John Kerry Supports The Troops As Special-Education Cases  —  John Kerry has never hidden his contempt for the armed forces very well, not even when he served as an officer in the Navy.  Yesterday the mask slipped a little bit, as John Ziegler at KFI notes on his website, and Allahpundit mirrors at Hot Air.

Black Democrats Cross Party Lines To Back Steele For U.S. Senate  —  George's Politicians Lash Out at State Party  —  A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday.

In Baghdad, a Force Under the Militias' Sway  —  Infiltration of Iraqi Police Could Delay Handover of Control for Years, U.S. Trainers Suggest  —  BAGHDAD — The signs of the militias are everywhere at the Sholeh police station.  —  Posters celebrating Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army militia, dot the building's walls.

Bush Says 'America Loses' Under Democrats  —  White House Talk Heats Up As Polls Show Tight Races  —  President Bush said terrorists will win if Democrats win and impose their policies on Iraq, as he and Vice President Cheney escalated their rhetoric Monday in an effort to turn out Republican voters in next week's midterm elections.

Democrats Are Seen to Gain in Statehouse Races  —  Candidates for the Iowa Legislature answered questions at a forum in Waterloo last week.  Analysts say local campaigns are getting rougher as control slips toward centralized parties or interest groups.  —  More than 6,000 state legislative seats …

Polls: 4 key Senate races tight  —  (CNN) — With a week to go before voters cast their midterm election ballots, four key Senate races remain statistical dead heats, and Republican Sen. Mike DeWine faces uphill sledding in his re-election battle in Ohio, according to new CNN polls released Tuesday.

HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU WIN AN ELECTION EVEN IF YOU LOSE ***Updated***  —  UPDATE 10/31/06 6:44am: In case you thought I was kidding, here are today's batch of headlines supporting the Democratic election storyline:  —  CNN - Poll: Stumping Not Helping Bush Popularity  —  NYT - Democrats Are Seen to Gain in State Races

Republicans See Edge From Early Voting  —  Democrats Question Specific Claims and Believe  —  They Are Catching Up With the Trend  —  WASHINGTON — Down in the polls and with their majorities in Congress at risk, Republicans say they have some good news in early-voting statistics that suggest …

Rushing for the Exit  —  IF WE LEAVE IRAQ, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SUPPORTERS OF DEMOCRACY?  —  To say that "exit strategies" from Iraq have become the flavor of the month would be to exaggerate the situation to the point of absurdity.  Exit strategies are not even the fall fashion.

The Six-Year Itch  —  Democrats may take Congress, but will it matter in the long run?  —  As Democrats begin, in George W. Bush's words, "measuring the drapes" in the offices of the House speaker and Senate majority leader, it's worth looking back on the history of sixth-year-of-the-presidency off-year elections.

ARMY STRONG!  - 2006 PROJECT VALOUR-IT COMPETITION STARTS TODAY  —  "At that time I had no use of either hand.  I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels.  And I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after Soldiers' Angels provided me with a laptop …

AN EXTRAORDINARY INTERVIEW  —  Driving home tonight, I listened to Hugh Hewitt inerviewing Mark Halperin, political director of ABC News.  Since then, I've reviewed the entire transcript here.  I would urge you to read the interview, or track down Hugh's podcast of it when it appears at TownHall.