It's being called Florida 2000 without the hanging chads. The German political class is frantically trying to sort out what to do after an election in which Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder received 34.2 percent of the vote and Christian Democratic challenger Angela Merkel received 35.2 percent.

The parties have until Oct. 18 to try to scrabble together some sort of governing coalition, either with each other or with some of the smaller parties. "The voters have spoken," editorialized the Berliner Zeitung, "but what they have said is not easy to understand."

Liberal journalist Michael Kinsley says a "gaffe" in Washington is when a politician accidentally says what he really believes.

By that standard, House Speaker Dennis Hastert may have offered up the gaffe of the year when he said of New Orleans: "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed."

As with most disasters, Hurricane Katrina opened the floodgates of the public square to shoddy arguments, many of which seem designed mostly to score political points. Some early examples:

A bad summer for gasoline prices grew worse last week as Hurricane Katrina swept into the Gulf of Mexico and pummeled one of the most important bases of energy production in the United States.

Gas prices rose as workers returned to the area's oil platforms and refineries to assess the damage last week. Average prices nationwide increased from $2.62 per gallon on the morning of Aug. 31 to $2.68 on the morning of Sept. 1, according to AAA, and analysts were predicting bigger jumps down the road.

New York City reportedly hosted the first Labor Day parade on Sept. 5, 1882. Eleven years later, Labor Day had spread to more than half the states, and in 1894 Congress voted to make it a federal holiday.

Today, every state celebrates Labor Day-this year also on Sept. 5-but some states are better than others at actually promoting labor, and the differences can be stark.

Here's a pop quiz for students heading back to college this week: What goes up but never comes down, defies the rules against perpetual motion, and increases even faster than grade inflation?

Answer: Their tuition bills.

When it comes to price increases, few products or services can match higher education. Not only are tuition prices rising, but they have been for decades and at a rate that is far faster than inflation.

The economy is growing and inflation is relatively low, but if the Democratic Party is certain of one thing, it's that any good economic news must be masking a devastating decline in manufacturing.

During the recent debate over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pointed out that "we have lost millions of manufacturing jobs" under President Bush. "As our manufacturing base erodes, as our industrial base erodes, we have a president who is contributing to the further erosion of that base."