Lott succeeds in leadership comeback  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.

Unfit for Majority Leader  —  The videotape is grainy, dark and devastating.  The congressman and the FBI undercover agents — the congressman thinks they represent an Arab sheik willing to pay $50,000 to get immigration papers — are talking business in the living room of a secretly wired Washington townhouse.

Abramoff Reports to Prison; Officials Focus on Reid, Others  —  Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:  —  As convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff reported to federal prison today, a source close to the investigation surrounding his activities told ABC News that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) …

Bush Initiates Iraq Policy Review Separate From Baker Group's  —  President Bush formally launched a sweeping internal review of Iraq policy yesterday, pulling together studies underway by various government agencies, according to U.S. officials.  —  The initiative, begun after Bush met …

Class Struggle  —  American workers have a chance to be heard.  —  The most important—and unfortunately the least debated—issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century.

Bush reappoints overseas broadcast chief  —  WASHINGTON —President Bush on Tuesday renominated the chairman of the agency that directs U.S. overseas broadcasts even though the nomination has been stalled in the Senate amid allegations of misconduct.  —  Kenneth Y. Tomlinson was nominated again …

Conservatives wary of choice to lead RNC  —  Martinez should appeal to Latinos, but may lose support on immigration.  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's decision to back Sen. Mel Martinez to help lead the Republican Party, a move intended to appeal to disaffected Latino voters …

Scores of academics seized in mass kidnap  —  Five senior Iraqi police officers were arrested last night after gunmen in police uniforms seized scores of people at a prominent scientific research institute in Baghdad in an audacious operation that underlined the lawlessness gripping …

Qaeda Leaders Losing Sway Over Militants, Study Finds  —  As radical Islam spreads globally through online forums and chat rooms, a group of obscure Arab religious thinkers may come to exert more influence over the jihadist movement than Osama bin Laden and other well-known leaders of Al Qaeda …

Giuliani 'Unacceptable' for President, Conservatives Say  —  (CNSNews.com) - Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani enjoys "a lot of good will" from Republicans from his handling of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but his stance on social issues like abortion and gun control …

Ahmadinejad - Hostage Taker?  —  Original title: "Цена Вопро 89;а" ["Cost of the Question"]  —  Soon after his election as president of Iran, on June 25, 2005, pictures of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerged showing him as a hostage-taker.

One More Time for Judicial Nominees  —  After calling for bipartisanship, President Bush surprised Senate Democrats with plans to renominate a controversial list of judges - some of whom may be unacceptable even to a few Republican senators.  "It's an unfortunate signal," said one senior Democratic Senate aide.

Uncle Sam, keep out  —  Prior to the 2006 midterm election, the closest thing to a sure bet in politics was a statewide referendum to ban same-sex marriages.  Twenty states had considered such ballot measures, and twenty states had approved them, all by wide margins.

Conservatives in Denial  —  On their journey through the stages of grief, conservatives don't yet seem to have gotten past denial.  —  Republicans may have lost, conservatives argue, but only because they misplaced their ideology.  "[T]hey were punished not for pursuing but for forgetting conservatism …

Do they know it's Christmas?  Do they actually care if it's Christmas?  Aren't they Muslim anyways?  [BRD]  —  Basically, if you were one of the poor, benighted folks of the world and busy choosing between starvation and being shot, 1984 was a very good year.

Pakistan votes to amend rape laws  —  Pakistan's national assembly has voted to amend the country's strict Sharia laws on rape and adultery.  —  Until now rape cases were dealt with in Sharia courts.  Victims had to have four male witnesses to the crime - if not they faced prosecution for adultery.

Sexual harrasment protesters arrested  —  Yesterday was the second sexual harrassment protest in downtown cairo against what went down in the eid incident.  And while the first one passed without incident, the police has cracked down on the second one.  On my way there I bumped into Sharkawy …

What motivated man accused of sending threats?  —  Chad Castagana linked to several right-wing blogs … MSNBC TV  —  Anchor, 'Countdown'  —  Keith Olbermann  —  Anchor, 'Countdown' … OLBERMANN: Federal authorities still expect the preliminary hearing for Chad Conrad Castagana to continue day after tomorrow.

Enter, Pariah: Now It's Hugs for Lieberman  —  Senator Joseph I. Lieberman strode into a Democratic caucus gathering like he owned the place or, at the very least, like someone who is a flight risk and could leave at any minute, taking the Democrats' new majority with him.

McCain Explores 2008....  Sen. John McCain will formally open his 2008 presidential exploratory committee by tomorrow a.m., an adviser said today.  —  The committee has already built a website — http://www.exploremccain.com/ — and it will stream live his speech to GOPAC, a conservative grassroots group with a strong pedigree.