Christine O'Donnell Ad: 'I'm Not A Witch'  —  ABC's Michael Falcone reports:  —  “I'm not a witch,” Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell assures voters, who may be concerned that she once “dabbled” in the dark arts, in a new ad released by her campaign on Monday.

GOP Well Positioned Among Likely Midterm Voters  —  Voting preferences remain close among registered voters  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's generic ballot for Congress among registered voters currently shows Republicans with 46% of the vote and Democrats with 43%, similar to the 46% to 46% tie reported a week ago.

With Tagline, MSNBC Embraces a Political Identity  —  MSNBC, once the also-ran but now the No. 2 cable news channel, has a new tagline that embraces its progressive political identity.  —  The tagline, “Lean Forward,” will be publicly announced Tuesday, opening a planned …

Mondale to Obama: Ditch the ‘idiot boards’  —  Former Vice President Walter Mondale suggested in an interview today President Obama stop relying on “idiot boards” — teleprompters, that is — to deliver his message to the American people.  —  “He uses these idiot boards to read speeches in television …

National Review Writers Defend County Whose Subscription-Only Firefighters Watched Home Burn Down  —  As ThinkProgress reported earlier this morning, South Fulton firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, last week stood by and watched as a family's home burned down because their services …

The wreck of the Jim Oberstar?  —  In “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Gordon Lightfoot refers to “the gales of November” on Lake Superior.  In Minnesota the shores of Lake Superior lie within the Eighth Congressional District.  According to a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies …

Glenn Beck: Can abortion be a kindness?  —  Audio Available:  —  GLENN: The first thing I want to play for you, though, however, is an interview from an environmentalist who is on the BBC yesterday and she's talking about the compassionate thing today.  She believes the compassionate that abortion is compassionate.

On the right, hateful words are fired like bullets  —  I still ride a bike.  I do 12 miles, several days a week, and as I do so I listen to music — the Pandora service on my iPhone.  I have created a station that plays folk rock.  Lately, it has repeatedly played the Neil Young song “Ohio” …

Pretzel nation: Americans have sex in 41 combinations  —  We aren't as bland as we might think, new study shows  —  Americans are often portrayed as being bland sexual mopes, compared to say, the French.  But according to a new study, we actually routinely choose from more spicy combinations …

Centrist Democrats may reign in House  —  If Democrats retain a slim hold on the House next year, a handful of the party's most conservative members could find themselves in the catbird seat, wielding wide influence over the Democratic agenda.  —  In that scenario, the finicky Blue Dog Coalition …

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels  —  With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.

Elections are likely to trim number of women in Congress  —  GLENWOOD, Ark. — Blanche Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1992, a time when women gained so much ground in the House and Senate that it was dubbed the “Year of the Woman.”  —  Now, the Arkansas senator, who faces Republican John Boozman …

Federal judge charged with buying drugs from stripper  —  A longtime federal judge was freed on a $50,000 bond Monday after his arrest on federal charges that he bought cocaine and other illegal drugs while involved in a sexual relationship with an exotic dancer for the past several months.

Hacker infiltration ends D.C. online voting trial  —  Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit of “give it your best shot.”

Sen. Murkowski Asks Alaska Stations Not to Air Tea Party Ads  —  JUNEAU, Alaska — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign is warning Alaska broadcasters not to air ads by a national tea party group that the campaign says are “littered with lies and intentional mischaracterizations” about her and her write-in campaign.

Rahm Emanuel: Experts say not a legal resident of Chicago, cannot run for mayor  —  BY ABDON M. PALLASCH  —  CHICAGO—The first question isn't: Can Rahm win?  It's: Can Rahm run?  —  Sunday, Rahm Emanuel announced in a video posted on a website that he is preparing to run for mayor of Chicago.

New Fuel for Local Papers: Medical Marijuana Ads  —  COLORADO SPRINGS — When it hit the streets here last week, the latest issue of ReLeaf, a pullout supplement to The Colorado Springs Independent devoted to medical marijuana, landed with a satisfying thud.

Cuccinelli reissues global warming subpoena to U-Va.  —  Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has sent a new civil subpoena to the University of Virginia, renewing a demand for documents related to a work of a former university climate scientist that was stymied when a judge blocked his previous request in August.

Nancy Pelosi: GOP attacks are a ‘compliment’  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday evening that she considers Republican attacks on her a “compliment” — evidence that she's done her job well.  —  Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a friendly audience at a banquet at Fortune magazine's …

Rail Service Expansion Imperiled at State Level  —  Republicans running for governor in a handful of states could block, or significantly delay, one of President Obama's signature initiatives: his plan to expand the passenger rail system and to develop the nation's first bullet-train service.