Top Items:
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
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.
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CBS News:
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 …
Discussion:
The Page, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Macsmind, BitsBlog, MyDD, skippy the bush kangaroo, Truthdig, Pollster.com and The New Republic
Danny Hakim / New York Times:
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 …
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Joseph Goldstein / New York Sun:
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.
New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Pottersville, Associated Press, Kiko's House, On Deadline and The RBC
The Hill:
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 …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Wake up America, Daily Kos, Betsy's Page, The American Street, Dr. Sanity and CNN Political Ticker
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Russ Buettner / New York Times:
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 …
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
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.
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Stephanie Strom / New York Times:
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 …
Peter Berkowitz / Opinion Journal:
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 …
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
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 …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Greg Gordon / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
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 …
Washington Post:
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."