Ex-Gonzales Aide Testifies She 'Crossed the Line'  —  The Justice Department's former liaison to the White House testified before Congress today that she improperly weighed political factors in considering applicants for career positions in the department, and she said she was sorry.

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.

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.

Freshmen fail first ethics test  —  Despite last week's media blitz promoting tougher ethics enforcement, a group of freshmen Congressmen failed their first practical test Tuesday night, when they refused to reprimand one of their colleagues for an apparent ethics violation.

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 …

Mary Cheney Gives Birth to Baby Boy  —  Mary Cheney gave birth today to perhaps the most anticipated baby in contemporary U.S. politics — her first child, Samuel David Cheney, whom she will raise with her longtime partner Heather Poe.  —  The 8-pound, 6-ounce boy is the sixth grandchild for Dick Cheney.

Michigan man dodges prison in theft of Wi-Fi  —  A Michigan man who used a coffee shop's unsecured Wi-Fi to check his e-mail from his car could have faced up to five years in prison, according to local TV station WOOD.  But it seems few in the village of Sparta, Mich., were aware that using …

Goodling Admits to Breaking Law with Political Hiring  —  Both in her opening statement and in further testimony, Goodling admitted to weeding out candidates for assistant U.S. attorney positions because they were not Republicans.  —  Under questioning from Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) …

GOP Candidates Criticize ABC News Report on CIA-Iran Plan  —  From The Blotter:  —  Two Republican presidential candidates today criticized the ABC News report Tuesday about the CIA's covert plan to destabilize the Iranian regime.  —  "I was shocked to see the ABC News report regarding covert action …

Center of Attention … Central Sanity crossed the 500-posts milestone.  "Here's a look back at the 25 most popular, based on percentage of hits among the last 4,000 visits."  —  Bob McCarty quotes Winston Churchill on Islam / Muslims.  —  It ain't nice.  —  Libby writes at The Impolitic that the "Leaker-in-Chief" is back.

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.

'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.

Clinton Staff Memo Urges Shunning Iowa  —  A senior official in the campaign for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote an internal memorandum to the campaign advising Mrs. Clinton not to participate in the Iowa caucuses, arguing that she probably could not win them and that she would be better off spending …