New Jersey Court Backs Full Rights for Gay Couples  —  Cindy Meneghin, right, and her partner, Maureen Kilian, heard about the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage Wednesday at their lawyer's office in Newark.  With them was Sarah, left, their daughter.

Connecticut Crucible for a War Debate  —  When the three candidates in Connecticut's celebrated Senate race met for their final debate on Monday night in New London, only one of them appeared to be having a good time.  —  It was not Ned Lamont, the tense and fidgety businessman who had captured …

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding  —  WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called "water-boarding," which creates a sensation of drowning.

Olbermann Gives Us The Visual To Limbaugh's Attack On Michael J. Fox  —  By now everyone has heard Limbaugh's little commentary about Michael J. Fox's appearance in the ad for Claire McCaskill.  Well tonight Keith Olbermann supplied us with the visual to accompany Rush's latest show of idiocy.

Rights Group Fires Publisher of Foley E-Mail  —  A liberal gay rights group said Wednesday that one of its employees, acting anonymously, had created the Web site that first published copies of unusually solicitous e-mail messages to teenagers from former Representative Mark Foley, which led to his resignation.

An Interview With President Bush  —  This afternoon I had the privilege of being one of eight columnists interviewing George W. Bush in the Oval Office.  The others were Tony Blankley of the Washington Times, Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal, Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post …

Jane Pauley Sues New York Times  —  Broadcaster claims fraud over appearance in drug industry advertorial  —  Claiming that The New York Times duped her into granting an interview for what turned out to be a drug company-funded advertising supplement, Jane Pauley has sued the newspaper for fraud.

Outlook  — While our seat-by-seat analysis shows Democrats winning the House by a four-seat margin, the overriding question is whether a "wave" will deliver a really big Democratic majority.  That presumes an overwhelming sentiment that negates seat-by-seat analyses.

Ad Seen as Playing to Racial Fears  —  The Tennessee Senate race, one of the most competitive and potentially decisive battles of the midterm election, became even more unpredictable this week after a furor over a Republican television commercial that stood out even in a year of negative advertising.

Democrats lead in US election-Reuters poll  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voters strongly favor Democratic candidates over Republicans in the Nov. 7 congressional election and harbor growing doubts about the Iraq war and the country's future, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released Thursday.

Watchdog Group Accuses Churches of Political Action  —  A nonprofit group has filed a complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the role that two churches may have played in the re-election campaign of Kansas' attorney general.  —  The complaint by Citizens for Responsibility …

Airport taxi flap about alcohol has deeper significance  —  The airport taxi controversy may go deeper than the quandary over whether to accommodate Somali Muslim cabdrivers who refuse to carry passengers carrying alcohol.  Behind the scenes, a struggle for power and religious authority is apparently playing out.

German ministers 'knew about CIA torture cells'  —  The German government is alleged to have received first-hand evidence that the CIA began torturing terrorist suspects at secret prisons in Europe shortly after the September 11 attacks, despite claiming it only knew about such sites through the media.

Argentina charges Iran, Hezbollah in 1994 Jewish center bombing  —  BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentine prosecutors charged Iran and the Shiite militia Hezbollah with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish charities office in Argentina that killed 85 people and injured 300.

Girls' room his, too  —  Transgender men free to use ALL of MTA's loos  —  The line for the girls' room just got longer.  —  Men who live as women can now legally use women's rest rooms in New York's transit system under an unprecedented deal revealed yesterday.