Audio: John Kerry on America's lazy, uneducated military  —  People send me these audio clips all the time and I'm never sure whether to run them or not.  Without the audio of the whole speech, I can't tell if the comments were later qualified, retracted, embellished, etc.

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.

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.

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 …

Warming Called Threat To Global Economy  —  Failing to curb the impact of climate change could damage the global economy on the scale of the Great Depression or the world wars by spawning environmental devastation that could cost 5 to 20 percent of the world's annual gross domestic product …

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 …

Poll: Stumping not boosting Bush popularity  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush's popularity has not been buoyed by a series of public events in recent days, a new CNN poll suggests.  —  Bush's approval rating hovers in the high 30s, where it has been throughout October.

Message Discipline  —  I'm behind the curve on Amy Sullivan on David Kuo, but I thought this was interesting: … Now Amy's right.  It would be useful, for the purposes of electoral politics, for liberals in the media to avoid expressing the view that the belief — adhered to by millions of Americans …

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.

Democrats fear the storm could leave them high and dry  —  Party is worried that the precdicted hurricane will just fizzle out  —  PUNDITS predict that the Republicans will be swept from power on Capitol Hill on November 7 by an elemental force of voter anger aimed at President Bush and Congress.

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.

The Eid sexual harassment incident  —  I didn't want to write about this.  —  Hell, I didn't even want to know about it.  —  I remember the first time I heard of it while I was in Amman.  Eblis sent me an e-mail titled "Behold the revolution in Egypt" with a link to malek's post …