BOXER'S LOW BLOW  —  Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an appalling scold from California, wasted no time yesterday in dragging the debate over Iraq about as low as it can go - attacking Secre tary of State Condoleezza Rice for being a childless woman.  —  Boxer was wholly in character for her party …

EXCLUSIVE: DA in Duke Rape Case Asks to Be Taken off Case  —  After Weeks of Criticism, District Attorney Mike Nifong Asked to Be Recused  —  ABC News Law & Justice Unit  —  District Attorney Mike Nifong has requested that he have himself removed from prosecuting the Duke Lacrosse rape investigation, ABC News has learned.

Clock ticking on Dems' 100-hour agenda  —  WASHINGTON - The clock is ticking for House Democrats, but it's hard to tell what time it is.  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., was touting a plan to push six bills through a Democratic House in 100 hours or less as early as June of last year.

Democrats in Senate Fail to Block Bill on Ethics  —  After campaigning for months on a promise to tighten ethics rules, Senate Democratic leaders tried unsuccessfully Thursday to block a measure that would shine a light on the shadowy practice of earmarking federal money for lawmakers' pet projects.

Unveiled Threats  —  A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights  —  MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way.  Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

CIA Leak Probe: Inside The Grand Jury  —  Late in the morning of July 12, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney stood atop a pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia awaiting the commissioning of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, a ship 20 stories high that took eight years to construct.

The U.S.-Iran-Iraq-Israeli-Syrian War  —  At a not-for-quotation pre-speech briefing on Jan. 10, George W. Bush and his top national security aides unnerved network anchors and other senior news executives with suggestions that a major confrontation with Iran is looming.

Snow: Michelle Malkin Is A Soldier In The 'New Media War' On Biased Iraq Coverage  —  The American public overwhelmingly opposes Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and the White House blames the media.  Yesterday on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Tony Snow vowed to fight a "new media war" to combat the coverage:

Convicted lawmakers to lose pensions  —  WASHINGTON - Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday.  —  The 87- vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers …

HOW IRAQIS SEE W'S NEW PLAN  —  GREAT RELIEF - AND SOME CONCERNS  —  'A SIGH of relief!  So one resident of Haifa Street, in the heart of Baghdad's badlands, reacted to the new plan to secure the Iraqi capital with the help of thousands of additional American troops.

Lam is asked to step down  —  Job performance said to be behind White House firing  —  The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said.

Read more about the CBS News poll '08 Contenders Weigh In  —  Bush, visiting with troops at Fort Benning, Ga., cautioned that the troop increase "is not going to yield immediate results.  It's going to take a while."  —  The president's plan, outlined in a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday …

Carter's book prompts more resignations … ATLANTA (AP) — Fourteen members of an advisory board to Jimmy Carter's human rights organization resigned on Thursday to protest his new book, which has been attacked as unfairly critical of Israel and riddled with inaccuracies.

The Two Vacuums  —  Neither Iraqis nor Democrats seem ready to do what's required of them.  —  I had the odd and wholly unexpected experience of feeling supportive of a troop increase until I saw the president's speech arguing for it.  What a jarring, furtive-seeming thing it was.

The Question of the Day  —  Jim Webb is really one of the most exciting things to happen to our politics recently; the personification of potentially worthy electoral trends who's managed to pull it off not by embracing militarism but by showing that good sense in national security policy …