Campaign call reveals Clinton debate concern  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) top advisers, doing damage control after the candidate's debate performance Tuesday, told supporters on a conference call Wednesday that the campaign needed more money to fight back.

Finalists Announced  —  Here is a partial list of the finalists for The 2007 Weblog Awards.  Finalists badges (hosted by Imageshack) will be available Thursday.  Voting is scheduled to begin Thursday evening (late), but at this point we can't pinpoint the exact time polls will open.

Nominee's Stand May Avoid Tangle of Torture Cases  —  In adamantly refusing to declare waterboarding illegal, Michael B. Mukasey, the nominee for attorney general, is steering clear of a potential legal quagmire for the Bush administration: criminal prosecution or lawsuits …

Iraqi Islamic Party says, "Al Qaeda is Defeated."  —  O1 November 2007  —  Iraqi Islamic Party: "Al Qaeda is Defeated"  —  "Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated," according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe.

From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . .  In Sometimes-Brusque 'Snowflakes,' He Shared Worldview, Shaped Policy  —  In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to …

The Ron Paul Revolution  —  It sometimes seems as if someone is playing a cruel practical joke on Ron Paul.  He goes to a college and delivers the same speech he's given for the past 30 years of his political career, the one espousing the Austrian school of economics.

A Dark Unseen Scandal Star?  —  Mickey Kaus writes: … I'm placing my money on the lesbian-Hillary angle.  —  If you examine the candidates connected by the gossip columnists to current sex scandals, Hillary leads the way with her Huma connection.  —  Here's a picture of Hillary's personal assistant Huma Abedin.

U.N. Scientist Rejects Nobel Prize Share, Denounces Climate Alarmism  —  Has the global warming alarmism movement hit its apex?  Maybe so.  —  In recent weeks, we've seen a resurgence of hard scientists who have come out strongly against the warm-mongers, the latest of which is Intergovernmental Panel …

The Gender Gap  —  Gender has long played a role in presidential elections, and the gender gap is again looming large in a possible Clinton-Giuliani matchup.  Currently, Hillary Clinton runs 13 points better among female voters (57%) than among male voters (44%).

Hell, no, they won't go  —  After staffing key diplomatic roles for years with inexperienced ideologues, the U.S. embassy in Iraq, and Amb.  Ryan Crocker in particular, are desperate to have competent State Department officials in Iraq.  Not surprisingly, State employees are, shall we say, reluctant to go.

Jebediah Koogler '10: Islamofascism speaker misses the point  —  There was an elephant in the room during Robert Spencer's provocative speech last Thursday night.  Spencer, the director of the website Jihad Watch, spoke as part of "Islamofascism Awareness Week" and presented a simple …

The angry voter: Bad news for Dems  —  Congressional Democrats certainly know the power of a throw-the-bums-out message.  It vaulted them to power a year ago this week.  Little wonder anxiety is boiling over inside the new majority as lawmakers ponder a succession of polls and reach …