History Offers Post-Midterm Survival Tips For President  —  The president was in a funk.  Morose from midterm elections that handed Congress to the opposition, he stewed in private, vented to friends, turned on aides and summoned self-help gurus to help him understand just what went wrong.

Gates pushed for bombing of Sandinistas  —  His 1984 memo called for 'hard measures' against Nicaragua.  —  WASHINGTON — Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to lead the Pentagon, advocated a bombing campaign against Nicaragua in 1984 in order to "bring down" the leftist government …

Can a Mormon be President?  —  Why Mitt Romney will have to explain a faith that remains mysterious to many  —  A mormon church official and a public relations executive shuttled recently from the Fox News Washington bureau to the Washington Post to the online political digest the Hotline.

Rep. Frank Accuses Fox News Host of Bias  —  Following in President Clinton's footsteps, a prominent Democratic congressman yesterday accused a Fox News anchor of conducting a skewed interview designed to make Democrats look bad.  —  "I've got to say, Chris, you have an odd view of balance …

Hurricane Predictions Off Track As Tranquil Season Wafts Away  —  More from this channel:  —  This feature requires the Macromedia Flash Plugin.  Please visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/ getflashplayer to download this plugin.  —  It was not the hurricane season we expected, thank you.

Angry Shiites hurl stones at Maliki's motorcade  —  BAGHDAD — Angry Shiite Muslims pelted Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's motorcade with stones today after the Iraqi leader pleaded for national reconciliation at a memorial in Sadr City held for victims of a large-scale bombing attack last week.

Gaza cease-fire raises hopes for peace  —  JERUSALEM (AP) — A new truce was holding, stopping Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli operations in Gaza for the first time in five months, sparking hopes that it might lead to resumption of long-frozen peace negotiations.

W library in record book  —  $500M center would be priciest for a Prez  —  DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF  —  WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign - an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.

A G.O.P. Breed Loses Its Place in New England  —  It was a species as endemic to New England as craggy seascapes and creamy clam chowder: the moderate Yankee Republican.  —  Dignified in demeanor, independent in ideology and frequently blue in blood, they were politicians in the mold …

In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning  —  NOT long ago, I had the pleasure of a lengthy meeting with one of the smartest men on the planet, Warren E. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, in his unpretentious offices in Omaha.  We talked of many things that, I hope, will inspire me for years to come.

Iraq Study Group Weighs Overture to Iran and Syria  —  A draft report on strategies for Iraq, which will be debated here by a bipartisan commission beginning Monday, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria but sets no timetables …

Bring back Saddam Hussein  —  Restoring the dictator to power may give Iraqis the jolt of authority they need.  Have a better solution?  —  THE DEBATE about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was) to the more depressing question of whether it is possible to avert total disaster.

Obama lifted by hand of God  —  Rising black star of Democrats connects with evangelicals  —  IN THE latest sign that the "God gap" between Republicans and Democrats is narrowing, one of America's biggest evangelical churches will this week welcome Senator Barack Obama …

Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign  —  DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti- Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

'Makings of bomb' found in airport car  —  A worker discovered the device in the trunk of a returned rental car.  It didn't contain explosives but the FBI is investigating.  —  A bomb-like device was found in a rental car Sunday morning at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport …

Sending a Grim Message  —  The Nobel Peace Prize Concert will be held in Oslo on December 11 and broadcast around the world.  The Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn't much care for Americans these days (except for 2002 laureate Jimmy Carter), but it knows who's an international draw and who isn't …

At the Inquirer, Shrink Globally, Slash Locally?  —  Brian Tierney, a onetime critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer who wound up buying the paper, is determined to take his new property in a different direction.  —  "We don't need a Jerusalem bureau," he says.  "What we need are more people in the South Jersey bureau."

Democratic gains in suburbs spell trouble for GOP  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats made large gains in suburbia in this month's elections, pushing Republican turf to the outer edges of major population centers in a trend that could signal trouble for the GOP, an analysis shows.

Chilling Echo for Lebanon, Mirror of Regional Tension  —  In April 1975, gunmen fired on a church in East Beirut in what appeared to be an attempt to kill Pierre Gemayel, founder of the main right-wing Lebanese Christian militia.  He was not killed, but the shooting set off a cycle of revenge that became a 15-year civil war.