The Announcement  —  Yesterday, John Edwards spent the day shoveling, flattening, and recreating Orelia Tyler's yard.  Today, outside that same yard, at 8:03 in the morning, he announced for president.  The speech was more casual than most in the announcement genre, at least in my experience.

Last lunch with a legend  —  Speaks candidly about the WMDs and war in Iraq  —  DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF … RANCHO MIRAGE, Cal. - Jerry Ford was a politician of rare amiability, but this day he was hopping mad.  —  "They won't let me go in the pool and swim," …

Declassified State Department Document: Arafat Responsible for Storming of Embassy and Murder of Americans in 1973  —  The State Department has finally admitted (document has just been declassified) that Arafat was behind the 1973 murder of two Americans in Sudan by the Black September terrorist group.

More Right-Wing Blog Fun with Iraq War E-mails  —  If wishes were e-mails, the Iraq war would be won.  And John Kerry would be friendless.  —  Yesterday we learned via the National Review Online that, at least according to year-old spam, ground troops think the United States is winning the war in Iraq.

Iran's Oil Woes  —  A hot topic of late is the terrible condition of Iran's oil infrastructure and the risk of plummeting exports:  —  c. 500 BC … This, of course, will mean different things to different folks.  On the one hand, you have those that will claim the study's findings mean …

Escalating Silence  —  I don't know when Scott Stanzel started working as a White House spokesman, but his rejoinder to Joe Biden's anti-escalation views doesn't make much sense: "I would hope that Senator Biden would wait to hear what the president has to say before announcing what he's opposed to."

CNN On Demand markets sniper video  —  Go to The Return of the Conservatives blog for the story of how TimeWarner Cable's CNN on Demand is marketing the Iraqi sniper video of terrorists targeting American troops.  Notice the category of the video?  "Family."  —  But, you know, don't question their patriotism.

G.O.P. Senator in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech  —  At the close of the Senate's lame-duck session, in between formulaic tributes to senators departing voluntarily or otherwise, a Republican backbencher suddenly rose to give one of the most passionate and surprising speeches about the war in Iraq yet delivered in Congress.

Analysis: Arabian Medicis  —  When King Abd al-Aziz — also known as Ibn Saud — died in 1953, he left 44 sons and uncounted daughters by 17 wives.  He used to break up the monotony of daylong cabinet meetings with intimate interludes selected from a catalogue that contained pictures of over 600 concubines.

Attorney General Receives 400 Complaints Against Nifong  —  RALEIGH — The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has received more than 400 complaints about Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, according to an attorney general's representative.  —  Nifong, who critics …

The New Pocket Casualty Counter From The Associated Press!  —  Are you freakishly obsessed with the daily casualty count in Iraq?  Do you find yourself disappointed when a day or two goes by and no American soldiers die?  Have you ever been at a cocktail party and said …

BUT WILL HE PLAY IN PLANO?  —  Sunday Morning Sullivan: Bob Wright engages a Buddha-like Andrew Sullivan in intense theological discussion.  Then I try to give Bob grief for not taking the obvious shots at him.  Bob takes this rather more seriously than I meant it—and that's always must-see TV! ...

Yeas and Nays: Thursday, Dec. 28  —  WASHINGTON - Jeff DuFour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday.  Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com .  —  How to be an A-list Washingtonian  —  Do you want to be the consummate Washingtonian?

Ruling dropping charges against Rauf suspended  —  ISLAMABAD: A high court in Pakistan on Wednesday suspended a lower court's ruling that dropped terrorism charges against a British suspect in a plot to bomb trans-Atlantic passenger jets out of Britain, according to a lawyer.