All three main parties often suffered a setback where they were in control locally (see table).

ECONOMIST: Local election results: A plague on all your houses | The

Kudos to Bill Galston at the Brookings Institution and Maya MacGuineas at the New America Foundation for putting on the table a credible plan to get the federal budget under control.

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It was a transfer from partial to full control that had been on the negotiating table for eight months.

ECONOMIST: Israel and the Palestinians

He said if "massive increases" in the budget were proposed or a deal that "does not have proper control" was on the table, he would step in.

BBC: Heathrow immigration

But there was little tension this time around once the Rhinos, who have now opened up a seven-point lead at the top of the Super League table, took complete control of the match in the second half.

BBC: Bradford 26-40 Leeds

David Brooks might take special note of Table 2A, which shows that in the U.S. a sense of freedom and control correlates more strongly with life satisfaction than does conviction in the importance of family or religion.

FORBES: Happiness, Freedom, and Autonomy