The Smear This Time  —  ON Oct. 11, 1991, I testified about my experience as an employee of Clarence Thomas's at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  —  I stand by my testimony.  —  Justice Thomas has every right to present himself as he wishes in his new memoir, "My Grandfather's Son."

Democrats Surpass Republicans in Fund-Raising  —  The Democratic presidential candidates continued to raise significantly more money during the last three months than their Republican counterparts, according to official and unofficial third-quarter fund-raising tallies that were released yesterday.

Independents May Be Crucial in New Hampshire  —  Dr. Sally Garhart Eneguess voted for Senator John McCain in 2000 in the Republican presidential primary here.  In January, Dr. Eneguess said, she intends to vote for Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary.

Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings  —  Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress.

Democrats go after Limbaugh  —  Democrats on Monday called on the chief executive of Clear Channel Communications to denounce remarks by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, whom they say made a "hateful" and "unpatriotic" attack on U.S. troops opposed to the war in Iraq.

Obama to Urge Elimination of World's Nuclear Weapons  —  Senator Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism, aides say.

No more Mr. Nice Guy  —  CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Fred Thompson has a folksy, good old boy persona on the stump, but it may not last much longer.  —  When I asked him if he is an 11th Commandment man — Never speak ill of a fellow Republican — he responded, "I am more of a 12th Commandment man …

White House Civil War  —  Promised real power as Bill Clinton's vice president, Al Gore found he had a rival for that role: the First Lady.  And when Hillary decided to run for the Senate, a tense competition got ugly.  In an excerpt from her new book about the Clinton White House years …

Al-Dura's father: Israel's claims ridiculous  —  'Israel tries time and again to deny its responsibility for the incident because it can't deal with the criticism against it,' says Jamal al-Dura in response to official Israeli assertion that incident was staged.

Conservatives Consider 3rd-Party Run  — Some of the nation's most politically influential conservative Christians, alarmed by the prospect of a Republican presidential nominee who supports abortion rights, are considering backing a third-party candidate.

Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut  —  Most Americans oppose fully funding President Bush's $190 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a sizable majority support an expansion of a children's health insurance bill he has promised to veto, putting Bush and many congressional Republicans on the wrong side of public...

Congressman Rudy Giuliani: Pro-Life?  —  Congressman Pete Sessions, a staunch pro-life Republican from Texas and a Rudy Giuliani supporter tells The Brody File that if Giuliani was a member of Congress today, he'd be considered pro-life.  Here's the money quote:

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts  —  The Arctic ice cap shrank so much this summer that waves briefly lapped along two long-imagined Arctic shipping routes, the Northwest Passage over Canada and the Northern Sea Route over Russia.  —  Over all, the floating ice dwindled to an extent unparalleled …