Bush: 'I Am Relevant'  —  A defensive President Bush insisted that he was still relevant this morning in a news conference dominated by his bitter complaints about the Democratic Congress.  —  Asked how he found himself vetoing a children's health insurance bill that had passed Congress …

Birth-Control Foe To Run Office on Family Planning  —  The Bush administration again has appointed a chief of family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who has been critical of contraception.  —  Susan Orr, most recently an associate commissioner in the Administration …

Sen. Larry Craig's interview with Matt Lauer  —  Idaho senator regrets guilty plea, blasts Romney in exclusive NBC interview  —  TRANSCRIPT  —  Larry Craig: I liken it to we're in the middle of hurricane season.  And we were.  And there were no hurricanes.  I became the political hurricane that everybody wanted to talk about.

Syrian officials admit site attacked by Israel nuclear  —  Israeli reps at UN Disarmament Commission meeting overhear Syrian official say facility targeted by Air Force last month nuclear  —  Syrian officials have admitted that the site attacked by the Israeli air force last month was a nuclear facility …

Stephen Colbert: I am running for president  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.  —  "I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," …

Press Conference by the President  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.  We're now more than halfway through October, and the new leaders in Congress have had more than nine months to get things done for the American people.  Unfortunately, they haven't managed to pass many important bills.

McKinney registers in Calif., where some want to nominate her  —  Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has registered to vote in California, where some want her to run for president as a Green Party candidate.  —  McKinney posted a letter on her Web site last month saying she has no interest in the Green Party nomination.

Morgan Stanley Sells Entire New York Times Stake  —  Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest shareholder in New York Times Co., sold its entire stake today, according to a person briefed on the transaction, sending the stock to its lowest in more than 10 years.

Pelosi sours on Senate  —  Frustrated by lack of legislative progress in the Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is increasingly touting Democratic achievements in the House.  —  Her statements represent a significant shift from the stance she took six months ago.

Does Obama's Message Match the Moment?  —  Reconciliation May Be Hard Sell to Angry Party  —  WASHINGTON, Iowa — A hush fell over the crowd as Sen. Barack Obama crossed the field, his white shirt glowing in the sun, waves of cornstalks rustling behind him.

I take it all back  —  A conservative publication, which I will not name, just spiked a book review because I said that the Laffer Curve didn't apply at American levels of taxation, even while otherwise expressing my vast displeasure with the (liberal) economic notions of the book I was reviewing.

Massachusetts Special Election: What Does It Mean?  —  Just minutes after Democrat Niki Tsongas beat Republican Jim Ogonowski and claimed victory in the Massachusetts' 5th district special election, the spin wars began.  —  The National Republican Congressional Committee sent out a memo entitled …

Timing of gifts stirs 'earmark' debate  —  WASHINGTON — Days after a Senate committee approved $1 million for a Woodstock concert museum, the project's Republican billionaire backer and his family contributed $29,200 to help the Democrats who requested the money, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer.

techPresident Launches 10Questions.com  —  Dear techPresident readers and friends:  —  We're excited to announce the launch of 10Questions.com, a new kind of online presidential forum, one that aims to make the most of what the internet has to offer to politics.

Packaging 9/11, Terror and the War in Iraq  —  The language used to talk about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the language used to take the nation to war in Iraq have been so interlaced that polls show they are inextricably linked in the minds of a substantial number of voters.

Mukasey Calls Torture 'Antithetical' to American Way  —  That was, um, unexpected.  Not only did Michael Mukasey repudiate the so-called 2002 "torture memo" signed by Office of Legal Counsel chief Jay Bybee — which appears to have survived in spirit, if not in letter — but he compared U.S. torture to the Holocaust.