Couric weighs in on Iraq, Rather  —  Her take on the news  —  Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric pulled back the curtain on her personal views of both the war in Iraq and former "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather.

Fallen Soldier MSNBC Used for 'Gotcha' Game With Rep. Blackburn Did Not Live in Her District  —  UPDATE — SHUSTER APOLOGIZES: At 6:44 PM EDT, MSNBC broke into the Tucker Carlson show to air a terse apology from Shuster.  See "My Take" below.  —  View video of Shuster apology here.

Kyl-Lieberman Iran Amendment Passes By Huge Margin  —  The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22.

"Childrens do learn," Bush tells school kids  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn."  —  Bush made his latest grammatical slip …

Scoop for Spanish Daily: Transcript of Private 2003 Bush Talk Promising Iraq Invasion  —  NEW YORK El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was the transcript of a private talk between President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on February 22 …

Rudy Giuliani fires chief fundraiser  —  In a sign of potential money woes, Rudy Giuliani has fired his presidential campaign's chief fundraiser and brought in a top rainmaker for President Bush, The Daily News has learned.  —  Anne Dunsmore, who took control of Giuliani's …

First Read: Biden's Iraq resolution passes  —  From NBC's Ken Strickland  —  In a strong rebuff to the Bush Administration on Iraq, the Senate overwhelming approved a plan by Biden that essentially calls for breaking Iraq into three sections: Kurd, Sunni, and Shia.

Poll Shows Republican Race Tightening  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Republican race for president has tightened up with three candidates now toward the top in New Hampshire, according to a new poll.  —  The latest WMUR/CNN New Hampshire Primary Poll shows that among likely Republican voters …

My Dinner with Ahmadinejad  —  The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel …

2 Patriot Act Provisions Ruled Unlawful  —  PORTLAND, Ore. — Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.  —  U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled …

Ohio, Florida laws could dampen Democratic voting  —  WASHINGTON — Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008.

Dem Defection Sends Voter Fraud Guru to Full Senate  —  As I reported yesterday, the Senate Rules Committee met this morning about the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Elections Commission.  —  This morning's result: faced with the defection of a Democrat on the committee …

Plan Uses Taxes to Fight Climate Change  —  WASHINGTON — Dealing with global warming will be painful, says one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress.  To back up his claim he is proposing a recipe many people won't like _ a 50-cent gasoline tax, a carbon tax and scaling back tax breaks for some home owners.

Breaking: House Votes to Condemn MoveOn  —  Using a procedural move, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, just got a vote on an amendment that condemns MoveOn, by name, for the Petraeus ad.  —  What's worse?  Most Democrats voted for it!!!

Junta Cracks Down on Burmese Protesters  —  Ending nine days of restraint, Burma's military rulers cracked down on protesting Buddhist monks Wednesday, with security forces firing warning shots, shooting tear gas canisters, swinging truncheons and making scores of arrests. .