Ahmadinejad in electoral setback  —  The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of Iran faced electoral embarrassment today after the apparent failure of his supporters to win control of key local councils and block the political comeback of his most powerful opponent.

Is America Ready?  —  Hillary's hair and hemline won't be issues; her tough national-security approach and famous husband will.  —  It felt like the twilight zone in New Hampshire.  The calendar still read 2006, but everything about the surging crowd of 1,500 pumped-up Democrats and 160 ravenous political reporters screamed 2008.

The March to Mecca  —  HELLO EVERYONE.  I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been very busy working on my book and television and web projects.  However, after receiving this press release from the Huffington Post, I had no choice but to return.

Press Briefing by Tony Snow  —  White House Conference Center Briefing Room  —  MR. SNOW: Hello, welcome.  I'm ready for questions.  —  Q Now that you've had a chance to hear more about the NSC meeting today, is there anything you can share with us?  —  MR. SNOW: It's just a situational briefing.

Beam Me Up, Mr. (Ex-) Speaker!  —  Say what you will about Newt Gingrich, but he has that rare political gift: he sounds captivating and forceful even while talking complete dreck.  I witnessed that up close a couple of years ago when I crashed a meeting of conservative activists …

Blood and Money  —  In what might be called the mother of all surprises, Iraq's economy is growing strong, even booming in places.  —  Newsweek International  —  It may sound unreal, given the daily images of carnage and chaos.  But for a certain plucky breed of businessmen, there's good money to be made in Iraq.

Talk in Class Turns to God, Setting Off Public Debate on Rights  —  KEARNY, N.J. — Before David Paszkiewicz got to teach his accelerated 11th-grade history class about the United States Constitution this fall, he was accused of violating it.  —  Shortly after school began in September …

TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR 17-YEAR-OLD WHO HAD CONSENSUAL ORAL SEX WITH 15-YEAR-OLD: The Georgia Supreme Court just upheld this.  The sentence strikes me as unduly harsh even on its own terms, but it seems especially unjustifiable given that:  —  The age of consent in Georgia is 16.

Judith Regan's Attorney Vows 'War' As Sparks Fly Over Publisher's Firing  —  Even though Judith Regan made a book publishing mistake of epic proportions when she commissioned O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It," few in the book industry thought she would lose her job over the incident.

Pot is called biggest cash crop  —  The $35-billion market value of U.S.-grown cannabis tops that of such heartland staples as corn and hay, a marijuana activist says.  —  SACRAMENTO — For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop.

A War That Abhors a Vacuum  —  THE niceties are up for debate: phased or partial withdrawal from Iraq would entail pulling troops back to their bases across the country, or leapfrogging backward to the nearest international border, or redeploying to bases in nearby countries.

After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America  —  In its search for a new chief executive this past summer, Air America Radio interviewed seasoned media executives in an effort to revive the faltering network.  One interview took a bizarre turn, however, when the executive got …

These Are Not The Droids You Are Looking For...  [Update: Malkin is retracting her post..murkier and murkier]  —  OK, folks, this is what open source is about - you put things out there and the rest of the world improves on them - so here it goes.  I think we discovered something, but it turns out probably not to have been useful.

The Republican Identity Crisis  —  It was a year of turmoil, of ferment and of hope, as the Iraq war dragged on, the Democrats seized Capitol Hill and the 2008 presidential race began in earnest.  NEWSWEEK's columnists look back—and peer forward at where the country is heading.

MSNBC's Olbermann Seeks Big Raise  —  Olbermann and MSNBC are knocking heads over a new contract.  The controversial host of Countdown With Keith Olbermann is said to be seeking "north of $4 million" a year, according to an industry source, to re-up on his pact that comes due in April.

The Regathering Storm  —  Along the ungoverned border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Al Qaeda is training would-be jihadists from the West to attack their home countries.  —  For the past year, a secret has been slowly spreading among Taliban commanders in Afghanistan: a 12-man team of Westerners …