To begin with, the joint organizers, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), feud so regularly that they had to sign a pact promising not to attack each other until the event was over.

Then there was ANSWER's rejection of message control -- its leadership demanded that each of its component organizations be allowed to protest issues besides the war. Starting at 9 a.m., therefore, the Palestinian boosters took over Farragut Square with their own signs and chants, while bands of anarchists, affordable housing advocates, and Hugo Chavez supporters staked out intersections around D.C.'s downtown.

Finally, rain was in the forecast, and Hurricane Rita was already sure to dominate the next morning's lead news slot.

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It's nothing illegal -- no ballot stuffing necessary, even at the most liberal colleges. First you find a nonpartisan campus group to sponsor the election, so you can't be accused of cheating. Next, volunteer to organize the thing. College students are lazy, and they'll probably let you. Always keep in mind that a rigged mock election is all about location, location, location.

"Can anyone tell me," asks Gourley, a veteran mock electioneer, "why you don't want the polling place in the cafeteria?"

Stephen, a shy antiabortion activist sitting toward the rear of the class, raises his hand: "Because you want to suppress the vote?"

"Stephen has the right answer!" Gourley exclaims, tossing Stephen his prize, a copy of Robert Bork's "Slouching Toward Gomorrah."

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Last week, in what would once have seemed a breathtaking display of honesty but now comes across as a simple acknowledgment of reality, the commander of American forces in central and northern Iraq admitted to a USA Today reporter that he could not protect Iraqi voters on Election Day. "I wouldn't begin to say that," Maj. Gen. John Batiste said when asked whether Iraqis could safely cast ballots. "It's very possible there will be some of ... the suicide vests and everything." It is also possible, Batiste conceded, that some of the Iraqi security personnel entrusted with guarding polling stations would themselves be insurgents.

It's hard to pinpoint when the Bush administration's public optimism about the elections began to falter, but by now even the always-upbeat president is heavily hedging his bets. "The fact that they're voting in itself is successful," he told reporters Wednesday, setting the bar low enough for any banana republic to pass.

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From a 1999 Texas Observer Article:

"According to Gary Ott, who was then a reporter for the Plainview Daily Herald, Bush stopped by the paper's little office 'maybe five or six times [during Bush's 1978 congressional run]. He'd sit down at my desk; he was a fun guy. He was very outgoing, very friendly, and we would argue politics since I was a liberal. We'd argue over Carter policies.' Bush criticized energy policy, federal land use policy, subsidized housing, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ('a misuse of power,' he said), and he warned that Social Security would go bust in ten years unless people were given a chance to invest the money themselves."

As it turned out, the president's math was a little fuzzy. In the 1980's, Congress tackled the problem, approving a two-percentage point increase in Social Security taxes that guaranteed the program's solvency for decades. But now that Bush is proclaiming the second coming of the Social Security "crisis" (looming over us as soon as 2042), simply raising taxes to cover any baby-boomer shortfall isn't on the table.

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Now, Vice President Dick Cheney is openly speculating that if Iran continues to develop its nuclear program, Israel might take matters into its own hands. Cheney's suggestion of an Israeli strike without American approval notches up the administration's brinksmanship over Iran's nuclear program -- Israel has floated the idea for some time, but this is as close as the administration has come to rubber-stamping it publicly. Cheney chose to buttress the administration's posture on Iran during an appearance yesterday with Mrs. Cheney on the talk radio show "Imus in the Morning."

After questioning Cheney about diplomatic options, host Don Imus asked whether the administration might opt for a military strike. From the show's transcript:

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As today's Washington Post reports, Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman don't appear have reconciliation on their minds. At a luncheon following his formal ratification as party chair, Mehlman explained that Karl Rove's campaign season strategy of "rallying the base" would become a permanent component of the GOP's efforts to pass legislation from anti-gun control laws to tax reform.

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With public opinion coalescing against the original decision to invade Iraq, the Times' poll also found pessimism prevailed regarding the upcoming Iraqi elections: 61 percent of respondents believed the elections would either "lead to more violence" or "not have much effect"; and a full 70 percent thought that Iraqis were "not ready to govern their own country" without American help.

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"There is nothing that we've seen, not just today, but over the period of the preceding several weeks, that gives us any reason to even consider, at this point, raising the threat level," Tom Ridge announced last week. That's a very different story from the one government counter-terrorism officials routinely trotted out during the presidential campaign: "Credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al-Qaida plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," John Ashcroft warned in May, a month after Ridge himself speculated that the inauguration was a likely terrorist target.

Now that the election is over, however, that threat appears to have suddenly receded. According to Ridge, most of the "chatter" about possible attacks has died down, leaving the officials confident that an attack won't mar the inaugural revelry. This should come as good news to most Americans, whatever they might suspect about the motivations of earlier election-season warnings.

