FBI Says Jefferson Was Filmed Taking Cash  —  Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public corruption probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released yesterday.

Prosecution of Journalists Is Possible in NSA Leaks  —  Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales raised the possibility yesterday that New York Times journalists could be prosecuted for publishing classified information based on the outcome of the criminal investigation underway into leaks …

Iraqi Vows 'Maximum Force' to End Attacks  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's new prime minister promised Sunday to use ''maximum force'' if necessary to end the brutal insurgent and sectarian violence wracking the country, while a suicide bomber killed more than a dozen people at a restaurant in downtown Baghdad.

Elections Are Crux Of GOP's Strategy  —  Bush Aides Look to Midterm Vote as Way to Reverse Slide  —  Confronting the worst poll numbers seen in the West Wing since his father went down to defeat, President Bush and his team are focusing on the fall midterm elections as the best chance …

TOP MCCAIN AIDE INSULTS ENTIRE COLLEGE GRADUATING CLASS... "VERY UNLIKELY ANY OF YOU WILL EVER POSSESS...ONE SMALL FRACTION OF THE CHARACTER OF JOHN MCCAIN"...  Mark Salter, a longtime aide and chief of staff to Senator John McCain, posted a response to Jean Rohe's blog entry on the Huffington Post …

Libby Prosecutor Focuses on CIA Officer's Status  —  Filings Say Ex-Cheney Aide Knew That Plame Was Classified, Giving Him Reason to Lie to Grand Jury  —  The classified status of the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame will be a key element in any trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" …

Information Sharing on the Rove Indictment Story  —  By Marc Ash,  —  I'd like to break this posting into two categories: What we know, and what we believe.  They will be clearly marked.  —  We know that we have now three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove …

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE WORKED TO DEFEAT NAGIN  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) secretly placed political operatives in the city of New Orleans to work against the reelection efforts of incumbent Democrat Mayor Ray Nagin, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Al Gore's Unlikely Helpers  —  Liberals famously love John McCain, but that's not the weirdest political coupling.  The oil industry and its Republican allies are rooting for Al Gore, albeit unintentionally.  —  Gore stars in a movie that opens this week in New York and Los Angeles.

Loose lips sink ships  —  TRIBUNE-REVIEW  —  When is it OK to sacrifice national security for personal gain or political one-upmanship?  —  For the common-sense-challenged, the answer is: "Never."  —  In the years since Sept. 11, an odd assembly of Capitol Hill-types …

Coin image omits 'In God We Trust'  —  A Keller school district parent said political correctness has run amok at her daughter's elementary school, where the principal chose to omit the words "In God We Trust" from an oversize coin depicted on the yearbook cover.

More than 230 terror suspects free to stay in Britain  —  MORE than 230 foreigners identified by MI5 and Scotland Yard as suspected terrorists have been allowed to stay in Britain as asylum seekers.  —  Home Office records show that nearly a quarter of the 963 people arrested …