Ex-Judge Is Said to Be Pick At Justice  —  Democrats Likely To Accept Him as Attorney General  —  President Bush has selected retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey as his new attorney general, sources said yesterday, moving to install a law-and-order conservative at the Justice Department …

President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media  —  The day after his prime-time speech on Iraq, President Bush sat down for a round-table interview not with traditional White House reporters but with bloggers who focus on military issues, including two participating by video link from Baghdad.

Chafee quietly quits the GOP … PROVIDENCE — Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November's election, said yesterday that he has left the party.  —  Chafee said he disaffiliated with the party he had helped lead …

What They're Saying in Anbar Province  —  IN his address to the nation on Thursday, President Bush singled out progress in Anbar Province as the model for United States success in Iraq.  The president's claims echoed those made earlier in the week by Gen. David H. Petraeus …

Police: O.J. Simpson faces multiple charges  —  LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — O.J. Simpson will be charged with a total of six counts of robbery, assault, burglary and conspiracy, Las Vegas police announced Sunday.  —  Simpson was arrested at his hotel room at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas …

McCain: I'm a Baptist  —  HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has long identified himself as an Episcopalian, said this weekend that he is a Baptist and has been for years.  —  Campaigning in this conservative, predominantly Baptist state …

Madonna: I'm an 'ambassador for Judaism'  —  JERUSALEM - Madonna toasted the Jewish new year with Israeli President Shimon Peres and declared herself an "ambassador for Judaism," local newspapers reported Sunday.  —  The singer, who is not Jewish, arrived in Israel Wednesday on the eve …

Gates Sees a 'Protracted' Stay for Troops  —  Two days after saying he hoped American forces in Iraq might be reduced to 100,000 by the end of next year, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that American troops were likely to remain in that country for a "protracted period."

The Selling of the President's War  —  The presentation to Congress by general David H. Petraeus was not an analytical military situation report it was a sales pitch for the president's policy.  I trust Gen. Petraeus when he insists that his opening statement was not vetted by the White House.

They're Still Voting Out There In Michigan  —  Democrats in Michigan's state House are determined to squeeze more out of the state's dry-lemon economy, but they can't convince enough of their own to vote for it.  They have been voting on a tax increase since 2 pm on Friday — that's 51 hours of straight legislative boredom.

Lindsey Graham's Realism  —  Now that the president has endorsed the Petraeus-Crocker plan for Iraq, it is worth noting one exchange from their Senate hearings.  —  Some senators, such as Barbara Boxer of California, were so self-absorbed they could not manage to ask a single question …

Osirak redux, and the idiom of military action  —  The Times of London reported this morning that the Israeli "incursion" into Syrian airspace a few days back destroyed, or was intended to destroy, nuclear material probably supplied by the North Koreans.  Iran is probably involved as well …