Clinton Launches Obama Attack Web Sites  —  Clinton Campaign Registered Names of Two Web Sites to Attack Ill. Senator  —  ABC News has learned that the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has registered the names of two Web sites with the express goal of attacking her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Senior Qaeda Theologian Urges His Followers To End Their Jihad  —  WASHINGTON — One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims."  —  In a serialized manifesto written …

Romney fields questions on King  —  Campaign says claim not literal  —  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he watched his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, in a 1960s civil rights march in Michigan with Martin Luther King Jr.

Now the Okie Napoleon is banning ‘Christmas’  —  Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson drew national scorn earlier this year when he arrested Paul Jacob of the Sam Adams Alliance and Citizens in Charge, and two colleagues on trumped-up charges that they violated a discredited state law requiring …

Huckabee: Romney's campaign in ‘desperate position’  —  IOWA (CNN) — Republican Mike Huckabee is going on the offensive in response to presidential rival Mitt Romney's latest attack: that as Arkansas governor, he was too lenient on the state's criminals.  —  At Iowa campaign stops Wednesday …

MEDIA FIREWORKS: MCCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY  —  Just weeks away from a possible surprise victory in the primaries, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz has been waging a ferocious behind the scenes battle with the NEW YORK TIMES, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned …

Declaring Forever War  —  Giuliani has surrounded himself with advisors who think the Bush Doctrine didn't go nearly far enough.  —  Like most Americans, I knew little about Rudolph Giuliani, save that he had been the very successful mayor of New York City catapulted to iconic status …

Baptists Not on Board  —  When Mike Huckabee went to Houston on Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved presidential candidacy, a luncheon for the ordained Baptist minister was arranged by evangelical Christians.  On hand was Judge Paul Pressler, a hero to Southern Baptist Convention reformers.

Welcome to America  —  Via Andrew Sullivan, a young Icelandic woman recounts her experiences with the new home of the free: … You see, in 1995 she overstayed a visa for three weeks.  I remember standing in the Reykjavik airport on a security line with my shoes off, held in my left hand …

MCCARTHY VS. AUSTER ON WHETHER GIULIANI'S BEHAVIOR DISQUALIFIES HIM FOR THE PRESIDENCY  —  This past February I posted an entry about Andrew McCarthy's support for Giuliani.  In that thread I quoted what Giuliani' lawyer Raoul Felder said on Mother's Day 2001.

Crackdown has illegal immigrants leaving Arizona  —  NOGALES, Sonora - It's a common scene this time of year: streams of overloaded cars, pickups and vans with U.S. license plates crossing into Mexico for the holidays.  —  Most are filled with Hispanic families from Arizona and other states …

FIRST THOUGHTS: UP FOR GRABS  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Up for grabs: While the big headlines from the latest national NBC/WSJ poll are Giuliani's 13-point decline (from 33% last month to 20% now) and Huck's nine-point gain (from 8% to 17%) …

Ron Paul's thought-provoking choice on racist's $$$  —  You have to hand it to Ron Paul.  Most presidential candidates who weren't running as white supremacists themselves would reflexively return a donation from a self-proclaimed racist so fast they would break speed records for financial transactions.

TALK, BUT DON'T TRUST.  —  I'd like to believe, as Joe Klein does, that America's corporations will make this the year that they finally support universal health reform.  But I wouldn't bet an extraordinary amount of money on the prospect.  For instance: Though the NFIB has been making conciliatory noises …

Torture house, mass graves discovered in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Coalition forces found 26 bodies buried in mass graves and a bloodstained “torture complex,” with chains hanging from walls and ceilings and a bed connected to an electrical system, the military said Wednesday.