Couric weighs in on Iraq, Rather  —  Her take on the news  —  Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric pulled back the curtain on her personal views of both the war in Iraq and former "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather.

Kyl-Lieberman Iran Amendment Passes By Huge Margin  —  The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22.

Scoop for Spanish Daily: Transcript of Private 2003 Bush Talk Promising Iraq Invasion  —  NEW YORK El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was the transcript of a private talk between President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on February 22 …

"Childrens do learn," Bush tells school kids  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn."  —  Bush made his latest grammatical slip …

Juan Williams: Bill O'Reilly Not A Racist  —  We meant to go up with something on the Bill O'Reilly controversy du jour yesterday, but more pressing news did not permit.  The Lede beat us to it: "Mr. Reilly [sic] is guilty of being sheltered, old-fashioned and possibly exhibiting a casual racism."

Ohio, Florida laws could dampen Democratic voting  —  WASHINGTON — Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush's two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008.

Dem Defection Sends Voter Fraud Guru to Full Senate  —  As I reported yesterday, the Senate Rules Committee met this morning about the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Elections Commission.  —  This morning's result: faced with the defection of a Democrat on the committee …

Biden Iraq plan passes  —  From NBC's Ken Strickland  —  In a strong rebuff to the Bush Administration on Iraq, the Senate overwhelming approved a plan by Biden that essentially calls for breaking Iraq into three sections: Kurd, Sunni, and Shia.  While the amendment is nonbinding …

Rudy Giuliani fires chief fundraiser  —  In a sign of potential money woes, Rudy Giuliani has fired his presidential campaign's chief fundraiser and brought in a top rainmaker for President Bush, The Daily News has learned.  —  Anne Dunsmore, who took control of Giuliani's …

Fallen Soldier MSNBC Used for 'Gotcha' Game With Rep. Blackburn Did Not Live in Her District  —  UPDATE — SHUSTER APOLOGIZES: At 6:44 PM EDT, MSNBC broke into the Tucker Carlson show to air a terse apology from Shuster.  For my thoughts on it, see "My Take" at foot.  —  View video of Shuster apology here.

My Dinner with Ahmadinejad  —  The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel …

Source: Craig won't resign if judge hasn't ruled  —  EDINA, Minnesota (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig won't resign from the Senate while awaiting a judge's ruling on his effort to get a guilty plea withdrawn in a restroom sex sting, a source said Wednesday.  —  A judge in Minnesota was to hear arguments Wednesday afternoon in the case.