Clinton Gets an Instant Chance to Wield a New Weapon  —  It used to be that when a campaign had an argument with a news report, it put out a mass e-mail message disputing the offending item.  That was a huge technological leap from the fax machine.  —  Now even e-mail may be growing quaint.

What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"?  —  Every time Congressional Democrats failed this year to stop the Bush administration (i.e., every time they "tried"), the excuse they gave was that they "need 60 votes in the Senate" in order to get anything done.

Huckabee's Salvation  —  Dr. James Dobson, who has largely been made irrelevant to the 2008 Republican presidential race, has apparently found his man, and according to an adviser, is ready to change the landscape of the Republican nomination race.  —  "He is the leader of the evangelical …

History and Calumny  —  Today, I'm going to write about a slur.  It's a distortion that's been around for a while, but has spread like a weed over the past few months.  It was concocted for partisan reasons: to flatter the prejudices of one side, to demonize the other and to simplify …

Kerik's Corruption Case Dogs Giuliani  —  The scene outside the old Victorian-style courthouse in Dubuque on Thursday morning showed that the indictment of Bernard B. Kerik is at the very least a big distraction for Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.

Clinton tops 2008 rivals, gets $530M in earmarks  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has won tens of millions of dollars more in federal earmarks this year than her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though two of them have significantly more Senate seniority.

GOP's top tier to join Spanish debate  —  Republican presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney have agreed to join a Spanish-language debate next month at the University of Miami.  —  AIM breinhard@MiamiHerald.com  —  Jilted by the GOP earlier this year …

A Failure to Lead  —  The Democratic Congress is more interested in acting out than in taking positive action.  —  This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress.  But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren't in a celebrating mood.

Things Are Tough All Over  —  But Mrs. Clinton is no Iron Lady.  —  The story as I was told it is that in the early years of her prime ministership, Margaret Thatcher held a meeting with her aides and staff, all of whom were dominated by her, even awed.  When it was over she invited …

Rove Decries 'Nutty' 'Vitriolic' Bloggers Who Spew 'Bad Words'  —  Yesterday, ThinkProgress attended a Yahoo-sponsored Citizen 2.0 event in Washington, DC, at which Karl Rove discussed the intersection of politics and the Internet.  Rove lamented the loss of civility in politics on the web …

Bad news for Hugo?  —  Chavez is deeply in debt to the Chinese, having borrowed $4 billion just this week.  In exchange, he's saying that Venezuela will double its exports of oil to China, … Minister of Energy and Petroleum and President of Petroleos de Venezuela, Rafael Ramirez claims …

Rage of Reason  —  It's official: Bush Derangement Syndrome is now a full-blown epidemic.  George W. Bush apparently has reduced more of his fellow citizens to frustrated, sputtering rage than any president since opinion polling began, with the possible exception of Richard Nixon.

Edwards waffles on defense spending  —  In a campaign with more waffling than a Shoney's breakfast buffet, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said there's one thing you can count on from him: a straight answer.  —  "What we saw in the debate were the politics of double talk," …

UPDATE 3-S&P says State St-managed CDO liquidating assets  —  The trustee of a $1.5 billion collateralised debt obligation (CDO) managed by State Street Global Advisors has started selling assets, apparently starting a process of liquidation, Standard & Poor's said late on Thursday.

New Jersey Rep. Saxton to Retire  —  Rep. Jim Saxton, the twelve-term Republican from New Jersey's 3rd District, plans to retire after his current term, an announcement that could come as early as today, according to sources familiar with his decision.  —  Saxton's retirement opens up a seat …

Waterboarding Is Torture, Says Ex-Navy Instructor  —  A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture and that such a method was never intended for use …

Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders  —  One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved.  —  Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million …