STATE OF THE GOP: STILL DIRE!

Robert Novak, who has had his finger on the pulse of the Republican Party since, roughly, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, declares in his latest column that "never before have I seen morale within the party so low." Just when it seemed things couldn't get worse for the GOP, Novak says, along came the Larry Craig embarrassment and John Warner's retirement. Now he's predicting a four-seat Democratic pick-up in the Senate next year. The full column, entitled "Republican Melancholy", is here.