In Aiding Poor, Edwards Built Bridge to 2008  —  John Edwards ended 2004 with a problem: how to keep alive his public profile without the benefit of a presidential campaign that could finance his travels and pay for his political staff.  —  Mr. Edwards, who reported this year that he had assets …

Cheney Defiant on Classified Material  —  Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released …

Why Pro-Choice Is a Bad Choice for Democrats  —  I KEEP reading about a universe in which social conservatives are warming to Rudy Giuliani.  But this would have to be a place where his estranged children and three wives and multiple appearances in fishnets were irrelevant to the Republican base.

Inhofe: Clinton, Boxer Want to Squash Conservative Radio Talk Shows  —  Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer have big plans to rein in conservative radio talk shows, according to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.  —  He said Thursday on John Ziegler's evening radio show on KFI in L.A. that he overheard Clinton …

Guantanamo Splits Administration  —  Arguments Center on How to Handle Remaining Detainees  —  Senior Bush administration officials are engaged in active discussions about closing the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but deep divisions remain regarding the fate …

The Hillary Dilemma  —  Despite the breathless media reports about every jot and tittle of the Democratic contest for President, not all that much has changed in the last year.  Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has consistently been the frontrunner in national surveys, sometimes by narrow spreads and frequently by sizeable margins.

Domenici called McNulty directly on Iglesias  —  Sen. Pete Domenici's (R-N.M.) efforts to oust David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney in New Mexico, were once again raised in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday when Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified that Domenici had called him directly last October on Iglesias.

Senate Adopts an Energy Bill Raising Mileage for Cars  —  The Senate passed a broad energy bill late Thursday that would, among other things, require the first big increase in fuel mileage requirements for passenger cars in more than two decades.  —  The vote, 65 to 27 …

Research Finds Firstborns Gain the Higher I.Q.  —  The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.'s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

Border bill backers seek boost in enforcement provisions  —  Senate negotiators of a compromise immigration bill are writing a catchall amendment, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to bolster enforcement provisions of the bill, including a more robust "touchback" requirement for illegal immigrants.

Will Rudy's Get-Tough Image Backfire?  —  How many alleged criminals can a law-and-order candidate be associated with before it starts to hurt?  That's the question facing former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, following the indictment Tuesday of Thomas Ravenel, his volunteer campaign chairman in South Carolina.

Romney aide is the focus of probe  —  Allegedly acted as State Police trooper  —  State Police are investigating one of Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving …

Gore's 2000 team stays on sidelines  —  Most members of Al Gore's inner political circle have not yet signed up with any presidential campaign, triggering speculation that the 2000 Democratic nominee will jump into the race for the White House later this year.

A Bad Week for the Good Guys  —  Hamas, Fatah, and the new Palestinian reality.  —  THE PAST WEEK has been a good one for terrorists.  The birth of the world's first truly terrorist state in Gaza was quickly followed by a Western response that, if sustained, all but guarantees that terror state's survival.

Arrowhead Ripper: Surrender or Die  —  Battle for Baqubah  —  22 June 07  —  First a quick media round-up.  (This is not all inclusive.)  —  Alexandra Zavis from Los Angeles Times is down in the heat of the battle bringing home information.  Michael Gordon from New York Times is still slugging it out …

CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry  —  Assassination Attempts Among Abuses Detailed  —  The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses — the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century …