustration with Muslims in Europe that risks further isolating these minorities rather than integrating them, leading European Muslim activists say.