GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE

Gitmo prison gets makeover

These are days of uncertainty at Guantánamo Bay -- for the prisoners, contractors and sailors who will remain behind.

SECOND IN A TWO-PART SERIES

Guantánamo base awaits uncertain future

These are days of uncertainty at Guantánamo Bay -- for the prisoners, contractors and sailors who will remain.

FIRST IN A TWO-PART SERIES

Townsfolk leery of holding Guantánamo terrorism suspects

The anxiety of locals who live near the brig at Charleston, S.C., one possible place Guantánamo detainees may be sent, is typical of opposition nationwide.

PENTAGON

Critic of detainee policy takes a top job at Pentagon

A former Army captain and an outspoken critic of U.S. detainee policies has been named to a top Defense post.

INSIDE THE CAMPAIGN

Inside story: How Obama won Florida

It took passion, precision and a little bit a luck for the Obama team to turn Florida from red to blue

What's ahead for Gov. Palin? Seven challenges

For two months she basked -- and sizzled -- in the world's hottest celebrity spotlight. Now Sarah Palin has come home to begin the last two years of her term as governor of Alaska. Time to take a deep breath and consider some of the key challenges that lie ahead for Sarah Palin.

Election defined a shift in history for Columbus, Ga., residents

A look at Election Night through the eyes of a generation of older black Americans who came out of the Great Depression as children, lived through segregation and the struggle for civil rights and have now seen the election of the nation's first black president.

How Elizabeth Dole's 'godless' ad was created

The famous -- or infamous, depending on your point of view -- "godless" TV commercial in North Carolina's campaign for the U.S. Senate almost didn't happen.

Political Q.& A: Missouri's new A.G. talks about what he'll change

Among the Democrats swept into office Tuesday was Chris Koster, the state senator and former Cass County prosecutor who will become Missouri’s 41st attorney general in January.

Can Barack Obama undo Bush's tangled legal legacy?

When Barack Obama becomes president in January, he'll confront the controversial legal legacy of the Bush administration. From expansive executive privilege to hard-line tactics in the war on terrorism, Obama must decide what he'll undo and what he'll embrace.

THE WASHINGTON POST | ANALYSIS

Campaign gives some clues to how Obama will govern

There are enough clues to an Barack Obama presidency in the 21-month campaign he waged to win the White House to provide a preliminary assessment. (May need to register)

Emanuel to be Obama's White House chief of staff

The selection of the highly partisan Emanuel, 48, signals that Obama wants a tough taskmaster to run his White House, as well as steely insider able to help push the Obama agenda through Congress. News of his appointment angered some Republicans, who called it a betrayal of Obama's pledge of a more civil politics and bipartisan governing.

Palin effect: Republicans she opposed in Alaska won

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, found guilty of seven felonies last week, is beating his Democratic opponent. So's Rep. Don Young, who's been under federal investigation for years. Some strategists suggested a "Palin effect," which is ironic, given that she backed Young's opponent in the primary and called on Stevens to resign.

4 Ky. Appalachian counties proud they went for Obama

John McCain won 112 of Kentucky's 120 counties, but not the Appalachian counties of Elliott, Menifee, Wolfe and Rowan. Political leaders in the four counties said race wasn't a factor for their mostly white constituents.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

As economic crisis peaked, tide turned against McCain

The presidential race entered a critical three-day period in September when the economic crisis cast the candidates' differences in sharp relief. How the candidates responded -- Sen. John McCain's dramatic moves and sometimes-uneven temperament and Sen. Barack Obama's more analytical reaction and calm vibe -- was a window into how they made decisions. And voters responded. (May need to respond)

Florida, California voters approve gay-marriage bans

A ban on gay marriage, which is already illegal in Florida, looks like it will be enshrined in that state's Constitution. California voters also approved a gay marriage ban for the state constitution, six months after the state's Supreme Court ruled that such a ban violated the state's Constitution.

N.C. voters deny Dole, elect Hagan to U.S. Senate

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole lost her re-election bid Tuesday night to state Sen. Kay Hagan, done in by a combination of Hagan's tireless campaigning, millions of dollars from national Democrats and Barack Obama's strong emphasis on North Carolina.

Obama's updraft lifts N.C. Democrats

North Carolina, long one of the most contested pieces of political turf in America, was trending blue Tuesday as Democrats rode uncertainty about the economy and the Iraq war to a strong showing.

Ban on same-sex unions winning in California

Six months after the California Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage in the state, voters Tuesday were repealing the landmark decision with about half the precincts reporting.