Rape Charges Dropped in Duke Case  —  DURHAM, N.C.  —  Prosecutors dropped rape charges Friday against three Duke University lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges.  —  According to court papers filed Friday …

Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism  —  ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of office.  —  Republican Rep. Virgil Goode …

Polls for the Republican Nomination  —  Pollster.com has an interesting summary of the poll standings for the Republican nomination in 2008.  It makes the point, largely overlooked by political writers of all stripes, that Rudy Giuliani has been leading John McCain in the large majority of polls, albeit usually by narrow margins.

SNOWE, LANDRIEU CREATE BIPARTISAN, CONSENSUS-BUILDING GROUP IN SENATE  —  Senators Want to Build on Success of "Gang of 14"  —  Washington D.C. - U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) announced today that they want to build on the success of the "Gang of 14 …

COURT ADOPTS "SEE NO EVIL" APPROACH IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASE; MAJOR CHANGES COULD BE ON THE HORIZON  —  Following up on this post, the 2-1 decision of the federal district court issued today in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC, if upheld by the Supreme Court, could bring us back to the days …

Al Qaeda Sends a Message to Democrats  —  Brian Ross and Hoda Osman Report:  —  Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists.  —  In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man …

Pundits lose grip on reality when dealing with the Internet  —  What is it about the Internet that makes some political pundits, columnists and reporters so goofy?  It seems like almost every time I read a mainstream media story about political Web sites and bloggers, the pieces are full of ill-informed junk.

Media-Sourcing Debate on Deck at Capitol  —  Congress Is Likely to Revisit  —  Calls for Federal Shield Law  —  As Baseball Case Culminates  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is increasingly at odds with some Republicans over its efforts to make journalists reveal confidential sources.

CIA exercise reveals consequences of defeat  —  The CIA this month conducted a simulation of how the Iraq war affects the global jihadist movement, and one conclusion was that a U.S. loss would embolden al Qaeda to expand its ranks of terrorists as well as pick new strategic targets …

Study Suggests Incentives on Oil Barely Help U.S.  —  The United States offers some of the most lucrative incentives in the world to companies that drill for oil in publicly owned coastal waters, but a newly released study suggests that the government is getting very little for its money.

Lovely.  —  According to Network World's Paul McNamara, the communications director for U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), Todd Shriber, hired two 'hackers' to break into the computer of his alma mater, Texas Christian University, and change his college grades.

Where's Rover?  —  One of he things I always wondered about the Rove-as-genius myth was why Bush's adminstration was so lame if Rove was so great.  It's true that Junior was very popular for a while after 9/11, but any president would have been.  He was good at pretending he had won a mandate, but he never actually did it.

America Will Increase Arms, Training for Fatah Security  —  WASHINGTON — To counter Iran's arming of Hamas, America will step up its training and arming of the Palestinian Arab president's personal security services, the American ambassador to Israel said yesterday.

Marines Charge 4 With Murder of Iraq Civilians  —  By PAUL von ZIELBAUER and CAROLYN MARSHALL  —  Four marines were charged yesterday with murder in the killings of two dozen Iraqi civilians, including at least 10 women and children, in the village of Haditha last year, military officials said at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Administration Leans on Persian Gulf Allies to Help Iraq  —  U.S. military officials and diplomats want Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states to recognize Maliki government, send ambassadors to Baghdad and forgive more than $40 billion in Iraqi debt.