Romney should not be the next president  —  December 22.  —  If you were building a Republican presidential candidate from a kit, imagine what pieces you might use: an athletic build, ramrod posture, Reaganesque hair, a charismatic speaking style and a crisp dark suit.

Five Things I Learned in Ten Days With Edwards  —  From CBS News Capitol Hill Correspondent Chip Reid, who's covering the Edwards campaign:  —  SOMEWHERE ON THE ROAD IN IOWA — Like the other presidential candidates, John Edwards is heading home for a few days over Christmas, which means we embedded journalists can do the same.

A Résumé Can't Buy You Love  —  WE can only imagine what is going on inside John McCain's head when he contemplates Mike Huckabee.  It can't be pretty.  No presidential candidate in either party has more experience in matters of war than the Arizona senator …

Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950  —  A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

2 Candidates, 2 Fortunes, 2 Views of Wealth  —  By the final weeks of 1984, well before either turned 40, John Edwards and Mitt Romney had already built successful careers.  But the two men were each on the verge of an entirely new level of financial success.

Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies  —  From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:  —  NEVADA, IOWA — John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change …

A CASE OF CLEMENCY THAT'S EASY TO EXPLAIN  —  It hasn't been apparent to me why Mike Huckabee favored the release from prison of Wayne Dumond, a patently dangerous rapist who, once released, committed murder.  By contrast, it's easy to see why Mike Huckabee wanted to help Eugene Fields …

Savior or Saboteur?  —  Once it was about Hillary, but now, of course, it's about Bill.  —  Our ubiquitous ex-president is playing his favorite uxorious game, and it goes like this: Let's create chaos and then get out of it together.  You ride to my rescue or I ride to yours.

The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All  —  CapQ readers want to have an eggnog with him, and now we know why.  Fred Thompson just released the best Christmas ad in this cycle, one in which no one will find floating crosses, holiday fruitcake, downer lighting, and especially tone-deaf “gifts” …

WHEN A CLAIM BECOMES OFFENSIVE  —  Two women contacted the Mitt Romney campaign this week, offering their memories of seeing Romney's father march with Martin Luther King Jr., in Grosse Point Michigan in 1963.  Campaign officials were well aware that the women were mistaken.

Blair converts to Catholicism  —  Tony Blair has converted to Roman Catholicism, sources close to the former prime minister said today.  —  He was welcomed into the church in a service last night.  —  The move comes after years of speculation that Mr Blair, whose wife Cherie and four children …

Iran Cited In Iraq's Decline in Violence  —  Order From Tehran Reined In Militias, U.S. Official Says  —  The Iranian government has decided “at the most senior levels” to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq, a move reflected in a sharp decrease in sophisticated roadside bomb attacks …

Huck offers olive branch to Rush, asks for him to get in touch  —  SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The best-talking Republican politician in America has a message for the best-talking conservative voice in the country: Let's talk to one another.  —  Mike Huckabee, taking questions from reporters …

Pakistan's Islamic Parties Struggle for Support  —  5 Years After Sweep In NW Province, Backers Frustrated  —  PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In 2002, Ibrar Hussein voted for an Islamic takeover.  —  Fed up both with Pakistan's military-led government and with the mainstream, secular opposition …

Chris Matthews Stands By His Man  —  You gotta hand it to Tweety...he shows considerably more monogamous devotion to Rudy Giuliani than Giuliani has ever shown any person in his life.  Chris Matthews found a little news item well hidden in the back pages of the NY Times (that liberal media at work again! …