Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces  —  A department of the Iraqi prime minister's office is playing a leading role in the arrest and removal of senior Iraqi army and national police officers, some of whom had apparently worked too aggressively to combat violent Shiite militias …

Clinton's PowerPointer  —  With Data and Slides, a Pollster Guides Campaign Strategy  —  It was fairly simple, Mark J. Penn said calmly to Vice President Al Gore, reporting the findings of an exhaustive survey he had conducted in the early stages of the 2000 presidential campaign.

Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China  —  As American food safety regulators head to China to investigate how a chemical made from coal found its way into pet food that killed dogs and cats in the United States, workers in this heavily polluted northern city openly admit that the substance …

Quiet Bush Aide Seeks Iraq Czar, Creating a Stir  —  Stephen J. Hadley would be the first to tell you he does not have star power.  But Mr. Hadley, the bespectacled, gray-haired, exceedingly precise Washington lawyer who is President Bush's national security adviser, is in the market for someone who does …

Inside the struggle for Iran  —  A grand coalition of anti-government forces is planning a second Iranian revolution via the ballot box to deny President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term in office and break the grip of what they call the "militia state" on public life and personal freedom.

Companies Shift More Donations To Democrats  —  House Leaders' Coffers  —  Swell as Balance Swings  —  Against Republicans  —  WASHINGTON — For the new Democratic bosses in the House, power has quickly translated into money, as many big companies have shifted more of their campaign contributions …

A Saudi Prince Tied to Bush Is Sounding Off-Key  —  No foreign diplomat has been closer or had more access to President Bush, his family and his administration than the magnetic and fabulously wealthy Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.  —  Prince Bandar has mentored Mr. Bush …

Hollywood Girls Gone Wild  —  In which Laurie David and Sheryl Crow harangue Karl Rove.  —  The showdown at the White House Correspondents' dinner was more emotional and lasted longer than was first reported.  It started when Laurie David introduced herself to Karl Rove.

Excerpt: Tenet Strikes Back  —  From George Tenet's new book At the Center of the Storm  —  I first flew into Iraq just about the time Jerry Bremer took over as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, during the third week of May 2003.  I took a helicopter ride with Jerry right over Baghdad.

SANDMONKEY SPEAKS!  TO ATLAS  —  I met with Sandmonkey (at an undisclosed location) and commiserated.  He is as charming and clever as you might expect from the "writer of an extremely cynical, snarky, pro-US, secular, libertarian, disgruntled sandmonkey."  Fabulous.

Watergate reporter demolishes Hillary's career story  —  Drawing on a trove of private papers from Hillary Clinton's best friend, the legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein is to publish a hard-hitting and intimate portrait of the 2008 presidential candidate, which will reveal a number of "discrepancies" in her official story.

Anti-government rally fills central Istanbul  —  An excited and angry crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands painted central Istanbul's Çaðlayan Square in red with Turkish flags yesterday, joining in song, slogans and speeches to "protect the Republic" they charged is under threat.

When Talk Isn't Cheap  —  Campaign finance regulators say speech isn't free—it's a form of "contribution."  —  Campaign finance laws are increasingly becoming a tool to suppress political speech, and the courts are finally waking up to the danger.  Last week a unanimous Washington state …

McCain frets over treatment from press, faces campaign funding woes  —  Sen. John McCain, who was the darling of the political press corps during the 2000 election cycle, complains to friends that he is getting much rougher treatment from the news media than his competitors …

The Story Behind the Story, the Continuing Series  —  Atrios writes about media inconsistency regarding who is and isn't fair game when it comes to reporting on the private lives of public figures.  —  Years ago, Christopher Hitchens wrote that he went into journalism because he didn't want to have to rely …

Paging Dr. Rosie: Did Schwarzenegger Demolish Bay Bridge Interchange?  —  A gasoline tanker caught fire underneath an offramp from the San Francisco Bay Bridge this morning, causing a 250-foot section of the overpass to collapse.  That's what they want you to believe, anyway.