Reading Hillary Rodham's hidden thesis  —  Clinton White House asked Wellesley College to close off access  —  Hillary Rodham, in a 1965 freshman photo when she was president of Wellesley College's Young Republicans, with the cover page of her senior thesis from 1969 on radical organizer Saul D. Alinsky.

Gilmore to reveal 'false' conservatives  —  Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III will become the first Republican presidential contender to say publicly that the three top-ranked party candidates are phony conservatives.  —  Unlike the Democratic competition for the presidential nomination next year …

Sources: GOP lawmakers tried to influence federal investigation  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico pressured the U.S. attorney in their state to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state senator …

A new twist to an intriguing family history … WASHINGTON // Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.  —  But an intriguing sliver of his family history has received almost no attention until now …

Poll: The Politics Of Health Care  —  Most Americans Favor Universal Health Care, Give Democrats Edge On Improving System  —  (CBS) Americans think the U.S. health care system is in need of major repairs, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll.  —  Nine out of 10 say the system needs …

Pressed by U.S., Pakistan Seizes a Taliban Chief  —  The former Taliban defense minister was arrested in Pakistan on Monday, the day of Vice President Dick Cheney's visit, two government officials said Thursday.  He is the most important Taliban member to be captured since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Plame film in works at Warner Bros.  —  Studio sets movie about CIA leak scandal  —  Warner Bros. is developing a feature on the lives of Valerie Plame and Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the married couple drawn into a D.C. firestorm.  —  Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed …

CPAC-apalooza  —  ***update 942am***  —  Newt Gingrich landed at Blogger Row.  He chatted with Hot Air TV for 10 minutes.  We'll have the interview up later.  I asked whether bloggers would have seats at Gingrich White House press briefings.  Gingrich says he contacted Tony Snow …

Not 'a Good-News Story'  —  YESTERDAY THE Post reported that Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley heard years ago from a veterans advocate and even a member of Congress that outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was distressingly squalid and disorganized.  That commander proceeded to do little …

Music Of the Spheres  —  You might not have noticed, but we broke another U.S. space record last month when astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria logged his 67th hour of spacewalking.  If you consider that the equivalent of the Guinness record for pogo-stick bouncing (23.11 miles in 12 hours and 27 minutes) …

Oh George, what will we do when you're gone?  —  Our columnist on an easy target for America-bashers  —  Somewhere, deep down, tucked away underneath their loathing for George Bush, in a secret place where the lights of smart dinner-party conversation and clever debating-society repartee never shine …

Vilsack says early polls didn't show his strength  —  The former Iowa governor says it was his inability to raise money that forced him from the presidential race.  —  Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack criticized public opinion polls Friday and said his presidential campaign was running stronger …

Rice Names Critic Of Iraq Policy to Counselor's Post  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has tapped Eliot A. Cohen, a prominent writer on national security strategy and an outspoken critic of the administration's postwar occupation of Iraq, as her counselor, State Department officials said yesterday.