GOP Primary Story Stars a Democratic Antagonist  —  They mock her proposals, utter her name with a sneer and win standing ovations by ridiculing her ideas as un-American, even socialistic.  She has become the one thing the Republican candidates for president can agree on.  —  Hillary Clinton.

F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause  —  Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect …

Spitzer Dropping Plan of Licenses for Illegal Immigrants  —  Gov. Eliot Spitzer is abandoning his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that opposition is just too overwhelming to move forward with such a policy.  —  The governor, who is to announce the move formally on Wednesday …

Senate Dem leaders float plan for forced filibuster  —  Senate Democrats might force Republicans to wage a filibuster if the GOP wants to block the latest Iraq withdrawal bill, aides and senators said Tuesday.  —  That could set the stage for a dramatic end-of-the-year partisan showdown …

Ex-Publisher's Suit Plays a Giuliani-Kerik Angle  —  Judith Regan, the former book publisher, says in a lawsuit filed today protesting her dismissal by the News Corporation, the media conglomerate, that a senior executive there encouraged her to lie to federal investigators about her past affair …

Clinton pours cash into S.C.  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has more than tripled her campaign spending in South Carolina, taking aggressive action in a state political experts call a "must-win" for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) because of its high percentage of black voters.

Newsweek  —  Remember that big announcement I promised earlier?  Well, it's now official. … Yeah, there's a lot of heads exploding in wingnutlandia today over this bit of news.  But Newsweek is "balancing" me out with someone that should make heads on our side explode.

Anti-Bush Sign Has Bridge World in an Uproar  —  In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy.  But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003 …

The Insanity of Bush Hatred  —  Our politics suffer when passions overcome reason and vitriol becomes virtue.  —  Hating the president is almost as old as the republic itself.  The people, or various factions among them, have indulged in Clinton hatred, Reagan hatred, Nixon hatred …

Should Hillary Pretend to Be a Flight Attendant?  —  In 2005, a year after Ellie Grossman, a doctor, met Ray Fisman, a professor, on a blind date, she was talking to her grandmother about her guy.  —  "Never let a man think you're smarter," her grandmother advised.  "Men don't like that."

CIA admits to recording interrogations of top al Qaida captives  —  WASHINGTON — The CIA has three video and audio recordings of interrogations of senior al Qaida captives but misled federal judges about the evidence during the case against terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui …

Scam Could Total $31 Million  —  Analysis Suggests Refund Fraud Scheme Was Snowballing  —  A Washington Post analysis of city records has found a total of $31.7 million in questionable property tax refunds dating back seven years — including $346,700 to one fictitious company named "Bilkemor LLC."

President of Columbia Is Criticized  —  Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, was confronted yesterday by discontented professors who gathered more than 100 faculty signatures for a document criticizing his leadership.  —  Their "statement of concern," read to him at a faculty meeting …