Huckabee new GOP leader in Iowa Poll  —  Mike Huckabee has leaped ahead of Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney in Iowa, seizing first place in a new Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus participants.  —  Huckabee wins the support of 29 percent of Iowans who say they definitely …

US says it has right to kidnap British citizens  —  AMERICA has told Britain that it can "kidnap" British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.  —  A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens …

John McCain is the man to lead America  —  On Jan. 8, New Hampshire Republicans will make one of the most important choices for their party and nation in the history of our presidential primary.  Their choice ought to be John McCain.  —  We don't agree with him on every issue.

More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig  —  Allegations made since news of the Minneapolis case broke lend weight to rumors about Craig. … David Phillips.  Mike Jones.  Greg Ruth.  Tom Russell.  —  Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations …

Hillary Clinton Draws Boos at Iowa Campaign Event, 1 Day After Hostage Situation  —  Whatever public sympathy Hillary Clinton had built up during the tense hostage situation at her New Hampshire campaign office appeared to dissipate Saturday, as she was met with a round of boos during an address …

N.H., Iowa Republicans care more about terror than Rudy Giuliani's trysts  —  Many voters shrugged off the renewed spotlight on Rudy Giuliani's extramarital affair - but one of his campaign officials Saturday warned the issue could "haunt" his presidential bid.

Israelis hit Syrian 'nuclear bomb plant'  —  Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Michael Sheridan in Seoul  —  ISRAEL'S top-secret air raid on Syria in September destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean plutonium, a leading Israeli nuclear expert has told The Sunday Times.

Business Lobby Presses Agenda Before '08 Vote  —  Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year's elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the Bush administration than from its successor.

Nonstop Theft and Bribery Are Staggering Iraq  —  Jobless men pay $500 bribes to join the police.  Families build houses illegally on government land, carwashes steal water from public pipes and nearly everything the government buys or sells can now be found on the black market.

Huckabee, Morris keep lines open  —  Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been holding private conversations with Dick Morris, according to aides, a longstanding relationship that is raising new questions as Huckabee's campaign begins to take off.

National Review reporter caught fabricating; where is the "liberal media"?  —  National Review reporter Thomas Smith has been exposed as a fabulist for plainly fictitious claims he made in two separate NR posts in September regarding Hezbollah's alleged armed threat to the Lebanese Government.

The gentry liberals  —  They're more concerned with global warming and gay rights than with lunch-pail joes.  —  After decades on the political sidelines, liberalism is making a comeback.  Polls show plunging support for Republicans and their brand of conservatism among young, independent voters and Latinos.

Who's Afraid of Barack Obama?  —  JUST 24 hours after Hillary Clinton mowed down a skeptical Katie Couric with her certitude that she would win the Democratic nomination — "It will be me!"  — her husband showed exactly how she could lose it.  —  By telling an Iowa audience on Tuesday night …