Can 'Magazines' of The Times Subsidize News Coverage?  —  A PERFUME critic?  Yes, The Times now has one.  Chandler Burr's Scent Strip column appears in the high-gloss T: The New York Times Style Magazine, where the often-fluffy lifestyle coverage is a world apart from the kind of journalism in the daily sections of the paper.

Clothes Aren't the Issue  —  MORGANTOWN, W.Va. When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a Muslim man has a number of options.  First, he should remind her of "the importance of following the instructions of the husband in Islam."  If that doesn't work, he can "leave the wife's bed."

Sen. Obama says he's weighing 2008 run  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so.  —  The Illinois Democrat said he could no longer stand by the statements he made after his 2004 election …

Diplomat: U.S. arrogant, stupid in Iraq … (CNN) — A senior U.S. State Department diplomat told Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that there is a strong possibility history will show the United States displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity" in its handling of the Iraq war.

Bush: 'We've Never Been Stay The Course'  —  During an interview today on ABC's This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years.  George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker's plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is …

Lamont Donates $2 Million To Effort  —  Ned Lamont donated another $2 million to his Senate campaign Saturday - and questioned huge cash expenditures reported by the campaign of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman.  —  The latest donation by Lamont, a wealthy businessman, brings his personal investment in the campaign to $12.7 million.

If we had known then...  WAS IT a mistake to go to war in Iraq?  The latest voice to say so is that of conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online's shrewd editor-at-large and, until last week, a supporter of the war.  —  Goldberg hasn't become a John Murtha clone …

Ford Jr. shows up at Corker event uninvited  —  Harold Ford Jr. showed up uninvited at a campaign event for rival Republican Bob Corker at a private charter airstrip in Memphis this morning.  Corker had scheduled the media event earlier this week.  —  News reporters were surprised …

Blog of war now camouflaged  —  When something good is happening in the military, you can rely on someone high up and behind the lines to try to kill it.  Slowly.  Bureaucratically.  Bleed the life out of it.  —  That is what is happening to milblogging, the Internet phenomenon …

Newsweek poll puts Democrats far ahead in Congress  —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of Americans, 55 percent, would like to see Democrats take control of Congress, according to a poll by Newsweek magazine released on Saturday.  —  The poll of 1,000 likely voters found …

Has the Right Gone Wrong?  —  HarperCollins.  294 pp.  $25.95  —  I don't spend much time in Washington; maybe it's different down there.  But let me tell you, out here in the wilds of the New Jersey suburbs, it is pure hell being a Republican these days, or a conservative, which used to be the same thing.

GOP Losses Could Spark Partisan Warfare  —  The White House is bracing for guerrilla warfare on the homefront politically if Republicans lose control of the House, the Senate or both — and with it, the president's ability to shape and dominate the national agenda.  —  Republicans are battling to keep control of Congress.

Democrats Strengthen Chances For Senate  —  Democrats in the past two weeks have significantly improved their chances of taking control of the Senate, according to polls and independent analysts, with the battle now focused intensely on three states in the Midwest and upper South: Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia.

US in secret truce talks with insurgency chiefs  —  AMERICAN officials held secret talks with leaders of the Iraqi insurgency last week after admitting that their two-month clampdown on violence in Baghdad had failed.  —  Few details of the discussions in the Jordanian capital Amman …