NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls  —  The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

Democrats Are Fractured Over Strategy, Funds  —  Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have clashed angrily in recent days in a dispute about how the party should spend its money in advance of this fall's midterm elections.

Snow issues detailed rebuttals to media coverage of the president  —  WASHINGTON - New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is starting off in a combative mode against the press by issuing detailed rebuttals to what he considers unfair coverage of Bush.  —  "The New York Times continues …

Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham  —  Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Californian who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe.

Reining in Charter Schools  —  The charter school movement began with the tantalizing promise that independently operated schools would outperform their traditional counterparts — if they could only be exempted from state regulations while receiving public money.  It hasn't quite worked out that way.

THE BORDER PATROL UNDER SIEGE  —  The Department of Homeland Security is working overtime to quell citizen outrage over the Border Patrol/Mexico/Minutemen story.  The contradictory spin doctors are not doing a very good job.  I'll have more in a moment.  —  But now is a crucial time to step …

A New Gesture From Iran?  —  A top Iranian official, in an open letter given to TIME, offers what could be a starting point for negotiations  —  The White House has brushed aside a new letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush that was designed …

Plame leak probe descends into absurdity  —  Will CIA-leak prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indict Karl Rove?  —  Who knows?  While some observers search the tea leaves for answers, the only real answer right now is that nobody outside of Fitzgerald's office knows for sure.

Plan to Give D.C. a Vote In Congress Advances  —  Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is teaming up with U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) to introduce a bill that would for the first time give the District a full vote in Congress, a sign of bipartisan cooperation that advocates of D.C. voting rights hailed as a breakthrough.