Controlling Iraq's airwaves was one of the first goals of occupying American forces. By the time they had taken control of Baghdad, the new home of Iraqi television and radio programming was an American C-130 aircraft known as Commando Solo, the source of five hours of daily television programming and American radio broadcasts transmitted across the country on five different frequencies.

The rush to get Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Iraqi airwaves underscores the important role media will play as efforts to rebuild Iraq get underway. Efforts to reprogram Iraqi television are part of a larger project of changing attitudes about America, both in Iraq and around the Arab world -- a project in which media will play a central role.

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But Corrie's death beneath the blade of an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to stop the Israeli military's demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza town of Rafah has left local activists here struggling to keep her memory alive as the nation prepares for war, and doing all they can to ensure that the Bush administration pushes Israel for a full investigation into her death. Wednesday, Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, flew to Washington to join Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., at a Capitol Hill press conference, where the parents called on the U.S. to reassess its support of Israel.

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While the plan has been met with firm resistance from a majority of Democrats -- including moderates who supported Bush's 2001 tax cuts -- some of its loudest critics are moderate Republicans. Relations are unexpectedly frosty these days between Senate Republicans and the White House, with even conservatives complaining they've been left out of the loop on questions of Iraq, North Korea and the president's blockbuster tax-cut plan.

The president's economic proposal met bipartisan opposition in the Senate almost as soon as it was announced. The story landed above the fold in Saturday's Washington Post, where even champions of the president's plan said it would have to be changed to pass; and the plan was met with GOP skepticism on many weekend talk shows, where the list of senators with reservations about the tax cuts continued to grow. By the time Senate Republicans reconvened Tuesday, many were openly calling for big changes to the president's plan.

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The unusual public opposition from moderates in his own party and from centrist Democrats who supported his 2001 tax cut appeared to get the attention of the White House, and spokesman Ari Fleischer was already signaling Wednesday that Bush was ready to compromise. And while some analysts had suggested that Bush's first draft was designed mainly to score points with big GOP contributors, some past allies in the Senate said Bush had no choice but to back down.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said she was pleased with some of the smaller-ticket items in the Bush plan, like the acceleration of the child-care tax credit and some targeted business cuts. But she balked at the $364 billion centerpiece of Bush's plan -- the elimination of the tax on corporate dividends -- citing the worrisome federal deficit.

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Class is at the heart of the debate over the Bush administration's domestic policy agenda. Democrats insist the president's economic plan benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor, while Republicans accuse Democrats of fomenting Marxist class warfare with their arguments against the Bush tax cuts. But questions of race and class rarely come up in foreign policy debates -- though Rangel insists they're crucial, especially when looking at the all-volunteer military that will fight a war with Iraq.

Today's armed forces rely heavily on minorities, the working class and the poor, he says, who turn to the military because few other opportunities are available to them. Roughly 40 percent of the U.S. military is minority, compared to a quarter of the overall population. African-Americans are particularly likely to join: They make up 26 percent of the military, but only 12 percent of Americans.

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On Wednesday former President Bill Clinton accused GOP leaders of hypocrisy for calling on Lott to step aside and yet using race-baiting tactics to win elections in the South. Clinton pointed to this year's Georgia governor's race, when Republican Sonny Perdue used the promise of a referendum on the Confederate flag as a device to rally rural white conservatives. The incumbent, Democrat Roy Barnes, had pushed to change the state flag, which prominently featured the Confederate flag.

The flag also played a key role in Bush's victory in the Republican primaries of 2000, becoming a pivotal issue in the fight between Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. In the wake of the Lott debacle, Bush's maneuvers during one nasty primary are raising new questions. Coming under scrutiny is Bush's connection to Richard Hines, the former managing editor of Southern Partisan magazine, former state legislator and current Beltway lobbyist who helped Bush defeat McCain in South Carolina.

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A new report published by Time Magazine online detailed Lott's efforts to block integration of his fraternity while he studied at the University of Mississippi. And in a 1984 interview that circulated widely Thursday, Lott expressed strong opposition to the national holiday that had been established to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King.

Based on those and earlier disclosures, a picture emerged of Lott as a 21st century Republican leader who was still fighting battles that his ideological allies had lost in 1865 and in the civil rights era of the mid-1900s. It was a picture that made even past allies profoundly uneasy.

Conservative commentator William Bennett, the self-styled arbiter of American moral decline, said Lott's comments last week at a birthday bash for Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., were "offensive, repugnant and inimical to what the Republican Party stands for."

