Rapid response speeds up  —  The presidential campaigns in both parties have begun reacting ferociously to real or perceived attacks from rivals, goaded by a tight campaign calendar that leaves no room for error, and a determination to show they're tougher than John F. Kerry was in 2004.

Protesters arrested at Gonzales speech  —  In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.

U.N. to Cut Estimate Of AIDS Epidemic  —  Population With Virus Overstated by Millions  —  The United Nations' top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade …

Iraqis Joining Insurgency Less for Cause Than Cash  —  MOSUL, Iraq — Abu Nawall, a captured al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said he didn't join the Sunni insurgent group here to kill Americans or to form a Muslim caliphate.  He signed up for the cash.  —  "I was out of work and needed the money …

Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves  —  Five months ago, Suhaila al-Aasan lived in an oxygen tank factory with her husband and two sons, convinced that they would never go back to their apartment in Dora, a middle-class neighborhood in southern Baghdad.

U.S. Attorney for Minnesota to Leave Post  —  Rachel K. Paulose, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota who sparked staff rebellions and a federal probe into her handling of classified information, is resigning to return to the Justice Department's Washington headquarters, department officials said yesterday.

Staticidal Zealotry  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is behaving like a zealot.  In her ever-more-rash pursuit of a Palestinian state, she is exhibiting the syndrome defined by the philosopher George Santana, as one who redoubles her efforts upon losing sight of the objective.

A myth in the unmaking  —  Fox News's status as a politically impartial channel is at last being exposed as a fiction  —  Britons may be familiar with Rupert Murdoch, but I don't think the UK has a beast quite like the American Fox News Channel.  Celebrating its 11th year on the air, Fox is a breathtaking institution.

At White House behest, NYT sat on scoop  —  When the New York Times published a front page story Sunday about the United States' and Pakistan's joint clandestine efforts to protect nuclear weapons, the newspaper offered a glimpse into a "highly classified program" the Bush administration long objected to seeing in print.

Wrestler Ric Flair supporting Mike Huckabee  —  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown.  —  First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad.

Young voters dig Giuliani's moderate views  —  Zachary Zhengyi Lim, a freshman at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is a self-described political moderate.  A 17-year-old who will turn 18 in time to vote in the Granite State's presidential primary, Lim said he registered Republican on a whim.

Scott McClellan's Book Coming in April — Admits Wrongdoing in Clearing Rove and Libby in CIA Leak Case  —  NEW YORK To no one's surprise in a world where top White House aides with any president eventually write a book about it, former Press Secretary Scott McClellan will be coming out with his volume in April.

Deputies Raid Wrong Address, Kill Couple's Dog  —  An Accokeek couple is demanding an apology after Prince George's County Sheriff's Deputies burst into their home and killed their dog - all because deputies went to the wrong address.  —  Pam and Frank Myers were tucked away …

You First, Governor Huckabee  —  To the many people, both domestic and foreign, who are asking Mitt Romney to do as John F. Kennedy once did and make a speech explaining why his religion is not a threat to our cherished American way of life, I suggest that Romney respond by pointing …

JIHAD JANE'S POISON FAMILY  —  HER BOMBER COUSIN  —  THE story of the US government's bungling in the case of Nada Nadim Prouty - "Jihad Jane" - gets worse and worse.  Here are two more danger signs in her background that got overlooked: her cousin the terrorist, and her family's involvement in the Syrian National Socialist Party.