Bush accepts Bolton's U.N. resignation  —  WASHINGTON - Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.  —  Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee …

So Now What, Mr. President?  —  Folks used to wonder why he didn't push into Baghdad.  Baker doesn't hear that question much anymore.  —  George W. Bush was doing everything he doesn't usually like to do.  He was traveling in foreign lands (when Bush campaigns, he likes to fly home every night to sleep in his own bed).

A Split in the GOP Tent  —  Republicans are good at reinvention.  They have appealed to voters' dark side (Nixon's Southern strategy) as well as to their sunny side (Reagan's "Morning in America").  They have skipped from anti-government populism (Newt Gingrich and the leave-us-alone coalition) …

Trapped in the Closet  —  Mark Foley's ambition to be a politician became the family dream.  He was always in a hurry.  His doting parents had no problem with his dropping out of Palm Beach Junior College at age 20; they helped him open a diner in downtown Lake Worth and turn it into the platform for his grandiose goals.

Honoring Norman Borlaug  —  This network has already lauded Norman Borlaug, the recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.  C.S. Prakash, professor of plant molecular genetics at Tuskegee University, is urging passage of H. R. 4924, the Congressional Tribute to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Act of 2006.

After a Rush, Pace of Levee Work Downshifts  —  NEW ORLEANS — For months, the Army Corps of Engineers raced through the city, frantically patching broken levees and building floodgates to prepare for a hurricane season, now ended, that produced no hurricanes here.

Biden charms local GOP  —  It was unlike most Columbia Rotary Club luncheons.  —  The speaker was U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a likely candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.  —  The chief topic: the Iraq war.  —  The audience: predominantly Republican.

A Newspaper Chain Sees Its Future, And It's Online and Hyper-Local  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — Could this be the future of newspapering?  —  Darkness falls on a chilly Winn-Dixie parking lot in a dodgy part of North Fort Myers just before Thanksgiving.  Chuck Myron sits in his little gray Nissan …

Congress open to passing bill on immigration  —  Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill.

Anger at UN chief's Iraq comments  —  Iraq's national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than under Saddam Hussein.  —  Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie also accused the UN of shying away from its responsibility towards the Iraqi people.