Sen. Trent Lott to resign  —  NBC News: Minority whip would leave Senate before end of the year  —  NBC News has learned that Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the minority whip is in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year.

Romney and Giuliani Turn Negative in N.H.  —  Former Mayor Tries To Chip Away at Lead  —  With Rudolph W. Giuliani looking to spring a surprise against Mitt Romney in the state hosting the nation's first primary, the race for the Republican presidential nomination took a sharply negative turn …

Short of Money, G.O.P. Enlists Rich Candidates  —  Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say.

Boys' moped deaths ignite riot in Paris suburb  —  Rioting broke in one of Paris's tinder box suburban housing estates last night after two young boys were killed when their moped collided with a police car.  —  Molotov cocktails were thrown, and cars and plastic bins set on fire following …

Calculation and Conviction  —  Barack Obama suggests that Hillary Clinton is guilty of triangulating, poll-testing and telling the American people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  —  Maybe so.  But then it's fair to ask: Is Obama telling the American people anything they don't want to hear?

ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage  —  Facebook, the popular social networking site, has become a full-fledged platform for communicating, sharing and advertising.  ABC News is betting that it will become a platform for political coverage, as well.

Oprah to campaign with Obama  —  DES MOINES — The presidential campaign for Sen. Barack Obama confirmed this morning what has long been expected: Oprah Winfrey is going to hit the campaign trail with her favorite politician.  —  The talk show star will join the Illinois Democrat for stops in Iowa …

Bush to Welcome Gore to White House  —  Former Political Rivals Meet as Nobel Prize Winners are Honored  —  Forget the Mideast peace talks.  A meeting that may require even greater diplomacy will take place Monday in the Oval Office, when President Bush receives America's Nobel Prize winners — including his one-time rival, Al Gore.

Edwards Offers Heating Plan  —  Former Senator John Edwards outlined a proposal yesterday in New Hampshire to lower the cost of heating oil, increase regulation of oil companies and promote energy efficiency.  —  Speaking at a town hall-style campaign event in Meredith, N.H. …

Heroic rhetoric  —  When I first heard George W. Bush talking about "compassionate conservatism" in 1999, I figured (and certainly hoped) that it was at least 80 percent ad campaign and no more than 20 percent policy guide.  Eight years later, it seems to me that, in practice …