Polls: Dems' lead shrinking, but still strong  —  WASHINGTON — A national USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds remarkable parallels between the congressional elections Tuesday and the watershed elections in 1994 that swept Republicans into control of the House and Senate.

Parties Crank Up Voter Turnout Efforts  —  Amid the Last-Minute Blitz, Some Polls Hold Positive Signs for Republicans  —  Republicans seized on signs of movement in their direction yesterday as they unleashed a massive election-eve voter mobilization operation in an effort …

Soldiers in Iraq Say Pullout Would Have Devastating Results  —  For the U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, the war is alternately violent and hopeful, sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold.  It is dusty and muddy, calm and chaotic, deafeningly loud and eerily quiet.

Poll: Bush approval rating dips to 35 percent  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush's popularity has dipped to 35 percent, according to a new CNN poll, with 41 percent of likely voters saying their disapproval of his performance will affect their vote in Tuesday's elections for control of Congress.

DICK CHENEY TO SPEND ELECTION DAY HUNTING  —  Vice President Dick Cheney is shown while quail hunting in South Dakota.  —  Vice President Dick Cheney is shown while quail hunting in South Dakota.  —  WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will spend Election Day Tuesday …

Hastert May Face Post-Election Unrest  —  Foley Scandal Just One of Speaker's Problems  —  House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's future is in doubt even if the Republicans retain control of the House because of unease among GOP lawmakers about his handling of the Foley page scandal …

New Telemarketing Ploy Steers Voters on Republican Path  —  An automated voice at the other end of the telephone line asks whether you believe that judges who "push homosexual marriage and create new rights like abortion and sodomy" should be controlled.  If your reply is "yes," …

Webb and Allen Dead Even  —  Allen (R) 49% Webb (D) 49%  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the bitterly fought U.S. Senate race in Virginia shows the contest too close to call, with both Republican Senator George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb collecting 49% (see crosstabs).

TCS on Election 2006  —  EDITOR'S NOTE: Every year the President gives his State of the Union address.  And every two years, Americans get to deliver their sense of the state of the union by voting.  So what will it be in '06?  We asked several TCS contributors to predict what will happen on Tuesday …

Bush Says U.S. Pullout Would Let Iraq Radicals Use Oil as a Weapon  —  During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush and his aides sternly dismissed suggestions that the war was all about oil.  "Nonsense," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared.

When All Else Fails...  ... Execute the dictator.  It's that simple.  When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you've put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.