Nancy Pelosi offers Clyburn ‘assistant leader’ title in leadership peace bid  —  Trying to resolve a dispute among her top lieutenants, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday that she will offer Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) the newly created position of “assistant leader,” calling the No. 3 leadership position.

Myanmar frees opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi  —  The Nobel laureate greets a jubilant crowd outside her home after being held in detention for 15 years by the country's military rulers.  She promises to speak at greater length Sunday.  The conditions of her release are not immediately clear.

An Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress  —  Welcome to all Republican Freshmen and congratulations!  —  Congratulations to all of you for your contribution to this historic election, and for the contributions I am certain you will make to our country in the next two years.

Murkowski on track to win on write-ins  —  CHALLENGES: Miller camp raises questions of election integrity.  —  scockerham@adn.com  —  JUNEAU — The Division of Elections has finished reviewing the write-in ballots for nearly three-quarters of the precincts, and the results show Lisa Murkowski …

Redistricting Hype Blurs Reality  —  Gerrymandering isn't all it is cracked up to be.  —  Republicans' broad gains at the state level in last week's election should give them a major advantage over Democrats when it comes to deciding how to divvy up congressional districts.

WHEN THE 'WATER'S EDGE' STANDARD DISAPPEARS.... If our political system made more sense, this would be an astounding scandal that would dominate the discourse. … This just isn't normal.  Laura Rozen called the meeting itself “unusual, if not unheard of.”  But it's what Cantor said that's astounding.

Britain's top soldier says al-Qaeda cannot be beaten  —  The new head of Britain's armed forces, Gen Sir David Richards, has warned that the West cannot defeat al-Qaeda and militant Islam.  —  He said defeating Islamist militancy was “unnecessary and would never be achieved”.

American Narcissus  —  The vanity of Barack Obama  —  Why has Barack Obama failed so spectacularly?  Is he too dogmatically liberal or too pragmatic?  Is he a socialist, or an anticolonialist, or a philosopher-president?  Or is it possible that Obama's failures stem from something simpler: vanity.

Nicer Emanuel woos Chicago voters  —  CHICAGO — In a city known for its cutthroat politics, Rahm Emanuel's first public approach to winning the votes and, perhaps more importantly, the hearts of Chicago voters is as simple as it is disarming: be nice.  —  It's not a usual pose for a man …

Obama assures Medvedev START will get ‘done’ in lame-duck  —  President Obama assured Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday that the lame-duck session will be used to ratify the START nuclear-arms treaty.  —  According to the White House pool report, Obama gave his commitment …

Cindy McCain is a hater - reverses self on DADT 24 hours after doing video linking the gay ban to gay youth suicide  —  With all due respect, Cindy McCain is a liar.  The only question is when she lied - today, or yesterday.  —  Yesterday, Cindy McCain - the wife of US Senator John McCain …

Backers of Legal Marijuana Find Silver Lining in Defeat of California Measure  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California, received more votes than the Republican nominee for governor, Meg Whitman.  —  It also received untold news coverage …

A Journey From Lawmaker to Lobbyist and Back  —  WASHINGTON — When Cooper Industries, a century-old manufacturing company based in Texas, moved its headquarters to Bermuda to slash its American income tax bill, it had to turn to a Washington insider with extraordinary contacts to soothe a seething Congress.

For Catholics, Interest in Exorcism Is Revived  —  The rite of exorcism, rendered gory by Hollywood and ridiculed by many modern believers, has largely fallen out of favor in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.  —  There are only a handful of priests in the country trained as exorcists …