Libya's Election Boost?

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Reasons for Re-election

Lots of people want to take credit for President Bush's re-election. But here's a new one. While some pundits credit moral values, or the swift boat veterans, that is all wrong ... according to that famous political handicapper — Muammar al-Qaddafi (search). The Libyan dictator says it was his decision to give up weapons of mass destruction that pushed President Bush into the winning column, saying, "We know that with this withdrawal, we contributed by 50 percent to his electoral campaign."

Qaddafi also says he's still waiting for his reward for giving up weapons of mass destruction. He says he was promised peaceful nuclear technology to produce energy in exchange for agreeing to give up his weapons program.

Scouting for Sales

A Boy Scout troop miffed at the ACLU's occasional battles with the Scouts, thought it would be "real cool," as one said, to set up a table for its annual popcorn sales outside the ACLU's Virginia headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.

Sales were still pretty slow until a nationally syndicated conservative talk show host called attention to what they were doing. Suddenly, the Scouts were selling popcorn hand over fist. Last year, they sold 300 dollars worth. After Glen Beck mentioned them on his radio show, they sold $4,200 worth at their stand and chalked up an astounding $23,000 in sales online.

The ACLU has sued to block public funding for the Boy Scouts (search) because of their religious requirements and exclusion of homosexuals. The Scoutmaster says the troop wasn't trying to "get in the face of the ACLU. He said they just "took advantage of an opportunity to get a lot of customers."

Reversing the Ban

Pasco County, Florida has reversed a ban on Christmas trees, just two days after the prohibition took effect. County officials had pulled the trees from public buildings, saying the Supreme Court had decided the trees are a Christian symbol, even though the court never made such a ruling.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered Bay Harbor, Florida to allow a Nativity scene alongside the town's Jewish holiday decorations, after the town refused one resident's request to put up a Christmas scene.

And in Plano, Texas, a judge ruled that students could hand out candy canes with a religious message attached at school holiday parties — after a lawsuit accused the school district of engaging in "continual efforts to ban Christmas."

Spelling Challenge

While financial experts came together at the White House (search) this week for a conference to discuss future economic challenges, the challenge of putting together a mistake-free setting proved to be too much.

The word "challenges" was misspelled on the TV monitor that sat directly in front of President Bush during a panel discussion.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report