Bush: Lower troop levels in Iraq may be possible  —  AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush made a surprise visit to an Iraqi air base Monday, saying fewer U.S. forces may be able to maintain security at its current level.  —  "Gen. [David] Petraeus and Ambassador [Ryan] …

When Controversy Follows Cash  —  Some Fundraisers With Legal Issues Slip Through Campaigns' Vetting  —  Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents …

BUSH'S BRAIN....The Washington Post has more dirt from Robert Draper's new Bush bio, Dead Certain, today.  Turns out Karl Rove didn't want Bush to pick Dick Cheney as VP but Bush figured it couldn't do any harm.  Score one for Karl.  Rove also had doubts about appointing Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Ouch!  The moment Piers Morgan broke three ribs falling off the Segway he said was 'idiot-proof'  —  If he didn't believe in karma before, Piers Morgan must surely do now.  —  The ex-newspaper editor, now a columnist for The Mail on Sunday's Live magazine, took great delight in making fun …

PALESTINIANS LAUNCH ROCKET ATTACK ON ISRAELI DAY CARE CENTER  —  Earlier today, Palestinians launched a Kassam rocket attack against the Israeli town of Sderot; a total of seven rockets landed in and around Sderot, one of them in the courtyard of a day care center.  The Jerusalem Post reports here.

Chinese military hacked into Pentagon  —  By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Richard McGregor in Beijing  —  The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

White House: Why Gonzales Bailed  —  Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told friends he resigned last week at the urging of his wife following a summer vacation.  But he had plenty of reasons to leave the capital.  Just days earlier, congressional leaders had signaled they intended to keep …

Is Craig really a hypocrite?  —  IDAHO isn't Massachusetts, so as soon as the story of his bathroom escapade broke it was clear that Senator Larry Craig would soon be needing new business cards.  Except for those elected from the Bay State, US senators and representatives involved in sex scandals …

Give Up Your SUV — And Other Nauseating Hypocrisy  —  You can't make this stuff up, folks.  Last week, during a speech to a labor group in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told the crowd: "One of the things [Americans] should be asked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles."

Blogging from APSA: The New Originalism  —  I am back in Washington, DC, where I'm visiting at Georgetown for the Fall Semester after four days in Chicago for American Political Science Association annual meeting.  This year's APSA really has a buzz—and some really fine panels on constitutional theory.

Discovering Labor's Untold Story: A Labor Day Reading List  —  Last night, I officially turned in 70 percent of my next book.  Its working title is The Uprising and it is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2008.  I won't say much more about it now, other than to say it is very different …