Three Choices, Mr. President  —  The Least Bad Option on Iraq: Disengagement and Damage Control  —  Dear Mr. President:  —  As soon as the midterm elections are over — and regardless of their outcome — you will have to make the most consequential decision of your presidency …

'06 ELEX: BACK TO TOSS-UP  —  The latest polls show something very strange and quite encouraging is happening: The Republican base seems to be coming back home.  This trend, only vaguely and dimly emerging from a variety of polls, suggests that a trend may be afoot that would deny the Democrats control of the House and the Senate.

Debate gets personal  —  Sunday's acrimonious debate between candidates for Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives reportedly got quite personal away from the podiums as incumbent Barbara Cubin allegedly threatened to slap Libertarian challenger Thomas Rankin.

Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates' Names  —  Computer Glitch Affects Voters in 3 Jurisdictions; Error Cannot Be Fixed by Nov. 7  —  U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville …

Bush's new tack steers clear of 'stay the course'  —  Phrase became liability for GOP in election year … Today show  —  President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course."  A complete distortion, they say.

Seats in Danger, Democrats Proclaim Their Conservatism  —  Listening to Congressional candidates in middle Georgia, it is easy for someone to think that he is in a different year and, possibly, a different country.  —  Democrats defend themselves against accusations that they are rubber stamps for their party's leadership.

Conyers Hones A Case Against President Bush  —  WASHINGTON — The Democratic leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is promising that her party has no plans to pursue impeachment of President Bush if it wins a majority in next month's elections.  But she intends to allow the House Judiciary Committee …

Elections could be most costly in US history  —  Next month's midterm elections will be the most costly congressional races in US history, with business interests contributing three-quarters of the estimated $2.6bn that will be spent, says a non-partisan research group.

Remember Global Cooling?  —  Why scientists find climate change so hard to predict.  —  Hot and Cold: Signs of global warming at a dried-up pond in China in August 2006 (left) and a 1975 NEWSWEEK report on the threat of global cooling.  —  In April, 1975, in an issue mostly taken …

U.S. Rank on Press Freedom Slides Lower  —  Some poor countries, such as Mauritania and Haiti, improved their record in a global press freedom index this year, while France, the United States and Japan slipped further down the scale of 168 countries rated, the group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.

Self-Defense: CNN Asks Rep. Hunter If People Have the 'Right to Know What War is Like'  —  Feeling the heat from critics in Washington and across the country over airing video handed to it by an Iraqi terrorist group called the Islamic Army of God, CNN offered air time to Congressman Duncan Hunter …

Bleak House  —  Republicans deserve to lose, but what happens if Democrats win?  —  Two weeks from tonight America is going to be different—first politically and then substantively—for Democrats will likely take control of the House, and move public policy in very liberal directions.