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 …

Alternative Minimum Tax Targeted  —  Democrats Seek Fix For Middle-Class Families  —  Democratic leaders this week vowed to make the alternative minimum tax a centerpiece of next year's budget debate, saying the levy threatens to unfairly increase tax bills for millions of middle-class families by the end of the decade.

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 …

Hamas Offers to End Rule if Aid Resumes  —  Hamas committed today to folding its eight-month government if that would restore the international assistance that was cut off after it won national elections earlier this year.  —  In a shrewd and dramatic speech, the Hamas prime minister …

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.

McCain to launch 2008 exploratory panel  —  WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) intends to take the first formal step toward a White House run next week by launching a presidential exploratory committee, GOP officials say.  —  The officials spoke on the condition …

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.

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 …

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 …

The Great Revulsion  —  I'm not feeling giddy as much as greatly relieved.  O.K., maybe a little giddy.  Give 'em hell, Harry and Nancy!  —  Here's what I wrote more than three years ago, in the introduction to my column collection "The Great Unraveling": "I have a vision — maybe just a hope …

The Conservative Agenda  —  Apparently John Tester's a big hunk of conservatism, at least that's what I keep hearing.  So, I bring  —  you the conservative agenda:  — Supporting renewable and alternative energy sources (biofuels, bitches!)  — Raising automobile mileage  — Pro-choice

Lawmakers Who Won't Be Missed  —  "Conrad, how can you live back there [in Washington] with all those niggers?"  When asked how he had responded, Sen. Burns is reported to have . . . said with a chuckle that he told the rancher that it was 'a hell of a challenge.' "

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

House Democrats won't repeat GOP mistakes  —  On Wednesday, Nov. 9, 1994, after learning in the wee hours that morning that I was then a U.S. representative-elect, I had the opportunity at the Waverly Hotel to appear at a news conference with new Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich.