DAMASCENE COMEDY  —  Bush, today: … Haaretz: … So let me get this straight.  Bush remonstrates dastardly Nancy for her passage through Damascus, at the very time the Israelis are reportedly using her to pass a message to Bashar Assad to help avoid a possible conflagration with the Syrians.

Students Pelt Karl Rove In Protest  —  WASHINGTON — White House Advisor Karl Rove was the target of a protest on the American University campus Tuesday night, NBC 4 reported.  —  Rove was on the campus to talk to the College Republicans, but when he got outside more than a dozen students …

Chastened McCain Relaunches Campaign  —  Amid growing internal concern about poor fundraising and the direction of his presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain's top advisers bluntly told backers on Tuesday of plans to overhaul the campaign and delay its formal announcement until after a major speech on Iraq.

McCain Denies Secret Overture to Kerry  —  Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has riled both parties by charging that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) approached him about joining the Democratic presidential ticket in 2004.  —  Now, the assertion has drawn a detailed rebuttal by top McCain aides …

Mormon Base a Mixed Blessing for Romney  —  It is the rare presidential candidate who comes to Idaho to raise money, but there was Mitt Romney last month, packing more than 100 people, at up to $2,300 a head, into the Crystal Ballroom in Boise.  —  "Nearly every seat was filled.

No more GWOT, House committee decrees  —  The House Armed Services Committee is banishing the global war on terror from the 2008 defense budget.  —  This is not because the war has been won, lost or even called off, but because the committee's Democratic leadership doesn't like the phrase.

ABC News Exclusive: The Secret War Against Iran  —  Brian Ross and Christopher Isham Report:  —  A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

Internal Combustion  —  Can you hear all the heads exploding on the right this evening?  How hard it must be for them to reconcile their knee-jerk assumptions in a world more complicated than their little games of Risk and super-hero comics prepared them for.

This Cat's old hat  —  Unless you live in Whoville, which is tucked in the mountains and doesn't get much news, you know that Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is a best-selling classic.  2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the book's publication.  By now, it's an icon as much as a funny story and one of the most-loved titles of all time.

Rudy Won't Commit To Playing In Ames Straw Poll  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, IA, — Making his campaign debut in this first-in-the-nation state, Rudy Giuliani sounded a note of uncertainty when he was asked about his plans for the important Ames Straw Poll.  —  "We'll have to take a look at that," …

Bush Blames Democrats for Impasse Over Iraq Bills  —  The political brinkmanship over Iraq war spending intensified Tuesday, as President Bush said Congressional Democrats had "undercut the troops" by passing legislation that ties continued war financing to mandated timelines for the withdrawal of American combat units.