Gonzales Said To Stonewall a GOP Query  —  Probe of Leaks Are at Center of Inquiries From the Right  —  The top Republican on the House's main investigative committee, Rep. Thomas Davis of Virginia, is charging the Justice Department with stonewalling his inquiries about the FBI's assertion …

Do we really need a Gen. Pelosi?  —  Congress can cut funding for Iraq, but it shouldn't micromanage the war.  —  AFTER WEEKS OF internal strife, House Democrats have brought forth their proposal for forcing President Bush to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by 2008.

A Balance for Labor  —  THE HOUSE has passed organized labor's top legislative priority, a measure that would make it far easier for unions to organize: They could get a majority of workers to sign cards rather than having to win a contested election.  The proposal's prospects of getting past …

Early Primary Rush Upends '08 Campaign Plans  —  The trickle of states moving their 2008 presidential primaries to Feb. 5 has turned into an avalanche, forcing all the presidential campaigns to reconsider every aspect of their nominating strategy — where to compete, how to spend money …

Hagel hasn't tipped his '08 hand  —  A tight-lipped Sen. Chuck Hagel arrived in Omaha from Washington on Sunday afternoon and prepared to make what could be the biggest political announcement of his life.  —  Some Nebraska Republicans speculated that Hagel appeared ready to jump …

Businesses Prepare to Mount a Concerted Attack on Regulation  —  Call it the end of the post-Enron era.  —  A major anti-regulatory offensive culminates this week with a one-two punch thrown by Washington and Wall Street's most moneyed institutions, as the Treasury Department convenes …

Fallback strategy for Iraq: Train locals, draw down forces  —  If the current 'surge' fails, planners suggest relying on advisors as the U.S. did in El Salvador in the 1980s.  —  WASHINGTON — American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes …

Cancelled Presidential debates smack of manipulation by 'run and hide' candidates  —  AUSTIN (TX) — The cancellation in the past two days of two planned nationally televised debates because of candidates' "scheduling conflicts" and unwillingness to participate smacks of …

Berger & Libby: A Tale of Two Crimes  —  "History will be kind to me," Winston Churchill once said, "for I intend to write it."  —  Indeed, he did.  His multiple-volume histories of the two world wars are still widely read, though discounted by professional historians as incomplete and in some ways misleading.

France's Chirac bows out, and the race is on  —  Long a fixture in French politics, he confirms he won't seek a third term as president.  A close contest to succeed him is anticipated.  —  PARIS — Setting the stage for a suspenseful presidential race, French President Jacques Chirac announced Sunday …

Conservatives balk over Giuliani's judges  —  His picks as New York mayor raise doubts over whether he'd put 'strict constructionists' on the high court.  —  WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, in an effort to temper his support for abortion rights and his other socially liberal stances …

CAIR OK'd to meet in Capitol  —  A House Democrat has arranged for a conference room in the Capitol building to be used tomorrow by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group criticized for its persistent refusal to disavow terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

March Madness  —  Public-sector lobbyists lavish gifts on congressmen and their staffers.  The scandal is it's perfectly legal.  —  Capitol Hill is in the grips of "March Madness"—and I don't mean the NCAA basketball playoffs.  "This is also the month that hundreds of lobbyists annually …

Self-proclaimed hustler Eddie Izzard wants to serve dinner, not dessert  —  Eddie Izzard was in his 30s before he became famous as a comedian, but he wanted to be a dramatic actor way back when he was a 12-year-old schoolboy in the U.K.  —  "They did Shakespeare's 'Caesar,' " Izzard, 45, says.

Congressman Holds No God-Belief  —  Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is first Congress member in history to acknowledge his nontheism  —  Contact: Lori Lipman Brown, (202) 299-1091  —  There is only one member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief.

Obama, Clinton Sparring Early  —  CLINTON, Iowa — Standing in front of a large banner that blared "Clinton," surrounded by students in Clinton Community College sweat shirts, Sen. Barack Obama offhandedly mentioned the obvious.  —  "Hillary, you know, she's interesting," Obama said …

The Paradox of Libertarianism  —  Yes: Bigger government.  —  But no, that isn't as bad as it might sound to many Cato readers.  —  I see a few major policy achievements in a libertarian direction.  In the United States inflation has come down from unacceptable levels in the 1970s to an eminently livable situation.