Senate Republicans Strike Immigration Deal  —  WASHINGTON, April 5 — A group of Senate Republicans reached agreement Wednesday night on a compromise proposal that they hope can garner bipartisan support and bring passage of a bill on the future of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants.

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" …

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 …

Nowhere Man  —  Here are two serious links and one very serious piece of news.  The first serious link is an analysis of Iraq casualty numbers by Myelectionanalysis (hat tip: Mudville Gazette) … Myelectionanalysis expected to find the reverse of the actual numbers, as you would be led …

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.

Sources: McKinney case heading to grand jury  —  Federal prosecutors could have a decision by next week  —  (CNN) — No more he-grabbed-she-slapped — whether U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney should be charged over a confrontation with Capitol Police last week will be decided by a grand jury …

Iraqi's Blog Chronicles Daily Life of a Nation in Turmoil  —  In the first bloody hours after insurgents destroyed a revered Shiite shrine in Iraq in February, Baghdad dentist Zeyad A. watched his Sunni neighbors grab machine guns and cobble together roadblocks to keep out marauding Shiite gunmen.

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 …

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 …

Anchor's Chair Was an Irresistible Lure for Couric  —  In the midst of the widely publicized negotiations over her future career in network television, Katie Couric called a family meeting, with her parents and two young daughters around the dinner table.  —  Laying out her options …

South Park - honest, brave, honorable  —  I can't believe I'm writing those words.  In the beginning, I wouldn't let my kids watch the show.  —  Tonight's episode was brilliant.  And brave.  Basically Matt Stone and Trey Parker took all of their creative capital and threw down a gauntlet …

NASCAR SMACKS DOWN NBC  —  I spoke this afternoon with Ramsey Poston, managing director of corporate communications at NASCAR.  He's on his way down to Texas for the NASCAR race this weekend, and he responded to NBC Dateline's undercover Muslim stings, which I first reported on yesterday morning.

Berkeley blogger finds his voice and fends off success  —  Three years ago, 50 friends and family members were the only ones reading Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's liberal blog www.dailykos.com.  Now that 600,000 politics junkies are alighting daily on what's become the nation's most popular political blog, the inevitable is happening.

Professor's population speeches unnerve some  —  He says he's issuing warning, but others see talk of pandemics as a threat.  —  University of Texas professor Eric Pianka's enemies say he advocates wiping out 90 percent of the population and that his seemingly giddy obsession with death …

Benzene Levels in Soft Drinks Above Limit  —  WASHINGTON - Cancer-causing benzene has been found in soft drinks at levels above the limit considered safe for drinking water, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged Wednesday.  —  Even so, the FDA still believes there are no safety concerns …

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 …

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 …