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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Lieberman's Latest  —  Courtesy of Sam Boyd, I see the Financial Times reporting on Joe Lieberman's views.  Apparently, the Wise One "argued that George W. Bush and the Republican presidential candidates remained truer than the Democratic party to its tradition of a 'moral, internationalist …

Obama Picks Up a Coveted Endorsement in N.H.  —  Barack Obama has just picked up a fairly important endorsement in New Hampshire.  —  Lenore Patton is the chairwoman of the Rockingham County Democrats and— like every other party leader in NH — had been relentlessly  —  courted by the Clinton campaign.

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 …

McCain says Kerik reflects on Giuliani  —  CONCORD, N.H. - Bernard Kerik did an irresponsible job training police in Iraq, presidential contender John McCain said Friday, adding to criticism of Kerik as Rudy Giuliani's former police commissioner surrendered to face charges in New York.

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.

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 …

Is Romney Running Away With It?  —  For all the attention Rudy Giuliani got with that Pat Robertson endorsement earlier this week, the numbers increasingly suggest Romney is going to be the GOP nominee.  According to Pollster.com, Romney's up 14 points in Iowa (28.6 to Huckabee's 14.8 …

Liquidation: Do Not Want  —  This really isn't my world, but I'm having a hard time interpreting this as anything other then S&P punishing an entity for daring to sell off its  —  financial assets at market prices. … This just isn't big enough of a s**tpile to "depress prices," …

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.

Biden: Democrats have lost faith in the American people  —  Sen. Joe Biden said in an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader this afternoon that too many Democrats, including the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, do not have faith in the American people.

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 …