How Clinton has built her lead  —  REASON TO SMILE: Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton greets residents in New Hampton, Iowa Sunday.  Polls show her national popularity with Democrats growing.  —  Her base is voters who dominate the Democratic nominating process.  But the presidential campaign season is still young.

Al Qaeda in Haditha: The battle the media ignored  —  Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter …

Top Iraqis Pull Back From Key U.S. Goal  —  Reconciliation Seen Unattainable Amid Struggle for Power  —  BAGHDAD — For much of this year, the U.S. military strategy in Iraq has sought to reduce violence so that politicians could bring about national reconciliation, but several top Iraqi leaders …

The Best Police Force in Iraq  —  RAMADI, IRAQ - In late July when I visited a police station in the town of Mushadah just north of Baghdad I worried that Iraq was doomed to become the next Gaza.  As many as half the police officers, according to most of the American Military Police who worked …

Mexican 'House of Death  —  CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Fernando Reyes wasn't dying fast enough, so his killers wrapped his head in a plastic bag.  It wouldn't be long before the brutally beaten and tortured drug smuggler would take his last breath.  —  An undercover informant working for U.S. authorities …

Clinton gets snippy with Iowan over Iran  —  From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones  —  NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — At a campaign stop here, Hillary Clinton sparred verbally for several minutes with a man who pressed her on her recent vote to call Iran's army a terrorist organization.

As War Dragged On, Coverage Tone Weighed Heavily on Anchors  —  Charlie Gibson is a product of the Vietnam War era.  When he was a television reporter in Lynchburg, Va., he had driven to Washington on weekends to march in antiwar demonstrations.  And he had lost friends in that jungle war.

Obama: GOP doesn't own faith and values  —  GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) — After speaking to an evangelical church on Sunday in this traditionally conservative South Carolina city, Sen. Barack Obama said that Republicans no longer have a firm grip on religion in political discourse.

Novak Dispels Some Plame Myths  —  Robert Novak, who wrote the column that exposed the Plame connection to Joe Wilson's trip to Niger, has been trying unsuccessfully to set the record straight regarding the "outing" of Wilson's wife for a long time.  —  Novak's problem has been that the Plame narrative …

A Dutch Retreat on Speech?  —  And now we come to what may be a truly fundamental test, maybe even a turning point, for that part of the world generally known as the West.  —  The test is this: Are prominent, articulate critics of radical Islam, critics who happen to be citizens …

'Journalists' Tell Howard Kurtz Why Good News from Iraq Shouldn't Get Reported (updated w/video)  —  As CNN's Howard Kurtz accurately pointed out on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," few media outlets seemed at all interested in giving much attention to the great news out of Iraq last week regarding September's sharp decline in casualties.

Many Texas consumers feel competition in the state's energy markets has been a costly failure  —  Is there light at end of the power line?  —  When Texas lawmakers agreed to open the state's power markets to competition back in 1999, one promise was on the tip of many tongues — lower prices.

Dangerous Sealer Stayed on Shelves After Recall  —  DENVILLE, N.J. — Walter E. Friedel's plans to waterproof the tile floors of his hot tub room using Stand 'n Seal, a do-it-yourself product sold at his local Home Depot, promised to be a quick weekend project, one he could wrap up in time to catch …