Campaign Finance Measure Approved  —  House Bill Would Cap '527' Donations, Used Largely by Democrats  —  The House approved campaign finance legislation last night that would benefit Republicans by placing strict caps on contributions to nonprofit committees that spent heavily in the last election …

Bush Said to Have Cleared Early Release of Iraq Intelligence to Times  —  New York Sun Web Exclusive  —  A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" …

Iraqi Says Visit by Two Diplomats Backfired  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 — A top adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Wednesday that the visit this week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain had backfired, prolonging a deadlock …

Program on Vouchers Draws Minority Support  —  WASHINGTON, April 5 — As a student at Shaw Junior High School here, Amie Fuwa strained to shut out the distractions of friends cutting up.  She struggled through math, and used photocopies or the library when textbooks were scarce.

South Park Takes On Islamists, Cowardly Broadcast Executives, And 'Family Guy'  —  Last week, when the raunchy cartoon series South Park killed off Chef after Isaac Hayes complained about the show's religious intolerance, some CQ readers noted that Matt Stone and Trey Parker had never taken on Muslims.

Rumsfeld Challenges Rice on 'Tactical Errors' in Iraq  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not know what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was talking about when she said last week that the United States had made thousands of "tactical errors" in handling the war in Iraq …

Zeyad, blogger and journalist  —  Some big news in the blogging world, revealed today in the Wall Street Journal (free link):  —  Zeyad, the amazing blogger behind Healing Iraq, a founding father of the Iraqi blogosphere, has been accepted to the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism (where I'll be teaching).

Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House  —  Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming.  The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans …

Poll Finds Steele May Be Magnet for Black Voters  —  Candidate's Ties to President Bush Judged a Potential Vulnerability  —  An internal document prepared by a top Democratic strategist warns that a majority of African American voters in Maryland are open to supporting Republican Senate …

Senate Dems to pursue new strategy on abortion  —  The Senate Democratic leadership says it has found a wedge issue to strengthen the party's position on abortion rights, which top strategists think has become a liability in recent years.  —  The wedge is legislation expanding access …

U.S. Rolls Out Nuclear Plan  —  The administration's proposal would modernize the nation's complex of laboratories and factories as well as produce new bombs.  —  The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex …