Pelosi Endorses Murtha as Next Majority Leader  —  House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) yesterday as the next House majority leader, thereby stepping into a contentious intraparty fight between Murtha and her current deputy, Maryland's Steny H. Hoyer.

Democrats Push for Troop Cuts Within Months  —  Democratic leaders in the Senate vowed on Sunday to use their new Congressional majority to press for troop reductions in Iraq within a matter of months, stepping up pressure on the administration just as President Bush is to be interviewed …

For Democrats, How Long a Honeymoon?  —  The media kept saying the war was going badly.  The Bush administration said progress in Iraq was being obscured by relentlessly negative coverage.  —  The media kept saying the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina was badly botched.

China sub secretly stalked U.S. fleet  —  A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned.  —  The surprise encounter highlights …

Fresh Off the Farm in Montana, a Senator-to-Be  —  "He's a small farmer from the homestead,'' a friend says of Jon Tester. "  That's absolutely who he is.  When he joins the United States Senate in January, big Jon Tester — who is just under 300 pounds in his boots …

Administration Opposes Democrats' Plan for Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices  —  The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.

Stupid party decides  —  WASHINGTON — The depleted House Republican caucus, a minority in the next Congress, convenes at 8 a.m. in the Capitol Friday on the brink of committing an act of supreme irrationality.  The House members blame their leadership for tasting the bitter dregs of defeat.

Lieberman a Wild Card in Iraq Policy  —  Senator Says Bipartisan Effort Is Needed for a Successful End  —  Voters seemed to be speaking loudly and clearly about Iraq last week when they elected war critics such as Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and James Webb of Virginia to the Senate.

The Prodigal Returns  —  Supporting Cast: Bush 41's national-security team, in 1991.  From far left, Scowcroft, Gates, Cheney, Quayle, Baker, Bush and Powell.  —  George Herbert Walker Bush is a proud father; tears easily come to his eyes when he thinks of his children, all of them …

For Conservatives, It's Back to Basics  —  THE morning after the Republican drubbing in the midterm elections, Ken Mehlman, chairman of the party, headed to the weekly coalition meeting where limited government conservatives, Christian traditionalists and gun-rights groups gathered to plot strategy.

How the hammer fell on his own party  —  The iron hand of Tom DeLay built a GOP empire — and may have contributed its undoing  —  WASHINGTON - The legacy of the once powerful Republican Tom DeLay of Sugar Land cast a long shadow over last week's elections, in which voters shrank the ranks …

Why Intellectuals Love Defeat  —  James Carroll, recently writing in the Boston Globe, wondered if America could finally accept defeat in Iraq, and be the better for it, comparing it to Vietnam:  —  "But what about the moral question?  For all of the anguish felt over the loss of American lives …

Speaker-to-be is no stranger to earmarking  —  Rep. Nancy Pelosi has promised to change the controversial practice, a process she's celebrated using for her district.  —  WASHINGTON — When the House passed a massive spending bill last November, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi made sure her constituents knew what they were getting.

Hezbollah's missiles back in Lebanon  —  FOUR months after Israel launched its onslaught against Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrillas are back in south Lebanon stronger than ever and armed with more rockets than they had before the conflict, according to Israeli intelligence.