It's a Candidate Calling.  Again.  —  Republicans Deny Subterfuge as Phone Barrages Anger Voters  —  This year's heavy volume of automated political phone calls has infuriated countless voters and triggered sharp complaints from Democrats, who say the Republican Party has crossed the line …

News-7 Poll: Webb surges ahead of Allen  —  Democrat Jim Webb has surged ahead of Republican George Allen in the last poll of the campaign, conducted for News-7 by SurveyUSA.  —  The survey shows Webb with 52% of the likely voters, with 44% going to Allen.

Memorandum From RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman: Another Poll Confirms GOP Momentum  —  Memorandum From RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman: Another Poll Confirms GOP Momentum  —  TO: REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP AND INTERESTED PARTIES  —  FROM: KEN MEHLMAN  —  RE: ANOTHER POLL CONFIRMS GOP MOMENTUM

For Democrats, Even a Gain May Feel Like a Failure  —  In most midterm elections, an out-of-power party picking up, say, 14 seats in the House and five seats in the Senate could call it a pretty good night.  —  But for Democrats in 2006, that showing would mean coming up one seat shy of taking control of both the Senate and the House.

U.S. envoy to Iraq likely quitting post  —  WASHINGTON - Zalmay Khalilzad, the plainspoken dealmaker and Republican insider who has won praise and criticism for attempts to broker Sunni political participation in Iraq's fragile government, is likely to quit his post as U.S. ambassador in Baghdad …

Sleepwalking into the gathering storm?  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - "You ask, what is our aim?  I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

White House miffed by Fla. GOP candidate  —  PENSACOLA, Fla. - The closer the election came to the finish line, the more President Bush's aides battled the perception he was doing his party as much harm as good and was unwanted in many districts.  —  On Monday, Bush jetted to a conservative corner …

Saddam: a tribute  —  Three months ago, Tony Blair warned the world that an "arc of extremism" now stretches across the Middle East from Iran to Lebanon.  This phenomenon, he suggested, threatens the survival of the very values on which western society is based.  Yet, when Blair came to power, no such claim could have been made.

Re: Santorum Poll Released by Indicted Republican Operative  —  This poll raised a variety of concerns when it showed up in my mailbox this morning.  See below:  —  What is a very likely voter?  I've never seen that term in a poll before.  I've seen likely voter, registered voter and eligible voter …

To: Our Readers  —  Democrats are set to gain 19 House seats, two Senate seats, and five governorships in tomorrow's elections.  It is a sign of Republicans' sorry state that, at this point, this is actually a very favorable outlook for them.  —  In the last day of the midterm election campaign …

SEEING THE UNSEEN Part 1  —  Folks, as in The Olden Days, this is a long read.  It is an essay, not a blog entry.  Print it, copy and paste it, or just grab a cup of coffee and settle back.  —  Oh, and all the pictures enlarge with a click, if you are so inclined.  MMMnnnnn...pictures....

THE MYTH OF THE RATIONAL VOTER  —  There's an election tomorrow.  Do voters know what they're doing?  According to the typical economist — and many political scientists — the answer is "No, but it doesn't matter."  How could it not matter?  The main argument is that the public's errors cancel out.

N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice  —  Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery.  —  Under the rule being considered …

Hot Air introduces...the Absolute Moral Authority card  —  Find yourself in a jam?  Are your anti-war lies catching up with you?  Then use the Absolute Moral Authority card and get right out of trouble free.  Once you play the Absolute Moral Authority card, no one can ever question you again, no matter what you say or do!

Even Lower  —  Here's a flyer being distributed by the New York State Republican party:  —  The Democrats, in other words, want to let a darker-skinned man rape your white wife.  You know what?  I just found out nothing about Democratic values.  But I learned a hell of a lot more about Republican ones.