Hagel won't announce political plans until later this year  —  After months of buildup, Sen. Chuck Hagel stopped short of a presidential campaign Monday, saying he wants to keep his options open until later this year.  —  Instead, the Nebraska Republican will begin actively raising money …

Do we really need a Gen. Pelosi?  —  Congress can cut funding for Iraq, but it shouldn't micromanage the war.  —  AFTER WEEKS OF internal strife, House Democrats have brought forth their proposal for forcing President Bush to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by 2008.

Meltdown at Justice  —  Incompetence is compromising presidential power.  —  Just when President Bush seemed to have beaten back the Congressional defeatists on Iraq, along comes his own Justice Department to undermine some hard-won antiterror policy gains.

Weak Lead-In Programming Takes a Toll on the News Ratings  —  Last year, around the time that CBS agreed to pay an estimated $15 million a year to lure Katie Couric away from NBC, it spent several million dollars more in licensing fees to coax another nationally known television personality …

Congressman Holds No God-Belief  —  Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is first Congress member in history to acknowledge his nontheism  —  Contact: Lori Lipman Brown, (202) 299-1091  —  There is only one member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief.

AFL-CIO bullying Colorado on Dems' 2008 convention  —  WASHINGTON - National AFL officials seem determined to remove any remaining doubt in anybody's mind that Gov. Bill Ritter did the right thing in February by vetoing Colorado House bill 1072.  That hurriedly approved measure repealed …

Early Primary Rush Upends '08 Campaign Plans  —  The trickle of states moving their 2008 presidential primaries to Feb. 5 has turned into an avalanche, forcing all the presidential campaigns to reconsider every aspect of their nominating strategy — where to compete, how to spend money …

Berger & Libby: A Tale of Two Crimes  —  "History will be kind to me," Winston Churchill once said, "for I intend to write it."  —  Indeed, he did.  His multiple-volume histories of the two world wars are still widely read, though discounted by professional historians as incomplete and in some ways misleading.

Kucinich smacks "run-and-hide" Dems  —  First, Democrat Rep. David Obey spanks "idiot liberals."  Now, Democrat presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is calling out the cowards who won't debate on Fox News.  Punchy! … You go, Denny.  —  No strings, man, no strings.

Businesses Prepare to Mount a Concerted Attack on Regulation  —  Call it the end of the post-Enron era.  —  A major anti-regulatory offensive culminates this week with a one-two punch thrown by Washington and Wall Street's most moneyed institutions, as the Treasury Department convenes …

Fallback strategy for Iraq: Train locals, draw down forces  —  If the current 'surge' fails, planners suggest relying on advisors as the U.S. did in El Salvador in the 1980s.  —  WASHINGTON — American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes …

Tapscott's Copy Desk  —  ‹‹ More From this Blog … When I heard last week from Hill sources that the White House congressional liason staff was pressuring OMB Director Rob Portman to not release all of the earmarks requested by Members of Congress to executive agencies under …

Obama, Clinton Sparring Early  —  CLINTON, Iowa — Standing in front of a large banner that blared "Clinton," surrounded by students in Clinton Community College sweat shirts, Sen. Barack Obama offhandedly mentioned the obvious.  —  "Hillary, you know, she's interesting," Obama said …

On Screens Soon, Abused Earth Gets Its Revenge  —  Tired of abuse by mankind, the earth is angry.  Worse, the planet is out to even the score.  —  Audiences can expect a story along those lines when M. Night Shyamalan's film "The Happening" reaches screens in the next year.

The Paradox of Libertarianism  —  Yes: Bigger government.  —  But no, that isn't as bad as it might sound to many Cato readers.  —  I see a few major policy achievements in a libertarian direction.  In the United States inflation has come down from unacceptable levels in the 1970s to an eminently livable situation.

March Madness  —  Public-sector lobbyists lavish gifts on congressmen and their staffers.  The scandal is it's perfectly legal.  —  Capitol Hill is in the grips of "March Madness"—and I don't mean the NCAA basketball playoffs.  "This is also the month that hundreds of lobbyists annually …

France's Chirac bows out, and the race is on  —  Long a fixture in French politics, he confirms he won't seek a third term as president.  A close contest to succeed him is anticipated.  —  PARIS — Setting the stage for a suspenseful presidential race, French President Jacques Chirac announced Sunday …

Conservatives balk over Giuliani's judges  —  His picks as New York mayor raise doubts over whether he'd put 'strict constructionists' on the high court.  —  WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, in an effort to temper his support for abortion rights and his other socially liberal stances …