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 …

Election 2008: Clinton 42% Giuliani 39% Ron Paul 8%  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found Hillary Clinton leading Rudy Giuliani by three percentage points in a four-way race that includes Ron Paul running as a Libertarian candidate and Ralph Nader representing the Green Party.

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 …

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 …

Trouble for Hillary in Ohio  —  Hillary is getting some bad news about the key state of Ohio.  The most recent Quinnipiac poll is full of bad news for the former first lady.  Let's run down the bullet points:  — Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York …

VOTER ID....The State of Indiana has the most stringent voter ID laws in the country.  Democrats are always griping about this, and have even gone so far as to challenge Indiana's law in the Supreme Court.  But this is just silly.  In this day and age everyone has a photo ID anyway, so what's the problem?

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 …

Bush strategist looks back in sadness  —  AT HIS TEXAS RANCH: Matthew Dowd, political strategist and former Bush advisor, says of the president: "I don't think he's evil or bad.  I think he's a good person that didn't accomplish what he set out to do."  —  Matthew Dowd helped win the White House.

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 …

The Kathleen Willey Interview  —  Yesterday, I did a phone interview with Kathleen Willey, who has a new book out: Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton.  —  What follows is a transcript of our conversation, edited slightly for readability's sake.

Giuliani's House of Mirrors  —  The Giuliani campaign is playing a beautiful game of three card monte with the national media regarding the expectations game in Iowa and New Hampshire - not that I've ventured out of the Cathedral to actually witness such a sinful game of tricks and deceit. ...

Who Wants To Be The Analog To Kos At Newsweek?  —  Via a number of sources, Markos Moulitsas has won a column assignment at Newsweek.  In a press release, the magazine announced that Markos will occasionally appear in both the print and on-line versions of the periodical …

Sensitive Guantánamo Bay Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site  —  A never-before-seen military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military's Guantánamo Bay detention facility has been leaked to the web, affording a rare inside glimpse into the institution …

Contact  —  The FISA bill (S. 2248) mark-up is set for tomorrow morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The business meeting is set for 10 am ET — am waiting to hear whether C-Span will be covering it, but I've put in a request.  Here's hoping...  In the meantime, I thought we could spend …

4Barack  —  "DON'T DO THIS!" a friend wrote, a friend who never uses allcaps, a friend who cares genuinely about what's good for me, and who believes that what's good for me depends in part upon how easily I can talk to the next administration.  "He is NOT going to win.  She has it sewed up.