Troops fear Rumsfeld's exit will end their Iraq mission  —  Half of America and the upper echelons of the US military may be cheering Donald Rumsfeld's resignation from the post of Defence Secretary, but there was no rejoicing yesterday among those most directly affected by his decisions: the frontline soldiers in Iraq.

RNC asks Steele to replace Mehlman  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party just lost both chambers of Congress, will leave his position in January, and the post as party chief has been offered to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

Removal of Rumsfeld Dates Back to Summer  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld walking back to his motorcade Thursday after touring the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kan.  —  President Bush was moving by late summer toward removing Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary, people inside and outside the White House said Thursday.

Ignoring widespread agreement on core issues, media suggested wins by "conservative Democrats" will cause intraparty strife … In the wake of the November 7 midterm elections, numerous media figures have attributed the Democratic gains in the House and Senate to the number of wins by conservative or moderate Democratic challengers.

Only a Minor Earthquake  —  How serious is the "thumpin' " the Republicans took on Tuesday?  Losing one house is significant but hardly historic.  Losing both houses, however, is defeat of a different order of magnitude, the equivalent in a parliamentary system of a vote of no confidence.

Like Father, Like Son?  —  Team 41 is a threat to the Bush legacy.  —  With the appointment of Robert Gates—CIA director from 1991 to 1993—to succeed Don Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, George W. Bush has brought upon himself much talk about sons in the shadow of their fathers.

McGovern to Meet With Congress on War  —  George McGovern, the former senator and Democratic presidential candidate, said Thursday that he will meet with more than 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June.

With Power Set to Be Split, Wiretaps Re-emerge as Issue  —  The Bush administration escalated its defense of the National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program on Thursday, even as Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the program aggressively once they assume power.

Oh, why don't you just admit it?  —  Okay, I'm depressed about the election.  —  She asks herself a question, then answers it — Rumsfeldianly.  —  What is it, exactly?  —  It's the failure of Americans to support the war.  It's the folding and crumpling because things didn't go well enough …

Redistricting: Home to Roost  —  How Republicans'  —  Gerrymandering Efforts  —  May Have Backfired  —  WASHINGTON — Gerrymandering was supposed to cement Republican control of the House of Representatives, offering incumbents a wall of re-election protection even as public opinion turned sharply against them.

TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI  —  Today is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps.  The Marine Corps Museum (depicted above) opens today in Quantico — "a monument to honor, courage and commitment."  Earlier this week Mark Yost previewed the museum in an excellent column (subscribers only) for the Wall Street Journal.

Out-of-Work GOP Aides Face Tough Road Ahead  —  The hundreds of Republican staffers — not to mention more than a few Members — who will lose their jobs in the next few weeks are going to face a hostile marketplace on K Street as unemployed Republicans flood the market.

On a Shifting Field, a Sense of Rising Expectations  —  It was no doubt inadvertent, but it was hard not to find some symbolism in the moment Thursday in the Oval Office when President Bush seemed to forget that Vice President Dick Cheney was in the room.  —  Representatives Nancy Pelosi …