Poll: Top Democrats Deadlocked In Iowa  —  Huckabee Catching Up To Romney Among Hawkeye State Republicans  —  (CBS) Democrats and Republicans are both headed toward heated showdowns in Iowa, where, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll, Hillary Clinton holds a statistically insignificant lead …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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."

Dissension hits Romney campaign  —  Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has television ads and mailings on standby to attack Rudy Giuliani but so far has not used them because of an internal dispute about the risks of a backlash in going negative on the Republican front-runner …

Spitzer's Christmas Tax Surprise  —  Aims To Collect Levies on Sales Over Internet  —  New Yorkers going Christmas shopping online at Amazon.com will find an 8.375% surprise at the virtual cash register, courtesy of Governor Spitzer, who is moving aggressively to collect Internet sales taxes that have gone widely unenforced.

UPDATE: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Huckabee—Whatever Tax You Pass, "You Will Have Nothing But My Profound Thanks" … Jump forward to the present day, Mike Huckabee running for the Republican presidential nomination has signed a no-tax pledge and jumped on the Fair Tax bandwagon.

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 …

JON'S NEXT JOB?  —  JON Bon Jovi could be planning one day to run for governor of New Jersey.  That's why he's keeping his house in Red Bank, even though he and his wife, Dorothea, and their four kids have moved to SoHo.  That's why he performs regularly at fund-raisers for Democrats like Al Gore and John Kerry.