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"Over the past week," Paige writes in a Education Dept. press release, "it has been reported that the Department of Education used the communications services of a nationally known commentator to inform the public about the No Child Left Behind law.

"The funds for the Graham Williams Group's services went exclusively toward the production and airtime of advertisements in which I described the law and encouraged viewers and listeners to call the Department's toll-free information line. The funds covered those costs alone and nothing more."

That, apparently, is how one politely cops to paying off a pundit. But an article in USA Today -- which obtained a copy of the agreement between the two parties using a Freedom of Information Act request -- shows that Paige's explanation isn't right. The contract between the Department of Education and Williams stipulated that he "comment regularly on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts' and 'encourage the producers' of a cable TV program, America's Black Forum, to do the same." In other words, while Paige insists that the Department simply bought $240,000 worth of ads, the Department's own contract clearly proves that it paid for a piece of Williams.

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Thursday's Washington Post takes a look at some of the inauguration's corporate donors, and wonders whether they might have any motive besides patriotism:

"Practically all the major donors have benefited from Bush administration policies, especially from corporate and individual tax cuts, deregulation and the new prescription drug benefit that is part of Medicare. Most also stand to boost profits further because of Bush's second-term proposals, which include limiting medical malpractice suits, creating private investment accounts as part of Social Security and making a tax-code revision that is expected to reduce taxes on investments.

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When asked whether the current Social Security system would be able to "pay you a benefit when you retire," a plurality of 50 percent said no. That answer is, of course, factually wrong, assuming that you're planning on retiring before the 22nd century. (If you don't trust Paul Krugman on that, just look at the Social Security Trust Fund's 2004 report). But this misperception might explain why a full half of respondents thought the Social Security system needed "major changes" in the next couple of years; an additional 40 percent believed those "major changes" would need to take place within a decade.

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James Lakely, White House correspondent: How hard are you willing to fight to get your judicial picks on the bench, especially with important Supreme Court nominees coming up in the future?

President Bush: Well, look, I was very disappointed in the first four years that they filibustered -- I can't remember the number -- but a lot, as far as I was concerned, of good people.

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In recent days, however, the news coming out of Fallujah has suggested that although we may have had to destroy the village, we didn't save it. "The offensive in Fallujah, touted as a prerequisite to a safe election, is now a potent symbol for those Iraqis calling for a nationwide boycott of the election scheduled for Jan. 30," USA Today reports.

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"Sen. Trent Lott is in the thick of preparations for President Bush's inauguration later this month. His responsibilities range from supervising construction of a viewing stand for about 500 people to planning an Inauguration Day lunch for the president and dozens of high-powered guests."

When War Room saw that Trent Lott is coordinating the Bush inaugural celebration, the first thing that came to mind was the fallout over the former Senate Majority Leader's unfortunate remarks at Strom Thurmond's birthday a few years back. At the arch-segregationist and former presidential candidate's party, Lott declared that America "wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years" if Thurmond had won in '48.

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"Federal officials have told the District that it should cover the expenses by using some of the $240 million in federal homeland security grants it has received in the past three years -- money awarded to the city because it is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack."

"The region has earmarked federal homeland security funds for such priorities as increasing hospital capacity, equipping firefighters with protective gear and building transit system command centers." But now, the Post reports, nearly $12 million will now have to be spent on such essentials as "reviewing stands."

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"Hundreds of Muslim militants, best known for smashing up Jakarta discos or advocating Islamic rule, have poured into devastated Aceh province with the help of the Indonesian military to aid in disaster relief," the Times notes. The Times says the militants have set up camp at the same Indonesian military air base in Banda Aceh that U.S. Navy helicopters are using to deliver aid to tsunami victims.

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Rumors that Smith's head was on the chopping block started gaining steam shortly after Republicans picked up House seats in November. "Removing an incumbent is highly unusual," the APs Jim Abrams noted yesterday, "but Smith has been criticized for not being a team player."

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But Allawi vehemently insisted today that the election would take place as scheduled, and The Washington Post reports that American commanders are trying to downplay the possibility that insurgent violence on the 30th will disrupt voting.

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"Speaking publicly for the first time since Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami, Bush told reporters that the United States, India, Japan and Australia are forming an international coalition to provide immediate relief and rescue assistance, as well as longer-term help with rebuilding."

"U.N. officials said they received no advance word about the U.S.-led aid effort. There was concern at the United Nations that this may have been a consequence of criticism that the United States had not been generous."

As with the United States' last coalition of the willing, the Bush administration has made it clear that it expects the rest of the world to play an assisting role. U.S. Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman told reporters yesterday, "Our expectation is that the European Union, the United Nations and other countries will also join in thisAlthoughwe make a substantial contribution, more than anyone else in these emergencies, this is certainly not for us to do alone."

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