Goodling Hints Attorney Firings Came From 'White House Judicial Selection Committee'  —  In her opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee today, Monica Goodling — the Department of Justice's White House liaison — said she had no idea where the idea to fire several U.S. attorneys may have originated.

Just 26% Favor Senate Immigration Plan  —  Initial public reaction to the immigration proposal being debated in the Senate is decidedly negative.  —  A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted Monday and Tuesday night shows that just 26% of American voters favor passage of the legislation.

Large number of Americans favor violent attacks against civilians  —  (updated below)  —  The hysteria over the Pew poll about American Muslims continues unabated, with the focus now on the finding that while 80% of American Muslims oppose attacks on civilians in all cases, 13% said they could be justified in some circumstances.

Edwards: Move Past 'War on Terror'  —  NEW YORK (AP) - Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened terrorists.

DEMOCRATS FIND ETHICS OVERHAUL ELUSIVE IN HOUSE  —  House Democratic leaders pushing a promised lobbying overhaul are facing resistance from balky lawmakers and fending off accusations that a prominent member is flouting new ethics rules.  —  The Democratic leaders were forced to scrap …

Senate Votes to Keep Temporary Worker Program  —  A comprehensive immigration bill survived a significant test on Tuesday as the Senate voted to keep a provision that would let hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers enter the country each year.  —  If the guest worker program …

Bush uses bin Laden info to defend Iraq war … NEW LONDON, Connecticut (CNN) — President Bush used declassified intelligence about Osama bin Laden Wednesday to defend his Iraq war policy.  —  During a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy, the president mentioned declassified intelligence …

New Strategy for War Stresses Iraqi Politics  —  U.S. Aims to Oust Sectarians From Key Roles  —  Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy, laying out military and political goals and endorsing the selective removal …

Giuliani's Abortion Muddle  —  Rudy Giuliani is understandably the Republican front-runner.  And not just because of the fading echoes of Sept. 11, 2001.  Giuliani is a crucial figure in the conservative movement.  —  In the late 1980s and early '90s, many conservatives believed …

Call me Lopez, presidential hopeful says  —  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the heartland of America he is just Gov. Bill Richardson.  But in big Hispanic states like California the Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful tells voters he is also a Lopez.  —  "California has a lot of Hispanic voters …

'I Love Those Guys'  —  Embedded journalists in Iraq are having their minds changed left and right by U.S. soldiers.  —  Operation Iraqi Freedom saw the advent of a practice that revolutionized modern war reporting: the embedding of journalists with frontline combat units in war.

McClatchy's D.C. Bureau Claims It's Barred From Defense Secretary Plane  —  NEW YORK Staffers at McClatchy's Washington, D.C., Bureau — one of the few major news outlets skeptical of intelligence reports during the run-up to the war in Iraq — claims it is now being punished for that coverage.

WOLFOWITZ AND GAL PAL SPLIT UP  —  PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks.  He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.  —  Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package …

Republicans should back immigration compromise  —  The Republican Party would be self-destructive (not for the first time, either) if they did not let the immigration compromise negotiated by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) pass and become law.

Political Memo: Giuliani Above the Fray as McCain and Romney Skirmish  —  The contrast could hardly be more striking.  Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney have been mixing it up on the trail with increasing intensity ever since their feisty exchange at the last Republican debate.

Democrats Pull Troop Deadline From Iraq Bill  —  Congressional Democrats relented Tuesday on their insistence that a war spending measure set a date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq.  Instead, they moved toward a deal with President Bush that would impose new conditions on the Iraqi government.