A Hard Right Punch  —  Michelle Malkin's Conservative Fight Has Others Coming Out Swinging  —  Michelle Malkin has seen her head electronically grafted onto a photo of a bikini-clad body.  —  She had to cancel a Berkeley book signing in the face of 200 shouting protesters.  —  YouTube banned one of her videos.

Bush Regains His Footing  —  It may seem perverse to suggest that, at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback.  But don't be astonished if that is the case.  —  Like President Bill Clinton …

The New Enemy?  —  Bush blames Iran's Quds Force for a spike in anti-American violence in Iraq.  Who are they, and how tight are their ties with Tehran?  —  Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps march in remembrance of the Iran-Iraq War  —  President Bush officially anointed …

White House Is Reported to Be Linked to a Dismissal  —  A United States attorney in Arkansas who was dismissed from his job last year by the Justice Department was ousted after Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, intervened on behalf of the man who replaced him, according to Congressional aides briefed on the matter.

U.S. and Iraqi forces raid leading Shiite mosque in Baghdad  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military spokesman on Thursday hailed a joint American-Iraqi raid on Baghdad's leading Shiite Muslim mosque as proof of that the Baghdad security plan is being applied evenly against all sides of the country's sectarian divide.

NBC sinks too low for this talking head  —  Like some second marriages and most Hollywood sequels, it's usually a bad idea for a columnist to revisit the same topic.  But last week's discussion of renegade blogger and NBC military analyst Bill Arkin proved some larger points.

Broad Swath of GOP Defecting on Iraq Vote  —  Some Backing Resolution Are in Safe Seats  —  From the moderate suburbs of Delaware to the rural, conservative valleys of eastern Tennessee, House Republican opponents of President Bush's latest Iraq war plan cut across the GOP's ideological and regional spectrum.

Iowa Senate passes resolution opposing Iraq surge  —  The Iowa Senate passed a resolution Thursday opposing President Bush's plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq, an action taken as the U.S. Congress considers a similar measure.  —  The resolution, approved on a voice vote …

Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign  —  During my brief tenure as blogmaster for a Democratic presidential contender, I experienced the right-wing smear machine firsthand  —  As one of the thousands, possibly millions, of bloggers out there holding forth on everything from cooking to politics …

Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions  —  COLUMBUS , Ohio - A new report on climate over the world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models.

Rep. Jefferson Gets Seat on Homeland Security  —  Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who's facing an ongoing federal corruption probe, is being granted a spot on the Homeland Security Committee, according to Democratic aides.  —  The appointment will be announced Friday …

Warren "Anti-CopernicaChisum"  —  It's not surprising that the earth doesn't move for Warren Chisum, and maybe it's not surprising that he blames a Jewish conspiracy for it.  —  Still, it's enough to set the world a-spinning that the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee …

January Weather Hottest by Far  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - It may be cold comfort during a frigid February, but last month was by far the hottest January ever.  —  The broken record was fueled by a waning El Nino and a gradually warming world, according to U.S. scientists who reported the data Thursday.

The Banker's Candidate  —  Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has two big jobs.  He is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, and he chairs the Senate Banking Committee.  —  They are proving to be a lucrative combination.  Among Democrats, Dodd's $5 million campaign nest egg …

CONGRESSMAN MURTHA CRAFTS BILL TO PREVENT IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENTS  —  WASHINGTON — A powerful Democrat and Iraq war foe said he intends to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would effectively end President Bush's plans to send 21,500 more troops into Iraq by setting limits on which troops can be sent.

GOP is losing ground in party-affiliation polling  —  Republicans' inherent advantage in Electoral College math might be gone  —  WASHINGTON — Last month I wrote a column suggesting that "the Republican brand" had been damaged over the last year, and I quoted several Republicans who agreed with that proposition.

Cadillac Deval: When not heli-commuting gov rides in style  —  Already facing heat for flying to events in a state police helicopter, Gov. Deval Patrick is now cruising in a pricey, tricked-out Cadillac DeVille at taxpayer expense.  —  The governor's new luxury Cadillac DTS sedan is a lease …

Political Web sites get personal  —  Candidates let backers write blogs, network  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama's newly revamped Web site looks a lot like MySpace and Facebook, and that is no accident.  —  As a presidential candidate offering himself as a generational change agent …