Playbook: President Clinton on speakerphone  —  Good Sunday morning, and welcome to a quick Sunday show/church pregame.  —  John Edwards is on Newsweek's cover as "The Sleeper."  Hours before Gov. Romney goes on "Meet" for the full hour, the L.A. Times portrays his Bain style as grasping and greedy.

A Son's Past Deeds Come Back To Bite Huckabee  —  As Mike Huckabee gains in the polls, the former Arkansas governor is finding that his record in office is getting more scrutiny.  One issue likely to get attention is his handling of a sensitive family matter: allegations that one of his sons …

"THEY WILL GET OVERRUN"....A couple of weeks ago I linked to a story about the initial troop drawdowns in Iraq and expressed surprised that they were taking place in Baghdad rather than in outlying provinces.  Today, the LA Times reports that the military has had second thoughts about this too:

Commander in chief: McCain is the best choice  —  Next year America will elect a war President who will have to be ready to take command of the United States armed forces and make life-or-death decisions starting on day one.  With the war in Iraq having improved dramatically in the past six months …

Congress Defies Bush on CIA Tape Probe  —  House Will Continue Investigation Despite White House Request to Drop It  —  House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes told ABC News today that he will ignore the Bush administration's request to drop its investigation of why CIA interrogation tapes were destroyed.

Four Bolivian regions declare autonomy from government  —  (CNN) — Tensions were rising in Bolivia on Saturday as members of the country's four highest natural gas-producing regions declared autonomy from the central government.  —  Thousands waved the Santa Cruz region's green-and-white flags …

Tracking a Paper Trail  —  A memo from a top intelligence official warned the CIA not to destroy its interrogation tapes  —  John Negroponte testifies before Congress in September … In the summer of 2005, then CIA director Porter Goss met with then national intelligence director John Negroponte …

Mitt Romney on "Meet the Press."  —  I'll write more when I can quote from a transcript, but I wanted to say that I thought Romney was excellent on "Meet the Press" such now.  (And so was Tim Russert.  Russert rules.)  —  Romney's voice was much improved over the high-pitched piping I've heard in the debates.

The Lawless Surveillance State  —  There are several vital points raised by the new revelations in The New York Times that "the N.S.A.'s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before" and includes both pre-9/11 efforts to tap without warrants …

Apparent Huckabee Backers Smear McCain  —  N.H. Phone Campaign Starts as Poll, Then Turns to Anti-McCain Ad  —  Bernie Campbell, a 26-year-old public school teacher in Laconia, N.H., was eating dinner at home Friday night with his wife, a graduate student at Dartmouth, when he got a phone call.

Spotlight on John Edwards  —  John Edwards makes the cover of Newsweek and is the subject of a five page article.  He's also on several of the Sunday morning shows today.  —  He's still fighting hard in Iowa, touting his willingness to fight for Democrats.

Pledging Allegiance  —  New York was warm on that spring day in 1961, remembers Jack O'Leary, a teacher and role model for 17-year-old Rudy Giuliani, and a confidant for the boy's father, Harold Giuliani.  Harold had asked O'Leary, then a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers …

Don't let Dodd stand alone  —  Thanks at least partly to the blogburst of indignation, Reid's rollout of the FISA 'fix' has been delayed until Monday.  Jeralyn runs down Reid's lame excuses for virtually guaranteeing telecom immunity via procedural hanky panky.

Democratic endorsement editorial: Why Clinton  —  THE REGISTER'S EDITORIAL BOARD  —  A deep, talented field in the Democratic caucus race offers both good and difficult choices.  —  No fewer than three candidates would, by their very identity, usher the nation to the doorstep of history.