Romney: Muslims not needed in Cabinet  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, asked about putting a Muslim in his presidential Cabinet, said that he "cannot see that a Cabinet position would be justified" based on the percentage of Muslims in the U.S., according to an Islamic businessman …

Extreme right wing Phil Kline investigated by KCTV5  —  You may know of Phil Kline by his numerous appearances with Bill O'Reilly and his constant attacks on Planned Parenthood.  You'd think he would have won his election against Paul Morrison because of all the free publicity, but he got defeated.

Time Magazine Circles The Wagons Around Joe Klein  —  I've spent all morning on the phone trying to figure out who the editor at Time Magazine was on Joe Klein's FISA column (the one Klein has now written about five times, fully admitting he never read the original bill).

NO LASTING PEACE  —  SHORT of intolerable carnage, there's no durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.  None.  The best all parties can hope for is an occasional time-out.  —  A respite between rounds isn't worthless, of course - lives are saved, Israel's economy improves …

Gingrich Predicts Obama in Iowa  —  ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Newt Gingrich predicts Barack Obama will win the hotly contested vote in Iowa, saying the junior Senator from Illinois will motivate more energized supported than the former First Lady.  —  "My guess is Senator Obama's …

EPIPHANY  —  Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was looking at some polling charts at pollster.com.  And I had what I can only call a computational epiphany.  Those of us who are watching the races at least somewhat closely know that the basic tension in the Republican race is that Rudy Giuliani …

An Edgy Calm in Fallujah  —  FALLUJAH, IRAQ - "You're probably safer here than you are in New York City," said Marine First Lieutenant Barry Edwards when I arrived in Fallujah.  I raised my eyebrows at him skeptically.  "How many people got shot at last night in New York City?" he said.

Hillary's Secret Weapon: Colin Powell?  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has been talking for some time now about how, if she is elected president, she will ask both Democratic and Republican statesmen to hit the road on her behalf to declare that "bipartisan foreign policy is back" in post-George W. Bush America.

YouTube stops account of Egypt anti-torture activist  —  The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said.

CNN pledges no Dem "gotchas" in Republican YouTube debate — so why did CNN allow partisan "gotchas" in Dem debate?  —  In a November 21 post to The New York Times' political blog, The Caucus, staff writer Ariel Alexovich purported to give a "sneak peek" at how questions for the November 28 …

Out of Spotlight, Giuliani Embraces Convicted Moneyman  —  Avni Patel and Richard Esposito Report:  —  A Pennsylvania man convicted in a notorious corruption case played host to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at a fundraiser last night, despite the Giuliani campaign's public efforts to distance itself from the man.

Follow the Fundamentals  —  Lou Dobbs is winning.  He's not winning personally.  He's not going to start winning presidential awards or elite respect.  But his message is winning.  Month by month the ideas that once prevailed on the angry fringe enter the mainstream and turn into conventional wisdom.