Speculation is rising again among Washington insiders that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be forced out of office if the Democrats win control of the House and Senate in today's mid-term elections. Prominent Republicans say that even if the Dems only win a majority in the House, as expected, their victory would be taken on Capitol Hill as a sign that voters are weary of the Iraq war and Bush's conduct of it. And that would result in increased pressure for the ouster of Rumsfeld, considered the architect of current Iraq policy. "It would give us a fresh start," a senior GOP adviser says. What about President Bush's comment last week that he expects Rumsfeld to remain in office until the end of his presidency? The comment is dismissed as a purely political statement that Bush had to make or he would have demoralized GOP voters. One line of speculation has Rummy resigning before the end of the year. That would theoretically allow Bush to give more open-minded consideration to the upcoming report on the situation in Iraq by a special commission co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton.