Obama takes 1st step in presidential bid  —  WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday he is taking the initial step in a presidential bid that could make him the nation's first black to occupy the White House.  —  Obama announced on his Web site …

What's the White House Doing to Prosecutors?  —  During a floor speech on the topic moments ago, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said the White House has told her it was replacing from five to 10 Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys with its own interim appointees.  —  We know of seven who have left during …

We've Got a Potential Witness (and Mention) List  —  There you are, ladies and gentleman, the list of all potential witnesses who may be called at Scooter Libby's trial.  The most interesting surprise?  Dougie Feith, propaganda artist extraordinaire.  And yes, Karl is on there.  Condi Rice is on there.

McCain Was Against War In Iraq Before He Was For It  —  So I began looking through some old newspaper clippings on the Gulf War for some research I have been doing, and you just wouldn't believe what I happened across.  Featured prominently in one article from August of 1990 …

Rumsfeld is gone, but the veep's other loyalists remain.  —  With the departure of his longtime friend Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton's resignation as U.N. ambassador, and Democrats taking over Congress, times seem grim for the Dick Cheney wing of the Bush administration.

ABC's The Note: Bush Gave His 'Best TV Performance In Years' On 60 Minutes  —  President Bush appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday night.  A host of media and conservative blogs were not terribly impressed with his performance:  —  New York Times blog: … Houston Chronicle blog:

Tancredo's Dubious Allies  —  Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is expected to announce the formation of an exploratory committee to seek the candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.  "He's going to paint himself as a mainstream conservative," says the staffer for one of Tancredo's colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Legalize It  —  HOW TO SOLVE AFGHANISTAN'S DRUG PROBLEM.  —  The British Empire once fought a war for the right to sell opium in China.  —  In retrospect, history has judged that war destructive and wasteful, a shameless battle of colonizers against colonized that in the end helped neither side.

Choice of Martinez sparks GOP rebellion  —  Rebellion is brewing among conservatives on the Republican National Committee over President's Bush's attempt to "impose" Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida as "general chairman" of the party, who favors "amnesty" for illegal aliens.

Bush bungles budget — and tells Dems to fix it?  —  The Washington Post ran a front-page piece today on a White House budget strategy that's characterized as somehow being clever.  Maybe I'm missing the punch line because the story doesn't make a lot of sense to me. … I have no idea what this means.

Three Time [Loser] Winner  —  There just didn't seem to be any other way to explain why I'm not going to be present for the first two weeks of the Libby trial so I decided to resort to the truth.  —  As someone who has devoted years to building this blog around coverage of the CIA leak investigation …

Pakistan Strikes Al Qaeda's Winter Hideout  —  Habibullah Khan and Alexis Debat Report:  —  Gretchen Peters contributed to this report.  —  Five compounds of al Qaeda's winter hideout, where foreigners and local militants train to make bombs, were the target of an air strike this morning …

An op-ed by Professor Charles Fried discusses legal representation in America  —  The following op-ed, Mr. Stimson and the American Way by Professor Charles Fried, was published in The Wall Street Journal on January 16, 2007.  —  Defense Department official Charles Stimson showed ignorance …

Saudis consider sending troops to Iraq  —  Government 'deeply skeptical' al-Maliki can make Bush surge plan work  —  Saudi Arabia believes the Iraqi government is not up to the challenge and has told the United States that it is prepared to move its own forces into Iraq should the violence …

FORMER U.N. OIL-FOR-FOOD CHIEF BENON SEVAN INDICTED OVER BRIBES FROM SADDAM'S REGIME  —  Benon Sevan.  —  Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday.