How 'What It Takes' Took Me Off Course  —  MORE than any other book, Richard Ben Cramer's "What It Takes," about the 1988 battle for the White House, influenced the way I cover campaigns.  —  I'm not alone.  The book's thesis — that prospective presidents are best evaluated by their ability …

Thompson charges Fox News is biased against his campaign  —  Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) suggested on Sunday that Fox News is biased against his campaign, charging that the network highlights commentators who have been critical of his run for the presidency.

Pro-Patriot Act Giuliani meets anti-act Ron Paulites  —  NASHUA, N.H.—Attempts to cut back on government surveillance and "aggressive questioning" of suspected terrorists are irresponsible and undercut the country's war on terrorism, Republican Rudy Giuliani said this weekend.

Bizarro World  —  If conservatives seized on a mirror image of the journalistic clusterf**kery of Joe Klein it wouldn't stop at Glennzilla beating up on him and the rest of us laughing at him.  Drudge would put up a big siren.  Limbaugh would spend a week turning Joe Klein into public enemy #1 for his dittoheads.

DE PALMA IRAQ FLICK BOMBS  —  November 25, 2007 — IT'S hard for Hollywood pacifists like Brian De Palma to capture the hearts and minds of America if  —  Americans won't see their movies.  While the public is staying away in droves from "Rendition," "Lions for Lambs" and "In the Valley of Elah …

Why You Can Believe all Those Warnings About The Death of the West  —  I suggest that the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams read a little history about the British experience in India before he offers politically-correct but historically laughable sermons like the one he gave to a Muslim "lifestyle" magazine:

Memo To New York Post: The Bush Administration Was Warned About 9/11  —  New York Post reporter Andy Soltis writes of the latest Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll that finds a great majority of Americans believe the government failed to heed warnings about 9/11.

Hey, Young Americans, Here's a Text for You  —  Is America still America if millions of us no longer know how democracy works?  —  When I speak on college campuses, I find that students are either baffled by democracy's workings or that they don't see any point in engaging in the democratic process.

In Iowa, Clinton Is Pressed on Murdoch  —  FORT DODGE, Iowa - The curious relationship between Hillary Rodham Clinton, presidential candidate, and Rupert Murdoch, media baron, flashed briefly before the eyes of Iowans on Saturday night during a Clinton campaign event.

Tax for 2 Cents Plain Is Anything but Simple  —  VOTERS in Upper Freehold Township passed a bond question this month that will raise an additional $264,000 annually to preserve farmland in their Monmouth County community.  —  Or did they?  —  It turns out the ballots were misprinted.

Ex-coalition leader says Bush failed to have plan  —  Sanchez: It's time to withdraw troops, let Iraq take responsibility  —  Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who led coalition forces through the first critical year of Iraq's insurgency, said Saturday in a nationally broadcast radio address …

Stumping for wife, Clinton can help, or hurt, anybody  —  Bill Clinton will get his chance in the Iowa caucuses after all.  —  The Democrat who skipped campaigning in the state during his own bid for the presidential nomination is stepping up his role as chief advocate for his wife, Hillary Clinton.

Al-Qaeda kingpin: I trained 9/11 hijackers -  —  From his Turkish jail, a senior terrorist claims a key role in atrocities around the world  —  Insight: Chris Gourlay and Jonathan Calvert  —  IN a small windowless cell lit by a single light bulb, Louai al-Sakka sits isolated from the world and fellow inmates for 24 hours a day.