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.

Exit-Poll Secrecy Measures Aim to Plug Leaks to Blogs  —  Two-by-two, polling specialists from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and the Associated Press will go into rooms in New York and Washington shortly before noon Tuesday.  Their cellphones and BlackBerrys will be confiscated …

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 …

Pelosi's Platform  —  HOW THE DEMOCRATS COULD GOVERN IF THEY WIN THE HOUSE.  —  What will a Democratic House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi be like?  The Republicans have been painting an unattractive portrait of Democrats roasting young children on a spit in the Capitol rotunda and whatnot.

"Absolutely True:" Rather Continues to Defend 60 Minutes TANG Story  —  Just moments ago on North Carolina's Morning News with Jack Boston on Raleigh-based News-Talk 680 WPTF, former CBS anchor Dan Rather defended the infamous 60 Minutes story using forged documents to attack President Bush's service …

Franklin County phone system returns to service  —  Franklin County's phone system was returned to service about 90 minutes after it collapsed today under a crush of calls from voters and poll workers.  —  The volume of calls "overwhelmed the system," Franklin County Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said.

Election season is bad time for slip of the quip  —  My face time with John Kerry has been brief but choice.  In 2003, I was at a campaign event in New Hampshire chatting with two old coots in plaid.  The senator approached and stopped in front of us.  The etiquette in primary season …

AP Exclusive: Election chief concerned about voter confusion  —  JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Secretary of State Robin Carnahan raised concerns about potential voter confusion in Tuesday's elections, citing her own experience casting an absentee ballot as an indication that some poll workers may wrongly …

Following the Election Returns  —  An hour-by-hour guide to tonight's results.  —  This year the networks say they are guarding their exit poll results as if they were crown jewels.  The results will be delivered to a "quarantine room," access to which will be granted to only two staffers …

FBI looking into possible Va. voter intimidation  —  Officials probing reports of phone calls allegedly intended to confuse voters … The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the possibility of voter intimidation in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. George Allen, a Republican …

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....

Olbermann: Where are the checks, balances?  —  Bush has been 'making it up' for too long, and the people have let him … MSNBC TV  —  We are, as every generation, inseparable from our own time.  —  Thus is our perspective, inevitably that of the explorer looking into the wrong end of the telescope.

Cut and run?  Let's retire that phrase  —  Advocating withdrawal from Iraq is hardly dishonorable.  —  With tomorrow's election, we hope one loopy phrase can be stomped back in the can of political sleaze from which it escaped.  The phrase?  "Cut and run."

Prosecutor Kills Himself in Texas Raid Over Child Sex  —  A prosecutor in this North Texas town killed himself Sunday as the police tried to arrest him on charges of soliciting sex over the Internet from a person he thought was a 13-year-old boy.  —  The prosecutor, Louis Conradt Jr., 56 …

Plan to create human-cow embryos  —  UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs.  —  Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence.

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 …