AL QAEDA: DEMOCRATS ARE "REASONABLE"!  —  One basic question emerging from the midterm election is: to what extent did the terrorists win?  We will have a lot to say about this over the days to come, but here are a few preliminary thoughts.  —  I don't think there is any doubt about the fact …

The Architect Speaks  —  After maintaining a relentless optimism in the face of ominous polls, Karl Rove tells TIME why Republicans wound up taking a bath on Election Night.  —  BY MIKE ALLEN/WASHINGTON  —  At the White House senior staff meeting in the Roosevelt Room at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday …

Marine to receive Medal of Honor for Iraq heroism  —  (CNN) — President Bush announced on Friday that the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, will be awarded posthumously to Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham.  —  In April 2004, Dunham was leading a patrol in an Iraqi town near …

Post-Election 2006: Playing the Numbers Game  —  News networks recognize Crystal Ball success rate  —  It's been a long election season—seemingly much longer than midterms past—and your Crystal Ball is happy to have served our good readers right up until the end.

A "REFERENDUM ON IRAQ" (PART TWO: SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH)  —  If the 2006 U.S. elections were a "referendum on Iraq" - who won?  "The Democrats" of course - that's an easy answer.  But here we've always asked the tough questions, and the full answer to that one isn't so obvious.

Waxman Set to Probe Areas of Bush Gov't  —  The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.  —  There's the response to Hurricane Katrina …

John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus  —  Congress: The likely new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he's just fighting bigotry in leading a Democrat jihad to deny law enforcement key terror-fighting tools.  But he is in the pocket of Islamists.  —  John Conyers, son …

Gates' views not easy to discern  —  Bush's Defense nominee has seemed alternately hawkish and moderate, leaving questions about his approach to Iraq.  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's nominee to be the next Defense secretary once urged missile strikes on North Korea to keep the communist country from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Doubling Down in Iraq  —  Warfare isn't like business.  —  Don't throw good money after bad.  When you're in a hole, stop digging.  If you've been running in the wrong direction, the first thing to do is, turn around.  —  These are the kinds of things Americans are hearing and saying about the war in Iraq.

Bush Pledges Bipartisan Cooperation  —  Reaching out to newly ascendant Democrats for a second day, President Bush promised bipartisan cooperation to the Senate's top Democrats on Friday.  —  Bush called Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin …

Is This Victory?  —  The Meaning of Victory: A Conversation with General Franks  —  How should victory be defined?  —  What constitutes victory?  I think that is a fundamental question, and it is good for each of us in this country to ask ourselves that from time to time.

Tougher race hate laws considered  —  Ministers are considering whether race hate laws should be revised after BNP leader Nick Griffin was cleared of charges relating to speeches he made.  —  A jury decided speeches by Mr Griffin and party activist Mark Collett in 2004 had not incited racial hatred.

Jack Palance dies at 87  —  Oscar-winner died of natural causes in his California home … LOS ANGELES - Jack Palance, the craggy-faced menace in "Shane," "Sudden Fear" and other films who turned successfully to comedy in his 70s with his Oscar-winning self-parody in "City Slickers," died Friday.

Muted Tones Of Quiet Authority: A Look Suited To the Speaker  —  The image of Rep. Nancy Pelosi standing in front of a formation of American flags Wednesday morning, taking questions as the presumptive new speaker of the House, was an arresting one and not simply because she is the first woman to be in that position.

Chávez attacks Bush as a 'genocidal' leader  —  Venezuela's president continued his criticism of President Bush after the pro-Chávez legislature declared that the 9/11 attacks were `self-inflicted.'  —  CARACAS - When Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chávez called President Bush …

EXCLUSIVE: McCain Begins Preliminary White House Run  —  Exploratory Committee to Be Set Up This Month, No Final Decision Has Been Made  —  His party may have taken "a thumpin'," in the words of President Bush, but ABC News has learned that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his political team …