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Lott blitzed the airwaves, expanding and amplifying his earlier apology, and though he insisted that he would not step aside as majority leader, it was unclear whether he would survive the controversy. Several new revelations showed that Lott had made similar remarks in past years that seemed to be thinly veiled regrets that the days of racial segregation were over. Even some Republicans who had supported him earlier this week fell silent, a clear indication that the Mississippi senator is, at least for the moment, politically toxic.

"I wanted to honor Strom Thurmond, the man, who was turning 100 years old. He certainly has been a legend in the Senate both in terms of his service and the length of his service," Lott said on conservative Sean Hannity's syndicated radio show Wednesday. "It was certainly not intended to endorse his segregationist policies that he might have been advocating or was advocating 54 years ago. But obviously, I am sorry for my words, they were poorly chosen and insensitive and I regret the way it has been interpreted. This was a mistake of the head, not of the heart because I don't accept those policies of the past at all."

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By Tuesday morning, word was out that Friedman was not among the true believers who want bigger and deeper tax cuts. His political star seemed to be in full -- and possibly permanent -- eclipse. By late afternoon, though, anonymous Bush administration sources leaked word that Friedman's nomination was back on track.

So goes the four-day political rise-and-fall-and-rise of the former Goldman Sachs chairman, who now indeed seems poised to become Bush's top economic advisor. And the rest of the world is left to wonder what, exactly, Bush is thinking.

When Friedman did not appear, as was first scheduled, at the announcement of John Snow as Treasury secretary Monday, it was clear that Friedman's selection to the post was in jeopardy. In Tuesday's Washington Post, an aide who earlier had put Friedman's chances at 95 percent had downgraded them to 75 percent. And at a Tuesday press briefing, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had the sound of someone who was backing away from the White House Friedman leak, claiming that he had warned all along that Friedman's selection was not a done deal.

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Thurmond ran in 1948 as an openly pro-segregationist Dixiecrat. Lott's comment, according to the Washington Post, was met by "an audible gasp and general silence."

But perhaps even more surprising is how that stunned silence extended all the way to the Democratic Party. By Monday, many black leaders and black organizations had denounced Lott's remarks. On Monday, Lott said only that his comments "were not an endorsement of [Thurmond's] positions of more than 50 years ago, but of a man and his life." And four days later, few leading Democrats -- including those considering a bid for the 2004 race -- were willing to openly criticize the senator.

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The fight between Lindsey and O'Neill became very public in a column written by Robert Novak last month. Novak, a Lindsey supporter, wrote that Lindsey had been "mercilessly battered and blamed in newspaper accounts for lack of a dynamic Bush economic policy." Novak blamed Glenn Hubbard, the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, as the source of the anti-Lindsey attacks. "Friends of Lindsey are more than suspicious," Novak wrote. "They claim hard information that Hubbard, on leave as a Columbia University economics professor, has waged a disinformation campaign against his colleague."

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But the GOP takeover means there will be no Senate hearings to review the new policy, and Democrats who had planned to subpoena EPA documents related to Whitman's decision -- documents they believe would reveal the shoddy science as well as the influence of industry folks lobbying for the move -- are now powerless to do so. Thus Whitman's move is the symbolic opening of a new phase in the battle over the environment: Between an administration that no longer has to worry about Senate oversight when making the regulatory changes its business constituency demands, and an advocacy community that will now have only lawsuits as weapons to battle such changes.

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In a Nov. 4 article, the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg criticized Gore for leaving the national stage after he conceded the presidency to George Bush. "He fell silent. He did not accept -- and apparently did not perceive -- the responsibility that his popular-vote victory had laid upon him," Hertzberg wrote. "At a crucial moment he essentially left voiceless those who had placed their trust in him." And The New Republic opined that Gore's speech criticizing the administration's Iraq policy "consisted of neither honest criticism nor honest opposition. Rather, it sounded like a political broadside against a president who Gore no doubt feels occupies a post that he himself deserves." (The Iraq speech did signal something of a departure for Gore. In the Senate, Gore was one of the most hawkish of Democrats when it came to Saddam Hussein. And it was with Gore's support that the Clinton administration formally adopted the U.S. position of regime change in Iraq.)

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And he's done plenty to add to that baggage through the years. He is a ubiquitous presence in New York -- whenever there is an allegation of police brutality or racial discrimination, you can bet that Sharpton will be smack in the middle of it. But Sharpton also demands attention from mainstream politicians. Sharpton received one-third of the Democratic vote in the 1997 New York mayoral primary, and 2001 mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer credits Sharpton's support as helping boost him into the runoff against Mark Green. When Hillary Clinton wanted to run for Senate, she set up a meeting with Sharpton. When Al Gore came to New York during his presidential campaign, a meeting with Sharpton was arranged.

