Turkish officials say troops enter Iraq  —  ANKARA, Turkey - Hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq on Wednesday pursuing Kurdish guerrillas who stage attacks on Turkey from hideouts there, Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurd official said.

Murdoch, Ailes, Weymouth Pump Bloomberg At Breindel Awards  —  "I'm sworn to secrecy," Rupert Murdoch told The Observer as he was leaving the New-York Historical Society's auditorium last night.  But: "We're making progress," the News Corp. chief added.  —  Mr. Murdoch hosted …

Giuliani will skip August straw poll  —  New Yorker plans "non-traditional" caucus run  —  Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani plans to skip the Ames straw poll in August, but compete to win the leadoff Iowa caucuses, a gamble by the former New York Mayor on a "non-traditional" caucus campaign and a first for Iowa.

NULL SET....I tuned in too late to hear Mitt Romney's "null set" answer last night, but apparently his algebraic illiteracy is nothing compared to his ignorance of actual events from four years ago.  Here's his answer to a question about whether it was a mistake to invade Iraq: … WTF?

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban  —  Brian Ross and Christopher Isham Report:  —  NATO officials say they have caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces, in what the officials …

GOP Lawmakers Demand Probe of ABC News Story  —  Justin Rood Reports:  —  A group of House Republicans are calling for an investigation into "the release of sensitive information" in a recent ABC News report on CIA covert activities against Iran.  —  In a carefully worded request …

A Favor For Sen. Leahy...  Sen. Pat Leahy needs you to make a few phone calls today on behalf of your Constitution. … If you have a few minutes to spare, it would be much appreciated of you could make a few phone calls to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — and also to your own Senators.

Support for Senate Immigration Bill Falls, 49% Prefer No Bill At All  —  Public support for the Senate immigration reform bill has slipped a bit over the past week.  A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Monday and Tuesday night found that just 23% of voters now support the bill while 50% are opposed.

Tancredo to change direction of his campaign  —  Rep. Tom Tancredo plans to change direction in his long-shot presidential campaign so he can pressure fellow Republicans into rejecting an immigration reform plan he considers "amnesty."  —  Before a debate tonight on CNN, Tancredo, R-Littleton …

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Can He Unleash the Force?  —  Like all young superheroes, Barack Obama has to learn to harness his powers.

Crushes  —  I honestly don't know what to make of all these men in the political establishment who insist on using their mancrushes as some sort of guideline for who is and is not "presidential."  Honestly, even Kathryn Jean Lopez's famous drooling over Mitt Romney isn't as embarrassing.

Rudy: No on Medical Marijuana  —  Just finished my reporting trip with a Rudy Giuliani town hall in New Castle, New Hampshire, a tiny island luxuryville a few miles from Portsmouth.  Don Murphy from Republicans for Compassionate Access, the pro-medical marijuana group, got to ask Rudy …

An Independent Newspaper  —  The Bancrofts and a century of "free people and free markets." … So wrote William Peter Hamilton, one of the first men to hold the job of editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, in the early decades of the last century.

Thompson Raises $220K Online in 18 Hours  —  Sources close to the Thompson campaign have passed along the following first-day results for ImWithFred.com: … We'll see what traffic measuring services like Alexa say in a day or so, but this has to be considered a powerful shot across the bow.

Iraq's leader can't get out of 1st gear  —  BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and Tariq Hashimi, the country's Sunni vice president, faced each other across the room as the latter spoke angrily of the bad blood between Sunni and Shiite officials.  —  A hush fell over the room …

I'M WITH FRED — AND NEW MEDIA STRATEGIES  —  It's been six months since I last posted here at QandO to announce that I'd taken a position as New Media Advisor to the Senate Republicans.  I believe we accomplished a great deal over the past six months and gave the Senate Republicans …