Taking One for the Team, When He Could Remember  —  Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was in his fourth hour testifying yesterday about the firing of federal prosecutors when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy cut him off.

Testimony by Giuliani Indicates He Was Briefed on Kerik in '00  —  Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik's relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik's appointment …

Report Faults Interior Appointee  —  Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, IG Says  —  A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information …

Observations about John Harris' replies  —  The Politico's Editor-in-Chief, John Harris, has responded via e-mail to the posts I wrote earlier this week, as well as to questions I sent to Poliico reporter Mike Allen about the Politico/Drudge relationship (posted in the first link).

Which Is 'The Real War'?  —  "Our bill calls for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq so that we can focus more fully on the real war on terror, which is in Afghanistan."  —  The Senate and the House have both passed bills for ending the Iraq war, or at least liquidating the American involvement in it.

Gunmen Go On Rampage In Iraqi City  —  Killings Are Revenge For Blasts in Tall Afar  —  A day after twin truck bombings laid waste to predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar, marauding Shiite gunmen and police executed dozens of Sunnis in retaliatory attacks …

Presidential Candidates Focus on Fund-Raising  —  Forget campaigning.  Last week, Rudolph W. Giuliani held a presidential fund-raiser every day of the week.  Senator John McCain raised money at three events on Wednesday and another Thursday, racking up 27 this month alone.

Video: Rosie melts down on "The View"  —  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the video against which all future Rosie clips will be compared.  Never has so much useful idiocy about so many subjects been compressed into so little time.  —  It's her finest hour.

Grass Roots Planted In Cyberspace  —  John Edwards's Campaign Leads the Field In Political Use of Social Networking Sites  —  If there's a social networking site that John Edwards is not a part of, we'd like to know what it is, pronto.  —  No one's sure exactly what role these sites …

Arabs Call on Israel To Take Peace Offer  —  Arab leaders on Thursday reiterated their offer to normalize ties with Israel and showed signs of flexibility in their terms for peace.  —  At a news conference at the end of a summit where the Arab leaders' peace plan was the main issue on the agenda …

Fox's Ann Coulter 2.0  —  Conserva-babe and star-in-the-making Rachel Marsden has a, um, colorful past.  What was Fox thinking?  —  "Maybe [Pakistani cricket fans] should focus less on cricket and a little more on hygiene," opined Rachel Marsden on a recent episode of Fox News' middle-of-the-night talk oddity "Red Eye."

Senate Sets Stage For Iraq Face-Off  —  Faced with his second rebuke in a week from congressional Democrats on Iraq policy, President Bush yesterday summoned Republican allies to his side in an effort to shift momentum in the escalating battle over the course of the war.