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Friday night Gore kicks off a heavy media offensive, part of his efforts to re-create himself in time for 2004, with a prime-time interview with Barbara Walters and a late-night visit with David Letterman. But he'll be joined soon enough by a new crop of unknowns that are already earning their own early buzz.

There's Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who's become the long-shot pick of former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. And in a sign of just how profound the party's identity crisis has become, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart even stoked the fires of speculation about his political comeback last week, though it's likely that has more to do with a future Senate run than a third White House bid. On the far left, Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, are both said to be considering bids. And after being cast aside by Georgia voters, and her party, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., is said to be considering a run for president, perhaps on the Green Party ticket.

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Early Friday, it looked as though it wasn't going to be much of a race. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the current No. 2 in the House leadership, seemed poised for a promotion. Her chief rival, Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, conceded as much, dropping out of the race on Friday, and throwing his support behind her.

And then Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., called Don Imus.

In a 6 a.m. phone call, which Imus took live on his nationally syndicated radio program, Ford announced that he would challenge Pelosi for the top spot. The ambitious Ford is an anomaly in several ways: at 32 the youngest Democrat in Congress, he is also perhaps its most conservative black member, as attested by his membership in the conservative group the Blue Dogs. Ford was among those who appeared on the White House steps with President Bush to voice his support for the resolution authorizing force in Iraq. He is also the only member of Congress to make People Magazine's list of 50 sexiest people, in case it turns out beefcake is what the Democrats need to reverse their recent decline.

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That was the essence of much of the internal Democratic critique Wednesday, after their party suffered a convincing defeat that gave Republicans control of the Senate and widened their House majority. Democrats began the process of looking for whom to blame and why they lost, and in short order, came up with plenty of explanations and potential goats -- Al Gore, Richard Gephardt and Terry McAuliffe leading the list.

But late Wednesday, senior aides to Gephardt, the Missourian who has led the House Democrats as they've been outnumbered by Republicans for the last eight years, told the Associated Press Gephardt would not seek the top Democratic job again, and will likely focus on his 2004 presidential hopes. Democrats lost at least seven seats in a historic GOP victory, and Gephardt was feeling pressure to step aside. Among those who criticized Gephardt Wednesday was Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., who likened him to a baseball manager. Though the players on the team may like him, Ford said, if the team keeps losing, management must be replaced.

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Maybe none, if you're one of the more than 60 percent of all voters likely to sit the election out. But that doesn't mean the stakes -- or the chance for great late-night drama -- aren't high. Of the very few 435 House and 34 Senate races expected to be competitive, those that are have a lot riding on them -- conceivably, control of both the Senate and House. President Bush has been out campaigning hard for struggling candidates in the campaign's final days, as has the Democrats' leading light, Bill Clinton (and, yes, Al Gore has done some select stumping, as well). While Bush hopes to capitalize on his 60-plus approval rating, Democrats have tried a traditional get-out-the-vote campaign led by labor unions and are relying heavily on black voters in many key races.

If Republicans regain complete control of the Congress -- as they briefly did in 2000, before Sen. Jim Jeffords jumped ship to become an Independent -- look for Democrats to play up their expected gains in gubernatorial races across the country. Many of the states that fell under Republican rule during the midterm election of 1994 are wobbly -- thanks to the shaky economy. While some major states like New York and Texas will probably remain in Republican hands, others are still too close to predict.

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Oddly absent, though, has been any discussion of his opponent, Republican Elizabeth Dole, and her business investments that once led to investigations by the Office of Government Ethics, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Elections Commission and the House Small Business Committee.

Stories about Dole's business dealings first surfaced when her husband, Bob Dole, then a senator from Kansas, ran for president in 1988. At the time, much was made of the investments of her blind trust, which was managed by David Owen, Bob Dole's confidant for more than 20 years and his campaign finance chairman in 1988. Owen, the former lieutenant governor of Kansas, was eventually forced to resign from the campaign and spent six months in jail for unrelated tax fraud charges -- angrily claiming that he had been abandoned by the Doles for political expediency.

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The problem, of course, is that's five days after they are due. Immediately, Democrats in this scandal-weary state smelled a rat.

Poe says he grilled the caller when the call came to his cellphone on Friday. The caller claimed to be a campaign volunteer for Bill McBride, the Democratic candidate for governor. When Poe asked to speak to the caller's supervisor, Poe says the caller hung up on him. "I immediately went back to the campaign thinking we had somebody out there with a bad script or something," Poe said. "We went through everybody and determined that at the time we had no live calls going out. So that's when I started getting concerned that somebody was tampering with the election."

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