Intelligence Chief Is Shifted to Deputy State Dept. Post  —  John D. Negroponte, whom President Bush installed less than two years ago as the first director of national intelligence, will soon leave his post to become the State Department's second-ranking official, administration officials said Wednesday.

In Padilla Wiretaps, Murky View of 'Jihad' Case  —  In 1997, as the government listened in on their phone call, Adham Hassoun, a computer programmer in Broward County, Fla., proposed a road trip to Jose Padilla, a low-wage worker there.  The excursion to Tampa would be his treat, Mr. Hassoun said …

Ethics Overhaul Tops the Agenda in New Congress  —  On the brink of regaining power after 12 years, House Democrats said Wednesday that they would move immediately to try to sever ties between lawmakers and lobbyists who figured into scandals that helped Democrats win control of Congress.

The Right Minimum Wage  —  A federal minimum wage is an idea whose time came in 1938, when public confidence in markets was at a nadir and the federal government's confidence in itself was at an apogee.  This, in spite of the fact that with 19 percent unemployment and the economy contracting …

A Chance To Change The Game  —  This past Election Day, the American people sent a clear message to Washington: Clean up your act.  —  After a year in which too many scandals revealed the influence special interests wield over Washington, it's no surprise that so many incumbents were defeated …

Rehnquist FBI File Sheds New Light on Drug Dependence, Confirmation Battles  —  The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist's Senate confirmation battles in 1971 and 1986 were more intense and political than previously known, according to a newly released FBI file that also offers dramatic …

Passed Over by Pelosi, Harman Doesn't Get Even.  She Gets Mad.  —  Catfight aftermath: Rep. Jane Harman is still quite irked that House Speaker-designee Nancy Pelosi nixed her for chairman of the House intelligence committee — and she's not exactly being stoic about it.

In Meetings With Allies, Clinton Hones '08 Strategy  —  The topic was the Democratic sweep in New Hampshire in November, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton couldn't get enough of it.  —  Dining in Washington recently with three allies from New Hampshire, which has the first-in-the-nation primary …

W pushes envelope on U.S. spying  —  New postal law lets Bush peek through your mail  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.  —  The President asserted his new authority …

Lieberman Party Now in Hands of Critic  —  HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The party Sen. Joe Lieberman created to mount his independent re-election campaign has been seized by one of his critics, and the secretary of state's office said Wednesday that it won't challenge the takeover.

U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting  —  A laboratory that has tested most of the nation's electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required tests.

Middle-class woes?  A letter to Lou Dobbs.  —  America's trade deficit is evidence of its economic vigor and promise, not a cause for concern.  —  FAIRFAX, VA. - Dear Mr. Dobbs, Congratulations on having a large new bloc of voters bear your name!  Politicians ignore the "Lou Dobbs Democrats" at their peril.

McCain grumbles about having to build "the goddamned fence"  —  Vanity Fair profiles St. John, a man of conscience who strayed from the path by joining the Republican Party.  What doth it profit a man to gain the Oval Office, asks author Todd Purdum, if he should lose his soul to Bush's theocrat war machine?

Iron Man  —  WHY BUSH STILL WON'T CHANGE HIS STRATEGY.  —  In the final paragraph of the New York Times' Jan. 2 story about the impending new Iraq strategy, President George W. Bush is quoted as telling members of the Baker-Hamilton commission that "victory" was still his goal.

RANGEL BOOTS VEEP  —  EVICTS CHENEY FROM CHOICE CAPITOL DIGS  —  Rep. Charles Rangel has evicted Vice President Dick Cheney from his office in the Capitol, and the Harlem heavyweight is moving into the prime digs today, The Post has learned.  —  Gilded letters were freshly painted atop …