The Zeitgeist Checklist BY DANA MILBANK

GRASSY KNOLL FIELD DAY

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

5Mystery. Authorities get a weird confession in the decade-old JonBenet Ramsey case. Reclusive Russian mathematician solves the century-old Poincaré conjecture (we don't know what it is, either). It can't be long before we find the WMD in Iraq, learn who killed OJ's ex-wife, and figure out what the lump under Bush's jacket was when he debated Kerry.

LOST AND FOUND

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

6Science. Pluto gets a reprieve, as astronomers decide it can still be a planet. But they cheapen the honorific by bestowing planethood on three others: Ceres, Charon and Xena. NASA, casting doubt on its ability to explore planets, reports that it can't find its tapes of the 1969 moon landing.

CRAWFORD CAN WAIT

Last week: -- Weeks on list: 1

7White House. Bush, trying to pull election debate back to terrorism, leaves the ranch for roving photo ops at Pentagon, State Department and National Counterterrorism Center. But voters aren't impressed: Pew Research poll finds only 2 percent want to hear about terrorism. Bush's overall public support limps to 37 percent from 36 percent in July.

ANOTHER GODZELLA?

Last week: 3 Weeks on list: 3

8Democrats. Sen. Joe Lieberman, vanquished in the Connecticut Democratic primary, gets revenge in a new poll giving the new independent a 12-point lead over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. Gleeful White House hands Lieberman tacit endorsement by refusing to back the Republican. Democrats worry a victorious Lieberman, dissed last week by his colleagues, could turn into another Zell Miller.