Rush of Entries Gives '08 Race Early Intensity  —  Two years before the next president is inaugurated and a full year before the first vote is cast, the contest for the White House is off to a breathtakingly fast start, exposing an ever-growing field of candidates to longer …

State of the Union: Unhappy With Bush  —  Bush's 33 Percent Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon for President Entering State of the Union Speech  —  President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.

Bombs kill at least 65 people in Baghdad  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 65 people were killed and 113 wounded after two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad Monday, police said.  —  The first blast occurred shortly after noon when a bomb left …

BREAKING: Sen. John Warner To Introduce Resolution Opposing Iraq Escalation  —  Sen. John Warner (R-VA) will introduce a resolution today "making clear that he does not support the President on increasing the troop levels in Iraq" and calling escalation "a mistake," CNN's Dana Bash reports.

U.S. Toll in Iraq Is 27 for Deadly Weekend  —  The United States military said that two marines died Sunday in western Iraq and that an additional seven service members died Saturday.  The deaths brought the weekend toll to 27 and made Saturday the third-deadliest day for United States forces since the war here began.

McCain May Oppose Pick For Army Staff Chief  —  Senator Says Casey Led A 'Failed Policy' in Iraq  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday that he is inclined to oppose President Bush's appointment of Gen. George W. Casey Jr. as the new Army chief of staff, on the grounds …

Facing the Islamist Menace  —  Mark Steyn's new book is a welcome wake-up call.  —  In the prologue to his new book, America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, Mark Steyn sarcastically alludes to two people whom, in different ways, I know well.  The first is novelist Martin Amis …

Campaign Allegation A Source of Vexation  —  Days after Barack Obama jumped into the presidential sweepstakes, he was hit with a thinly sourced story from his past—39 years in his past, to be exact.  —  The allegation, by a conservative magazine, raised questions about whether the Illinois senator …

(UPDATE: Khalid "Relieved")  —  Posted by Bill  —  Members of General Khalid Juad Khadim's staff light a pyre in the late evening hours.  —  Something quite strange even for Fallujah happened here Saturday when the occupants of three civilian vehicles stopped at the home …

Documentary on beastiality premieres at Sundance Film Festival  —  PARK CITY, Utah — "Zoo" is a documentary about what director Robinson Devor accurately characterizes as "the last taboo, on the boundary of something comprehensible."  But remarkably, an elegant, eerily lyrical film has resulted.

In Raw World of Sex Movies, High Definition Could Be a View Too Real  —  The XXX industry has gotten too graphic, even for its own tastes.  —  Pornography has long helped drive the adoption of new technology, from the printing press to the videocassette.  Now pornographic movie studios …

I talk, and talk, say nothing  —  Does "Paleoprog" contribute anything to the otherwise indispensable American Footprints at all?  Consider this thread, where he is defending the Iranian-IED stories on the grounds that … If I had decided to disbelieve any statement from any of these people out of hand …

We Can Win the White House  —  To build on our midterm gains, Dems should follow my '50 Percent Solution.'  —  I am blessed.  I love my job.  I wake up every Monday morning excited about the week ahead.  The one downside is how consuming it is.  I don't have much time for leisure activities.

ANDREW SULLIVAN WONDERS WHAT I THINK ABOUT THE SURGE: I thought I'd been fairly straightforward, but sometimes my thoughts, scattered across a lot of short posts, come across as more cryptic than I realize, so I appreciate being prodded to pull them together in one place.

Fragile Hopes for Bipartisan Rescue of Social Security  —  President Bush is renewing his call for a bipartisan effort on Social Security, but few other issues so clearly highlight the limits of bipartisanship these days, the mistrust and ideological division just barely below the surface.

A One-Sided Arms Race  —  Something disturbing happened five hundred miles above China on January 11th.  —  An old Chinese weather satellite was in orbit, and then, quite abruptly, it wasn't.  Or, rather, if it was, it was no longer in one piece, and if it had been in any way operational before, it certainly wasn't afterward.

Room For 1 More?  Kerry May Join Mix For President  —  (CBS4) BOSTON A John Kerry spokeswoman told WBZ's Jon Keller Sunday that he is in the final stages of his decision-making process regarding a run for president and an announcement is expected soon.  —  Another source close to Kerry …