Unfit for Majority Leader  —  The videotape is grainy, dark and devastating.  The congressman and the FBI undercover agents — the congressman thinks they represent an Arab sheik willing to pay $50,000 to get immigration papers — are talking business in the living room of a secretly wired Washington townhouse.

Lott succeeds in leadership comeback  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.

Get Out Now?  Not So Fast, Experts Say  —  One of the most resonant arguments in the debate over Iraq holds that the United States can move forward by pulling its troops back, as part of a phased withdrawal.  If American troops begin to leave and the remaining forces assume a more limited role …

Scores of academics seized in mass kidnap  —  Five senior Iraqi police officers were arrested last night after gunmen in police uniforms seized scores of people at a prominent scientific research institute in Baghdad in an audacious operation that underlined the lawlessness gripping …

Class Struggle  —  American workers have a chance to be heard.  —  The most important—and unfortunately the least debated—issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century.

`Landslide Joe?'  —  Courtney Lands Capitol Nickname In Razor-Thin 2nd District Recount  —  The studious Democratic lawyer from Vernon appears to have clinched a win in the 2nd Congressional District.  —  And it took only 168 hours and 49 minutes after the polls closed on election night to receive the news.

Conservatives wary of choice to lead RNC  —  Martinez should appeal to Latinos, but may lose support on immigration.  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's decision to back Sen. Mel Martinez to help lead the Republican Party, a move intended to appeal to disaffected Latino voters …

Enter, Pariah: Now It's Hugs for Lieberman  —  Senator Joseph I. Lieberman strode into a Democratic caucus gathering like he owned the place or, at the very least, like someone who is a flight risk and could leave at any minute, taking the Democrats' new majority with him.

School board votes to dump JROTC program  —  After 90 years in San Francisco high schools, the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps must go, the San Francisco school board decided Tuesday night.  —  The Board of Education voted 4-2 to eliminate the popular program, phasing it out over two years.

As Guard Changes in Congress, Lobbyists Scramble  —  Republicans do not cede control of Congress for nearly two months, but money, power and influence are already beginning to change hands.  The political economy, at least here in the capital, is humming for Democrats.

FOX NEWS INTERNAL MEMO: "BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ANY STATEMENTS FROM THE IRAQI INSURGENTS...THRILLED AT THE PROSPECT OF A DEM CONTROLLED CONGRESS"...  Huffington Post has obtained an internal Fox News memo written by the network's Vice President of news.  The memo details Fox's game plan …

Pawlenty: Give health coverage to all kids  —  The GOP governor embraces an issue that was central for DFLers in the recent campaign.  —  In a sweeping policy departure that aligns with a top agenda item of the newly elected DFL legislative majorities, Gov. Tim Pawlenty called Tuesday …