Hillary Campaign Acknowledges That County Chair Backing Hillary Passed Along Obama Muslim Smear Email  —  A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering …

MORE NIE STUFF....In the Washington Post today, David Ignatius passes along what his sources are telling him about how the new Iran NIE was put together: … Ignatius also notes that the new attitude toward analysis the produced the NIE was largely the work of Deputy Director of National Intelligence Thomas Fingar.

Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release  —  Little Rock, Ark — As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again.

Oprah rally moved to football stadium  —  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Relax, University of South Carolina football fans.  Your season may be over, but Williams-Brice Stadium won't be empty for long.  —  Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign announced Wednesday afternoon …

The Inside Story Of The SwiftBoaters Finally Told  —  This is the most important book you'll buy this year: To Set The Record Straight, How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, with Forward by John O'Neill.

Zogby Latest:Zogby Latest: Iowa: Dead Heats; New Hampshire: Clinton suffers shrinkage; Romney recovers strong lead after autumnal fade; The Angry Electorate: Four of five Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans say they are angry at the U.S. political system  —  Utica, New York …

The System Is Working  —  Maybe this isn't acknowledged enough, but it seems to me that the Founders would for the first time be pleased with how the United States has been adjusting policy and personnel in wartime this past year.  I think when historians look back, they will note a few things.

Libertarian Enemy Number One: Ron Paul  —  As the 2008 Presidential campaign unfolds, various storylines are appearing.  The supposed inevitability of Hillary, the evolution of Obama, and the musical chairs of the Republican candidates.  None of them however are as intriguing to me as the story of Ron Paul.

THE PARTY'S OVER  —  medinar@phillynews.com 215-854-5985 Staff writer Gloria Campisi contributed to this report  —  JOCELYN SARAH Kirsch had planned to throw a 25th birthday party tonight at an upscale Rittenhouse Square eatery for her live-in love, Edward Kyle Anderton.

Intercepting Iran's Take on America  —  There are two intelligence analyses that are relevant to the balance of power between the U.S. and Iran — one is the latest U.S. assessment of Iran, which certainly gave a much more complex view of what is happening there.

BBC Knew of Terrorist Activity, Didn't Tell Cops  —  Yes, the BBC can still cause our jaws to drop; the Times reports that the Beeb paid for a paintballing excursion as part of a program to make Muslims look cuddly and friendly called "Don't Panic, I'm Islamic."  —  Small problem.

Tancredo's newest ad: Immigrants are Child Rapists  —  With each new ad from Team Tancrazy, the level of hysteria gets ratcheted up one more notch.  —  Last month it was terrorists flooding over the southern border to blow up a shopping mall near you.  —  Now comes his newest ad …

OH, BOY!  —  *This story was updated Dec. 5.  —  Jeffrey Ray Nielsen—the well-connected Orange County conservative activist who claimed the so-called liberal media, specifically the Weekly, was out to get him by publishing a series of exposés on his pedophile activities …