Trent Lott announces his resignation  —  Minority whip says he will leave Senate before end of the year  —  Pascagoula, Mississippi - Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announced Monday he will retire from the Senate by end of year.

Iraqis may offer US deal to stay longer  —  BAGHDAD - Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

Clinton and Obama switch roles in Iowa  —  DES MOINES — In a reversal of fortune, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is barnstorming Iowa with a front-runner's swagger while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) scrambles like an underdog.  —  In ways big and small over the weekend …

The False Conservative  —  Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the "Club for Greed"?  That sounds like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, all Democrats preaching the class struggle.

Rice's Turnabout on Mideast Talks  —  At President Bush's first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton …

DON'T GO THERE: BRIT PAPER STARTS 'UGLIEST MONTH'  —  The TIMES of London starts 'The Ugliest Month' with a full page photo takeout on Hillary Clinton and her beautiful personal assistant.  —  "Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin," reads the caption.

Ron Paul Has Won  —  He won't win the nomination.  He won't win any primaries.  But for Ron Paul's quixotic bid for the White House, it's "Mission Accomplished."  —  Take a look at this from Sunday's Washington Post.  Not just the article but the killer packaging:

Islamists target Arizona base  —  Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.  —  Fort officials changed security measures …

Official: Bride, groom stopped in Iraq actually terror suspects  —  BAGHDAD (CNN) — Soldiers manning a checkpoint near Baghdad stopped a wedding convoy to find that the purported bride and groom were wanted terror suspects, an Iraqi Defense Ministry official said Monday.

Dan Rather's Last Big Story Is Himself  —  If he weren't famous, he'd be mistaken for a veteran of a long-ago war: khaki safari shirt on his back, scuffed combat boots on his feet, that wiry crest of a brow, rheumy eyes under heavy lids, lower lip jutting out like an ornery fish resisting a hook.

It's Looking Like Blue Skies All Over Again  —  Just over a year ago, Democrats seized control of Congress because of the voters' exhaustion with the war in Iraq and disgust at the Republican majority's increasingly brazen manipulation of the levers of power.

Hastert Resigns Today  —  I am told that former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is faxing his resignation letter to Gov. Rod Blagojevich this afternoon.  —  Once the resignation is official, the governor has five days to set the special election within 120 days of the resignation.

Good for Fred Thompson  —  Good for Fred.  Good for his excellent, broad based, tax-cut plan — including a flat-tax option and a corporate tax cut.  —  Good for him for snapping back at Fox's Chris Wallace when he tried to pull a fast one by citing Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer as proof-pudding that Fred can't win.