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 …

I Had a One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell  —  Three years ago this week, an intoxicated Christine O'Donnell showed up at the apartment of a 25-year-old Philadelphian and ended up spending the night in his bed.  Here's his story—and photos—of his escapade with the would-be Delaware senator.

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.

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 …

Wow: Charlie Cook moves Barney Frank's seat from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic”  —  Remember, as of just a few weeks ago, this seat wasn't even on the board.  Then, for the first time in decades, MA-4 popped up in the “likely Democratic” column.  And now, if you'll pardon the pun, it's moved a bit further to the right.

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 …

Meg Whitman: ‘It breaks my heart,’ but deport housekeeper  —  California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman says her former housekeeper should be deported.  —  Whitman — down 10 percentage points in the latest Field Poll after spending over $140 million of her own money on the campaign …

Tribe to Obama: Sotomayor Is “Not Nearly As Smart As She Seems To Think She Is”  —  I've obtained a copy of an interesting letter that Harvard law professor Larry Tribe wrote to his protégé, President Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of Justice Souter's announcement of his decision to retire from the Court.

Dem leader Hoyer: ‘Unfortunate’ Pelosi is vilified in campaign  —  LAUREL, Md. — Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) could wind up supplanting Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as the Democratic House leader in a matter of weeks, but for now, all he has is sympathy for the embattled Speaker.

HALLIBURTON COMMENTS ON NATIONAL COMMISSION CEMENT TESTING  —  HOUSTON, Texas - (NYSE:HAL) On May 22, 2010, President Obama established the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (the “Commission") to examine the facts and circumstances to determine …

Intelligence spending at record $80.1 billion in first disclosure of overall figure  —  The government announced Thursday that it had spent $80.1 billion on intelligence activities over the past 12 months, disclosing for the first time not only the amount spent by civilian intelligence agencies but also by the military.

Tilting at Windmills  —  Jobs versus schools: It's complicated  —  In January of 1979, Marion Berry was about to take office for his first term as mayor of Washington.  A mutual friend mistakenly thought we might hit it off and brought us together for lunch.  He asked me what I thought was Washington's number one problem.

Osama bin Laden threatens French troops, France announces pullout from Afghanistan  —  France denies any connection between its decision to remove troops from Afghanistan in 2011 and Osama bin Laden's pledge to attack French troops.  —  Kabul, Afghanistan  —  France is leaving Afghanistan.

Rep. to DOJ: Watch tea party at polls  —  Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) is asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether tea party groups are intimidating black and Hispanic voters in her district.  —  Jackson Lee has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to send poll monitors …