Judge Declares Five Detainees Held Illegally  —  A federal judge issued the Bush administration a sharp setback on Thursday, ruling that five Algerian men have been held unlawfully at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp for nearly seven years and ordering their release.

Recount, Day 2: Coleman, Franken trade gains, losses  —  Today is Day 2 in the Minnesota recount of ballots in the overtime election struggle between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic rival Al Franken.  The candidates traded modest gains and losses throughout the day.

Bum Rush  —  Obama's secret plan to muzzle talk radio.  Very, very secret.  —  Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and other friends have spent the past year screaming about the horrors of Barack Obama.  And, while it's true that they talked ad nauseam about socialism and the Weathermen and Jeremiah Wright …

Waxman dethrones Dingell as chairman  —  California Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Thursday officially dethroned longtime Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, upending a seniority system that has governed Democratic politics in the House for decades.  —  In a secret ballot vote in the Cannon Caucus Room …

Attorney general collapses  —  Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed Thursday night while giving a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington, according to three senior administration officials.  —  Details about Mukasey's condition were not immediately available.

Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet  —  Activists note that most of the candidates for top security posts voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq or otherwise supported launching the war.  —  Reporting from Washington …

Obama Throws No Bones to Progressive Base  —  When is Obama going to appoint someone who reflects the progressive base that brought him to the White House?  —  He won the crucial Iowa caucuses on the strength of his anti-Iraq War stance, and many progressive peace and justice activists worked hard for him against John McCain.

Why Arizona Dems Don't Want Napolitano at DHS  —  Arizona governor Janet Napolitano looks likely to be secretary of Homeland Security (thank you, leaky transition team).  Though many are applauding her candidacy, her pending appointment is raising anxiety among Arizona Democrats.

GOP Takes Another Image Hit Post-Election  —  Republicans favor tacking right; independents offer mixed guidance  — USA - Democrats - Favorability - Government and Politics - Political Parties - Republicans - Americas - Northern America  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The Republican Party's image …

The Bank Terrorist  —  Housing: For years, a self-described “bank terrorist” blackmailed banks into making bad home loans in our inner cities.  Now those loans are defaulting by the millions, and he's blaming banks.  —  Bruce Marks, founder of the leftist Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America …

Mad Max and the Meltdown  —  How we went from Christmas to crisis.  —  Notwithstanding the cardboard Santas who seem to have arrived in stores this year near Halloween, the holiday season starts in seven days with Thanksgiving.  And so it will come to pass once again that many people …

Team Obama thinks Hil's people to blame for State speculation  —  WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's camp, well practiced in keeping secrets, is increasingly frustrated by a steady stream of leaks that insiders suspect come from confidants of Hillary Clinton, the Daily News has learned.

Obama Raised Half a Billion Online  —  Barack Obama raised half a billion dollars online in his 21-month campaign for the White House, dramatically ushering in a new digital era in presidential fundraising.  —  In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O …

McCain Pollster Explains Loss, Calls Frank Luntz A Moron  —  The chief pollster for John McCain's presidential campaign offered a candid diagnosis of how his candidate was done in, on occasion reserving harsh words for fellow Republicans.  —  Bill McInturff, speaking at a National Journal breakfast …

Why Woodward and Bernstein came to town  —  Iced tea accompanied a historic moment in Santa Rosa this past weekend when famed Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein came by to see and thank their secret source, 95-year-old Mark “Deep Throat” Felt.

Zogby won't duplicate Obama poll  —  Pollster John Zogby has rejected a conservative commentator's offer to sponsor a poll to test the knowledge of people who voted for John McCain.  —  The commentator was proposing to mirror a poll of Obama voters that caused a political uproar when it suggested …

World Leaders Don't Shake Bush's Hand At G20 Summit (VIDEO)  —  It appears in this video that President Bush's approval is in a sorrier state than polls indicate.  In a video taken at the G20 summit, Bush walks across a line of world leaders without shaking or being asked to shake any of their hands.

Consultant Roger Stone, the notorious political hitman who helped George W. Bush prevail in the 2000 Florida recount, tells The Daily Beast that he wishes he hadn't.  —  Roger Stone is one of the last guys on Earth one would expect to feel guilty over an episode of rough and tumble politicking.

Conservative Transportation Policy  —  Politico reports on conservatives trying to think of some ideas: … I'm not sure exactly what Strassel has in mind, but to my way of thinking an enormous amount of good could be done if conservatives were more interested in applying really basic free market principles to transportation policy.

Joe the Plumber Lands Book Deal  —  Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the presidential campaign fixture and John McCain advocate better known as Joe the Plumber, won't have to open his own plumbing business just yet: he has signed a deal to write “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream.”