Obama Pledges 'Aggressive' Iran Diplomacy  —  Senator Barack Obama said he would "engage in aggressive personal diplomacy" with Iran if elected president, and would offer economic inducements and a possible promise not to seek "regime change" if Iran stopped meddling in Iraq and cooperated on terrorism and nuclear issues.

Bush to Democrats: 'We are at war'  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush compared Congress' Democratic leaders Thursday with people who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler early in the last century, saying "the world paid a terrible price" then and risks similar consequences for inaction today.

Victory at University of Delaware  —  University Dumps Thought Reform Program  —  Late Thursday, University of Delaware President Patrick Harker released on the school's website a Message to the University of Delaware Community terminating the university's ideological reeducation program …

S.C. Dems reject Colbert candidacy  —  Stephen Colbert's satirical run for the presidency has run into its first roadblock - his bid to be on the ballot in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary was rejected on Thursday.  —  The party's executive council voted 14 to 3 …

The most influential US conservatives: 1-20  —  As the US prepares for what is arguably the most open presidential election since 1928, the last time there was no incumbent president or vice-president on the ballot, the Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondents compile a list of the 100 …

Interview With Barack Obama  —  The following is a transcript of an interview by Michael Gordon and Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times with Senator Barack Obama, conducted on Wednesday afternoon at his campaign headquarters in Chicago.  Some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity, and extraneous material omitted.

But They're Unaffiliated, Of Course  —  Media Matters insists that it has no intention of supporting a candidate, but it's hard to tell that from its content.  As Jonah Goldberg noted, the site went into a full-throated defense of Hillary Clinton by attacking Tim Russert for ... well, asking questions about issues:

Pilot of plane that dropped A-bomb dies  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio - Paul Tibbets, who etched his mother's name — Enola Gay — into history on the nose of the B-29 bomber he flew to drop the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, died Thursday after six decades of steadfastly defending the mission.  He was 92.

Blackwater sneak silencers into Iraq?  —  Security firm under investigation for allegedly sidestepping export controls  —  A Blackwater employee shows off a silencer-equipped rifle in Iraq in a photo obtained by NBC News.  The picture has been digitally altered to protect the identity of the subject.

Do the poor prefer bad schools?  —  I MUST respectfully disagree with my esteemed colleague's last post, wherein he writes: … Let us leave aside for now the merit of regulatory agencies.  Because preferences are sovereign and, in any case, economists aren't in the business of literary criticism …

Feds Probing Dem Sen. Relationship to Former Aide  —  As the feds are bearing down hard on Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), raiding his Alaska home and convening a grand jury in Washington, D.C., another investigation into a sitting senator has been proceeding quietly up in New Jersey.

I WASN'T GOING TO RESPOND when Andrew Sullivan — deliberately, or in unforgivable cluelessness — transformed my statement about leaving the Libertarian Party into something about not being a libertarian at all.  Andrew says a lot of silly things about me these days, and life is too short to pay attention to them.

Knollenberg aide who went nuts on YouTube takes leave of absence  —  When we last saw Trent Wisecup, chief of staff to Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), he was busy blowing a gasket on YouTube and berating an anti-war protester for following around the congressman with a video camera.

Gates Says Iran Gave Assurances on Explosives  —  Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates indicated Thursday that Iran had told the Baghdad government that it would work to stem the flow of high-powered explosives into Iraq, though he also questioned the credibility of the pledge.

The war in Iraq has been won  —  THERE is a reason Iraq has almost disappeared as an election issue.  —  Here it is: The battle is actually over.  Iraq has been won.  —  I know this will seem to many of you an insane claim.  Ridiculous!  —  After all, haven't you read countless stories that Iraq is a …

U.S. Falls Short of Iraqi Refugee Target  —  The United States accepted only some 450 Iraqi refugees in October, well short of the Bush administration's stated goal of 1,000 a month.  —  The figure also marks a decline from September, when 889 refugees were admitted.