President Bush is talking tough about how he would handle any potential movement of nuclear weapons out of North Korea and into the hands of terrorists. Tough talk will not frighten Kim Jong-Il, I'm afraid.

Here in New Hampshire, the shooting death of a Manchester police officer has led to a decision by the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for the alleged killer. This is creating some controversy here, since we have not executed anyone since 1939. I am in favor of the death penalty, but I do not approve of the way it is used in the country. Killers do not deserve the mercy of the kind of euthanization we reserve for our beloved pets. Instead, they should be hanged. We should also not reserve the death penalty simply for those who kill cops or judges or other special classes of people (as the law is written here in NH and in some other states). Premeditated, first degree murder should be a death penalty offense, no matter who it is that is the victim. Finally, if you are going to have a death penalty statute on the books, then use it. If we do not have the stomach to do it, get it off the books.

Chuck Todd has five reasons why this election will be a repeat of '94 and five reasons why it will not be. I am persuaded that it will not be '94, but it will still result in the Democrats winning the House, however narrowly.

The Iraqi Premier went on a pilgrimage to visit Iraq's senior Shiite cleric and its most militant one. He's trying to make a deal to save his government, I imagine, as their are persistent rumors of a coup in the planning stages. This story indicates that there almost certainly will be a dramatic change of direction in Iraq fairly soon, with several possible "Plan B" scenarios, including a coup leading to a strongman government. It is certainly true that "stay the course" is an untenable scenario, while "cut and run" was never a viable option. Perhaps there is a third way. Remembering my history, I am betting on a coup that leads to a military government. If that government, which will have to be led by a Shiite, like former Prime Minister Allawi, can convince enough Sunni leaders and former military officers to come in from the cold, then it is possible they might be able to at least establish some reasonable degree of security in the country. That would then allow for a drawdown of U.S. troops. It may be the best we can hope for.