For Democrats, Iowa Still Up for Grabs  —  The top three Democratic presidential contenders remain locked in a close battle in Iowa, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) seeing her advantages diminish on key issues, including the questions of experience and which candidate is best prepared …

Thompson skids while Romney, Paul climb in N.H. poll  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has skidded into sixth place in a new CNN/WMUR poll of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, edged out by ex-Libertarian and anti-war congressman Ron Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Bilal Hussein case update: Military to bring charges, AP complains; Update: "MNF-I possesses convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to security and stability as a link to insurgent activity"  —  Update 11:50pm Eastern: Via the AFP, the US military reveals some details...

RACHEL PAULOSE: AN UPDATE  —  My friend Rachel Paulose has announced her resignation from the position of United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota to accept a position of high responsibility and honor in the Department of Justice as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy …

News staffers at CBS authorize a strike  —  Union officials hope the vote prompts the network to resume negotiations.  The two sides last met in January.  —  NEW YORK — CBS news writers, graphic artists and other staffers who work for the network's television and radio news operations voted …

Panel Picks 4 Debate Sites, Angering Excluded New Orleans  —  The Commission on Presidential Debates has picked Oxford, Miss.; St. Louis; Nashville; and Hempstead, N.Y., as the sites of the presidential and vice-presidential debates in the general election campaign next year.

America the Unwelcoming  —  The United States is the only major country in the world to which travel has declined amid a tourist boom.  —  As an immigrant, I've always loved Thanksgiving for all the corniest reasons.  It's a distinctly American holiday, secular and inclusive, focused on food, family and gratitude.

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.

From Johnny Doo to Rico Suave?  —  I reported last week that former state Sen. Rico Oller of Calaveras County was standing with embattled U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, at a GOP event.  I also mentioned in that piece that Rico (who lost a nasty Republican primary contest …

GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ.  —  A few weeks ago, in Britain's Prospect magazine, the paper's foreign editor, Bartle Bull, published a bold essay saying that the high tide of violence in Iraq was essentially behind us and that the ebb had disclosed some interesting things.