Sen. Johnson in Critical Condition After Surgery  —  Control of Chamber Could Be in Question if He Cannot Serve  —  Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) underwent emergency brain surgery overnight after falling ill at the Capitol and was in critical condition early this morning, introducing a note …

Terror Fears as Blind Sheikh Faces 'Medical Emergency'  —  Richard Esposito Reports:  —  The imprisoned al Qaeda spiritual leader known as the "Blind Sheikh" suffered a "medical emergency" at the Springfield federal prison last week, and the FBI is warning his death could lead al Qaeda …

Iraq needs a Pinochet  —  The general was no saint, but he's a better model to follow than Castro.  —  I THINK ALL intelligent, patriotic and informed people can agree: It would be great if the U.S. could find an Iraqi Augusto Pinochet.  In fact, an Iraqi Pinochet would be even better than an Iraqi Castro.

Looking for Jamil Hussein: Accepting Eason Jordan's invitation  —  My new travel partner?  —  Eason Jordan reports on his new website, Iraqslogger, that his team is in Baghdad looking for Jamil Hussein.  They have not found him yet—which is newsworthy in itself—and get this …

War-Weary Public Wants Congress to Lead  —  Poll Shows Desire for Lawmakers to Set Policy  —  Amid Growing Dismay Over Iraq, President Bush  —  WASHINGTON — Falling public support for the war in Iraq has weakened President Bush's political hand across the board, bolstering the clout …

Press Briefing by Tony Snow  —  White House Conference Center Briefing Room  —  MR. SNOW: All right, welcome.  Let me run through the President's schedule for today.  Normal briefings.  He had a meeting with the President of Benin a while ago; also remarks at the White House Summit on Malaria.

Edwards leads in poll of likely caucusgoers  —  Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is in fourth place; Sen. Hillary Clinton is second.  —  Washington, D.C. - John Edwards came out far ahead of the rest of the pack of possible Democratic presidential candidates in a poll of Iowa Democrats conducted …

Jeralyn Merrit: Homeland Security's immigration raids ran amok  —  WASHINGTON - Tuesday's immmigration raids made me recoil in horror.  —  A thousand federal agents swooped down on six meat-packing plants across the country and detained more than 1,200 people.

Bakker, Brown: What the hell happened to Christianity?  —  Editor's note: Jay Bakker, son of former Praise The Lord leaders Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner, is minister of Revolution Church and subject of a new documentary series, "One Punk Under God," on Sundance Channel.  Marc Brown is a Revolution staff member.

Romney Recants  —  Everything he said in the 1990s is now to be dismissed.  He was once for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; now he's against it.  He was once for domestic partnerships for gays; now he's against them.  He was once for ending the ban on gays in the military; now he's for keeping it.

N.J. legislature approves civil unions  —  TRENTON, N.J. - Under pressure from New Jersey's highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, the Legislature voted Thursday to make New Jersey the third state to allow civil unions.  —  Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign …

Blogging 'set to peak next year'  —  The blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007, according to technology predictions by analysts Gartner.  —  The analysts said that during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million.

Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine  —  At first, the innovation sounds simple enough: Representative-elect Kirsten Gillibrand has decided to post details of her work calendar on the Internet at the end of each day so constituents can tell what she is actually doing for their money.

A message from the DU admins: Please stop posting baseless conspiracy stuff about Senator Johnson.  —  Skinner ADMIN (1000+ posts)  —  A message from the DU admins: Please stop posting baseless conspiracy stuff about Senator Johnson.  —  I have instructed the mods to lock or delete …

Oppo Knocks?  —  Anybody who watched the Virginia Senate race this year knows that Senator-elect Jim Webb ran a savvy Internet campaign.  He hired bloggers, leveraged YouTube, played bloggers and the press off each other and off soon-to-be former Sen. George Allen.

John McCain's War On Blogs?  —  Amanda Terkel has a scary post detailing what she terms "John McCain's War On Blogs." … That certainly sounds intrusive and unnecessary.  —  Looking into the matter-using links Amanda provided-I'm a bit puzzled.  The legislation is entitled …

Chalabi Emerges In Damascus On Peace Quest  —  WASHINGTON — A little-noticed visit by Ahmad Chalabi to Syria is igniting speculation that the former Iraqi exile leader is emerging as a key channel between Damascus and Washington.  —  After a weekend meeting with the Syrian foreign minister …

Neocons Want a Mulligan on Iraq  —  And, it appears, President Bush may give it to them.  The LA Times reports: … This strategy faces a few obstacles, though.  First: … Indeed.  This echoes this recent USA Today/Gallup poll which revealed that 57% of Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq within one year.