Election Leaves Women Poised To Play a Greater Role in Politics: In the Senate, a record 12 women are running and two won the races, increasing the the number of women in the Senate to a new high of 16. 

A total of 138 female candidates were running for the House, just short of the record 141 in 2004. In the final tally, women are likely to gain some ground there, though not as much as in 1992, when 19 were elected.

At the state level, a record 2,433 women were running for seats as state lawmakers, according to Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics. That breaks a record set in 1992. Of the 12 women who ran for Senate seats yesterday, eight are Democrats; of the 138 women who ran for the House, 97 are Democrats.

Overall, even among people who voted for President Bush in 2004, about 16% were giving their votes to Democrats running for Congress. Just 6% of those who supported John Kerry in 2004 were crossing over this year to vote Republican.

Toyota Lifts Profit Outlook, Invests in Fuel Efficiency: Toyota sales in North America in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to 717,000 vehicles from 604,000 a year earlier, boosted by products like the new Yaris, an affordable compact car, and the RAV4. Global sales rose to 2.054 million vehicles from 1.885 million vehicles, bringing total world-wide sales to 4.15 million vehicles in the year's first half. Toyota is also cash rich with a reserve of about $30 billion.

Investment by Oil Industry Stalls: Data compiled by the International Energy Agency show that investment in the oil-and-gas industry was $340 billion in 2005, up 70% from 2000. Adjusted for inflation, the oil industry's investment increased by 5% between 2000 and 2005. Companies plan to spend $470 billion in 2010, up 38% from 2005. Two-thirds of the industry's spending is expected to be directed into oil and gas production. From 2000 to 2005, world oil consumption rose 9.3% to 83.6 million barrels a day.

Start-Up Unveils Twist On Supercomputer Design: Sales of high-performance computers grew 24% to $9.2 billion in 2005, the research firm IDC estimates, though the high-end supercomputers niche grew just 3% to $916 million. Suppliers include IBM, HP, as well as cluster start-ups such as Linux Networx Inc. SiCortex estimates that one of its $1.5 million machines delivers three to 10 times the computing performance of a cluster at the same price.

Clear Channel Outdoor Has Suitor: U.S. outdoor advertising spending is expected to increase 10.8% to $6.34 billion this year, according to media buyer ZenithOptimedia. Clear Channel Outdoor has 155,000 billboards, posters and other ad sites across the U.S.

Private Equity Targets Littler Guy: Private equity has returned 11.4% annually in the 10 years ended June, compared with 6.6% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, according to Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association. Funds of funds, which allow individuals to hold a diversified pool of private-equity funds, have raised a total of about $10.9 billion in the nine months through September, according to Thomson Financial. Since 2004, 76 Special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have raised about $5 billion in IPOs, according to data tracker Dealogic

WSJ By The Numbers - Metrics 2.0