The Smear This Time  —  ON Oct. 11, 1991, I testified about my experience as an employee of Clarence Thomas's at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  —  I stand by my testimony.  —  Justice Thomas has every right to present himself as he wishes in his new memoir, "My Grandfather's Son."

Democrats Surpass Republicans in Fund-Raising  —  The Democratic presidential candidates continued to raise significantly more money during the last three months than their Republican counterparts, according to official and unofficial third-quarter fund-raising tallies that were released yesterday.

Poll: Clinton Extends Primary Lead in New Hampshire  —  Newsmax/Zogby poll shows Obama holding steady; Clinton escapes taint of Norman Hsu money scandal  —  New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has extended her lead in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in New Hampshire …

Minnesota Poll: A strong showing for McCain  —  Minnesotans are backing the front-runners, but they still are warm to McCain's troubled candidacy.  —  The Republican presidential race in Minnesota is more unsettled than it appears to be nationally, with Arizona Sen. John McCain showing surprising strength …

FBI asks Blackwater hearing not to discuss shooting  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Justice Department asked a House committee and the chairman of private military contractor Blackwater on Tuesday not to discuss a bloody firefight in a Baghdad square last month.

GOP Is Losing Grip On Core Business Vote  —  Deficit Hawks Defect  —  As Social Issues Prevail;  —  'The Party Left Me'  —  \*country-region\*country-regionWASHING TON\*\* — The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.

Battle of sound bites reaches health care  —  In the battle of sound bites over President Bush's expected veto of the children's health insurance bill, the White House position boils down to this: Beware, beware — it's the first step toward federalized health care.

Obama to Urge Elimination of World's Nuclear Weapons  —  Senator Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism, aides say.

Marine Hero: The 5 Things I Saw that Make Me Support the War  —  Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless."  —  That's wrong.  —  Violence isn't senseless.  Senseless violence is senseless.  And I should know.  Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member.

No more Mr. Nice Guy  —  CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Fred Thompson has a folksy, good old boy persona on the stump, but it may not last much longer.  —  When I asked him if he is an 11th Commandment man — Never speak ill of a fellow Republican — he responded, "I am more of a 12th Commandment man …

Democrats Seize on Limbaugh to Distract from their Iraq Surrender  —  The Senate yesterday passed the annual defense authorization bill with little fanfare.  Although it was intended to be the vehicle for any Iraq restrictions Democrats could come up with, it passed by an eye-popping 92-3.

Congressman Rudy Giuliani: Pro-Life?  —  Congressman Pete Sessions, a staunch pro-life Republican from Texas and a Rudy Giuliani supporter tells The Brody File that if Giuliani was a member of Congress today, he'd be considered pro-life.  Here's the money quote:

Seeing Blue  —  In the low desert valleys of Arizona's Pinal County, the cotton fields seem to stretch forever.  Pinal is traditionally one of the nation's top 10 cotton-producing counties.  It is also a large grower of wheat, melons, potatoes, and chili peppers.

CBSNews.com Chief to Lead a News and Blogs Site  —  The Huffington Post, a news Web site, plans to announce today the appointment of a new chief executive, Betsy Morgan, who will leave her job as the general manager of CBSNews.com.  —  Ms. Morgan will switch from running the Web site …

Censorship lifted on September 6 IAF strike inside Syria  —  Israel on Tuesday began to lift its strict veil of secrecy on an air strike in Syria last month, allowing the media to report on the raid without attributing such reports to foreign sources.  —  The censor did not release any other details for publication.

Iraq's Golden Silence  —  Media And War: Ever since the Sept. 10 testimony of Gen. David Petraeus, we've heard less and less from the mainstream media about the war in Iraq.  The old adage "no news is good news" has never been truer.  —  Iraq  —  That the media are no longer much interested …