Bill Clinton pushed Kendrick Meek to quit Florida race  —  Bill Clinton sought to persuade Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race for Senate during a trip to Florida last week — and nearly succeeded.  —  Meek agreed — twice — to drop out and endorse Gov. Charlie Crist's independent bid …

I Had a One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell  —  Three years ago this week, an intoxicated Christine O'Donnell showed up at the apartment of a 25-year-old Philadelphian and ended up spending the night in his bed.  Here's his story—and photos—of his escapade with the would-be Delaware senator.

Wow: Charlie Cook moves Barney Frank's seat from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic”  —  Remember, as of just a few weeks ago, this seat wasn't even on the board.  Then, for the first time in decades, MA-4 popped up in the “likely Democratic” column.  And now, if you'll pardon the pun, it's moved a bit further to the right.

Angle poll data improve  —  Reid countering with huge effort to get out his voters  —  Positioned to pull off the biggest upset in the nation, GOP challenger Sharron Angle heads into Election Day leading Democratic incumbent Sen. Harry Reid by 4 percentage points, says a new poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow.

Arkansas school board member to resign over anti-gay post  —  (CNN) — A school board district member in Arkansas who came under fire for an anti-gay post on a social networking site regrets the comments and will resign his seat, he told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday.

Tribe to Obama: Sotomayor Is “Not Nearly As Smart As She Seems To Think She Is”  —  I've obtained a copy of an interesting letter that Harvard law professor Larry Tribe wrote to his protégé, President Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of Justice Souter's announcement of his decision to retire from the Court.

Meg Whitman: ‘It breaks my heart,’ but deport housekeeper  —  California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman says her former housekeeper should be deported.  —  Whitman — down 10 percentage points in the latest Field Poll after spending over $140 million of her own money on the campaign …

Shocker: Bush beats Obama 48/43 in poll  —  When I wrote yesterday that the “blame Bush” strategy had reached its expiration date, I had no idea how prescient that was.  Pollster Douglas Schoen, who partners with longtime Democratic strategist Mark Penn at Penn Schoen & Berland …

Divided We Fail  —  Barring a huge upset, Republicans will take control of at least one house of Congress next week.  How worried should we be by that prospect?  —  Not very, say some pundits.  After all, the last time Republicans controlled Congress while a Democrat lived in the White House …

The Sore Winners: Will America's Super Minority Sink Us All?  —  Last summer — long before Bill O'Reilly reminded Whoopi Goldberg that “Muslims killed us on 9/11,” well before Jan Brewer reminded the Arizona police what identity politics mean today, and certainly before an election that's less …

Osama bin Laden threatens French troops, France announces pullout from Afghanistan  —  France denies any connection between its decision to remove troops from Afghanistan in 2011 and Osama bin Laden's pledge to attack French troops.  —  Kabul, Afghanistan  —  France is leaving Afghanistan.

Tilting at Windmills  —  Jobs versus schools: It's complicated  —  In January of 1979, Marion Berry was about to take office for his first term as mayor of Washington.  A mutual friend mistakenly thought we might hit it off and brought us together for lunch.  He asked me what I thought was Washington's number one problem.

FTC Drops Investigation of Google Less Than a Week After Company Exec Hosts Obama Fundraiser  —  Yesterday, the White House blog asked “as special interest billionaires continued to pour secret donations of millions of dollars each into front groups supporting Republicans, we asked the obvious question: “What do they expect in return?

Women  —  Preston and Tucker illustrate one problem Conway may face come Election Day.  —  The poll found that women, a reliable Democratic voting bloc, are becoming less likely to vote for Conway.  The poll found that Conway leads Paul just 48 percent to 46 percent among women …

Illegal Immigration Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos  —  The national political backlash against illegal immigration has created new divisions among Latinos and heightened their concerns about discrimination against members of their ethnic group-including those who were born in the United States or who immigrated legally.

Anti-judge bus tour dwarfed by pro-retention rally  —  CEDAR RAPIDS — If event attendees are any indication of ballot totals following midterm elections Tuesday, three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for a retention vote next week will overwhelmingly maintain their seats.

German Unemployment Dips to 18-Year Low in October  —  German unemployment fell slightly in October, dropping to its lowest level in 18 years as the impact of persistently strong growth in Europe's top economy continued to filter through to the jobs market.  —  The number of jobless fell …