Strike Two  —  For Barack Obama, it was strike two.  And this one was a right-down-the-middle question from a YouTuber in Monday night's South Carolina debate: "Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else …

Wiretap Debacle  —  How politics has gutted the terrorist surveillance program.  —  The U.S. homeland hasn't been struck by terrorists since September 11, and one reason may be more aggressive intelligence policies.  So Americans should be alarmed that one of the best intelligence tools …

YOUTUBE, TAKE TWO Few GOP Candidates Commit to Debate  —  McCain Adviser Trims Advertising Strategy  —  YOUTUBE, TAKE TWO Few GOP Candidates Commit to Debate  —  Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C., more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field …

Hazleton, Pa.  —  A federal judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU against Hazleton, Pa., saying that the city's immigration-control ordinances are "unconstitutional," whatever that's supposed to mean this week.  My research director was called as a witness by attorneys for the city …

Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist  —  The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.

Today's Must Read  —  Was Pat Tillman murdered?  —  Stunning as it is to contemplate, the Associated Press obtained Pentagon documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing that investigators looked into whether the athlete-turned-soldier might have been deliberately killed in 2004 …

Novak Tome Could Have Been 'Bible Length'  —  Columnist Robert Novak said Thursday morning that the draft manuscript of his recently released autobiography, "Bob Novak and the Deathly Hallows" ... er, sorry, "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington" (can't get Harry Potter out of our heads), ran to about 1,400 pages.

The Kind Of Village It Takes  —  Recent books and studies seem to indicate disturbing sexual trends among evangelical Christians.  And this time we're not talking about their pastors or political leaders.  The new attention is on evangelical teenagers, who reportedly start sex earlier than their mainline Protestant peers.

Another Thompson resignation  —  Another aide to Fred Thompson's campaign-in-waiting resigned last night, two sources close to the campaign confirm.  Tom Frechette had been effectively serving as campaign manager Tom Collamore's deputy.  Collamore was removed from his post Tuesday and given a "senior adviser" role.

Freed man still in limbo … Mark O'Hara clutches his only belongings, his legal papers, as he uses a borrowed cell phone Wednesday in an attempt to get a ride home to Dunedin from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa.  —  Times]  —  TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday …

Lawyers sap our will to combat terrorism  —  We lack the toughness of our European neighbours  —  Many jihadis seek to create a global caliphate, ruled by Sharia.  At best, Christians, Hindus, and Jews would live in a state of submission tantamount to second-class citizenship.

U.S. drops Baghdad electricity reports  —  The daily length of time that residents have power has dropped.  The figure is considered a key indicator of quality of life.  —  WASHINGTON — washington — As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working …

Is the War Lost?  Three Inconvenient Truths About Iraq Right Now  —  Democratic Party opponents of the Iraq War are now deeply invested in a withdrawal strategy.  They argue, as Harry Reid has phrased it, that the war is lost.  But there are three inconvenient truths...

Violence won't work: how author of 'jihadists' bible' stirred up a storm  —  Revisionist message from prison cell shakes al-Qaida colleagues  —  Ian Black Cairo  —  The assassination of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 by Islamic militants, a key moment in the development of jihadist groups.

FOX PRODUCER JOINS TEAM FRED  —  From NBC's Mike Viqueira  —  The word spreading all over Capitol Hill today is that longtime Fox senior congressional producer Jim Mills is leaving his booth on the House side to join the Fred Thompson quasi-campaign as spokesman.