Apply a href-like attribute to non-<a> elements - xhtml

Question

I've been working on a page where there are several entries contained in different <div>s. Each is only a title linked to a page, an image and a short description. However, the description may contain arbitrary tags, including <a> tags.
Since these are pretty straightforward and the actual link isn't that big, I've made it so a click on the <div> will call location.href = (link URL). However, that's a pretty sad thing, because it's browser-unfriendly: for instance, under Google Chrome, a middle-click on one of said <div>s won't open the link in a new tab.
Considering you shouldn't nest <a> tags, is it possible to make any element in XHTML behave like a link without resorting to Javascript?
I'm using XHTML 1.1, sent with the proper MIME type, and that's the only restriction I'm bound to.

Answer 1

Not really, no. Though it's worth reading Eric Meyer's thoughts on this. Also, it appears that HTML51 includes the capacity for any element to become a link, so it might be worth using that doctype instead of xhtml, if possible.
It's worth also adding that html 5 does allow for an <a> element to enclose block-level elements, see: http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2008/any-element-linking-in-html-5/, example taken from the linked page:
Instead of:
<h3>Bruce Lawson as Obama's running mate!</h3>
<img src="bruce.jpg" alt="lovegod" />
<p>In answer to McCain's appointment of MILF, Sarah Palin, Obama hires DILF, Bruce Lawson, as his running mate. Read more!</p>
you can say:
<a href="story.htm">
<h3>Bruce Lawson as Obama's running mate!</h3>
<img src="bruce.jpg" alt="lovegod" />
<p>In answer to McCain's appointment of MILF, Sarah Palin, Obama hires DILF, Bruce Lawson, as his running mate. Read more!</p>
</a>
Updated to mention possible inaccuracy
1: I may have misinterpreted part of the document to which I linked, having tried to find support for my claim that '...appears that HTML5...any element to become a link' (in the W3C's html 5 overview) it doesn't seem to be there. I think I was over-encouraged when I saw Meyer's proposal to include that possibility.
I'm too gullible, and naive... =/

Answer 2

If you want a link to cover an entire div, an idea would be to create an empty <a> tag as the first child:
<div class="covered-div">
<a class="cover-link" href="/my-link"></a>
<!-- other content as usual -->
</div>
div.covered-div {
position: relative;
}
a.cover-link {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
right: 0;
}
This works especially great when using <ul> to create block sections or slideshows and you want the whole slide to be a link (instead of simply the text on the slide). In the case of an <li> it's not valid to wrap it with an <a> so you'd have to put the cover link inside the item and use CSS to expand it over the entire <li> block.
Do note that having it as the first child means it will make other links or buttons inside the text unreachable by clicks. If you want them to be clickable, then you'd have to make it the last child instead.