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 …

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.

Poll Shows Americans Don't Know GDP Grew With Tax Cuts and Bailout Profits  —  The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters.

On The Trail Of “Anonymous,” Christine O'Donnell's Sex-Free Pal  —  Buster … [UPDATE: TSG has identified the “Anonymous” correspondent who today detailed his purported (sexless) one-night stand with Christine O'Donnell.  See bottom of piece.]  —  Readers of today's first-person account …

The Next Two Years  —  President Obama is likely to suffer a pummeling defeat on Tuesday.  But the road map for his recovery is pretty straightforward.  —  First, the president is going to have to win back independents.  Liberals are now criticizing him for being too timid.

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 …

Del. Norton to plug D.C. voting rights at Stewart/Colbert rallies  —  On Saturday morning, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) of Washington, D.C., is planning to hand out signs that promote the city's voting rights in Congress to people attending the satirical rallies being held by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Device on UPS truck in N.Y. deemed harmless; U.K. device had powder, wires  —  [Update 12:36 p.m.] Police determined a suspicious package found on a UPS truck at Metro Tech Center, a business center in Brooklyn, did not contain anything harmful, a law enforcement official said.

Most troops wouldn't oppose serving with gays  —  A majority of active-duty and reserve service members surveyed by the Defense Department would not object to serving and living alongside openly gay troops, according to multiple people familiar with the findings.

Swamping Murkowski  —  The latest from Alaska's procedural wars:  —  Just hours before the final deadline, more than 100 Alaskans came out Thursday to file as write-in candidates in an effort to thwart Sen. Lisa Murkowski's bid to retain her Senate seat.  —  At the urging of a local talk radio host …

I Am Rankled By Ben Bernanke's Reluctance to Be More Outspoken  —  “Bernanke's Reluctance to Speak Out Rankles Some”, reports Sewell Chan in the New York Times.  And after reading the article, I too am among the ranks of the rankled: … So, yes, I'm rankled.

U.S. Economy Grew at 2% Rate in Third Quarter  —  The United States economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, as it struggles to gain any momentum for a sustained recovery.  —  That estimate matched the consensus forecasts …

Murder he wrote  —  Jonah Goldberg calls for Julian Assange's murder. … Of course, this is nowhere near as bad as using the word curb-stomping in a post.  —  When hundreds of thousands of Iraqis die as a result of “collateral damage”, that just proves freedom is messy.

School leader to quit over 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.  —  “I'm sorry I've hurt people with my comments …

Report: Justice Department tried to hide officials involvement in dismissing voter-intimidation lawsuit  —  The Justice Department has tried to hide the involvement of high-level political officials in the dismissal of a controversial voter-intimidation lawsuit against members of the New Black Panther Party …

Newt Gingrich: Out of the wilderness and into the mix for 2012  —  HARRISBURG, PA. - It has all the makings of Newt Gingrich's favorite kind of election: A cranky electorate.  A Democratic president on the ropes.  Republicans poised to take one or both houses of Congress.

Tea Party or No, Palin's Popularity Still Lags  —  Sarah Palin's interest in the presidency is not being reciprocated by most Americans: Two-thirds of registered voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say she's unqualified for the job, and more than half continue to rate her unfavorably overall.

Sandra Day O'Connor v. the People  —  The former Supreme Court justice wants trial lawyers to pick state judges.  —  Call it Supreme Hypocrisy: An ex-Supreme Court justice, still issuing rulings from the bench, wields her political clout to push citizens to abandon their own politics.

THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING IGNORANCE, PART II.... We talked in the last item about public confusion.  When it comes to taxes, economic growth, and the financial industry rescue, what most voters believe is actually the exact opposite of reality.  —  But this ignorance also extends to perceptions about Congress.