Huckabee Surges, Obama Gains in Iowa  —  The new NEWSWEEK poll shows the former Arkansas governor now has a two-to-one lead over Romney, while Barack improves against Hillary.  —  Yana Paskova / Getty Images  —  Looking Up: Huckabee now seems unstoppable in the Iowa caucuses

C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes  —  White House and Justice Department officials, along with senior members of Congress, advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 against a plan to destroy hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda, government officials said Friday.

Just 18% Believe Iran has Stopped Nuclear Weapons Development Program  —  Just 18% of American voters believe that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 66% disagree and say Iran has not stopped its nuclear weapons program.

Hill Close To Deal on War Funds  —  Plan Includes Boost In Domestic Spending  —  House Democratic leaders could complete work as soon as Monday on a half-trillion-dollar spending package that will include billions of dollars for the war effort in Iraq without the timelines for the withdrawal …

Secretary Calls Iran a Threat to Regional Security  —  Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates declared today that Iran is a grave threat to regional security, even without nuclear weapons, and called on Tehran to account for the full range of intelligence describing its support for terrorism and instability around the world.

Whitehouse Reveals Smoking Gun of White House Claiming Not to Be Bound by Any Law  —  Damn, I love me some Sheldon Whitehouse.  He, like, actually knows the law.  And he, like, is willing to actually read the stuff he is exercising oversight over.  —  Which is why this speech he gave today …

O'Reilly: Progressive blog readers = 'devil worshippers.'  —  On Fox News yesterday, Bill O'Reilly let loose on "far-left websites" like DailyKos, stating, "If you read these far-left websites, you're a devil worshipper.  You are."  O'Reilly's ombudsman responded, "As a journalist, you know better than that."

Site of Barack-Oprah event isn't unionized  —  MANCHESTER - Barack Obama's presidential campaign deeply concerned organized labor by booking its big rally Sunday with superstar Oprah Winfrey at the Verizon Wireless Arena.  —  A union representing organized stage hands have been trying unsuccessfully …

Penn Endorses Kucinich For President In SF  —  Sr. Advisor Confirms Endorsement To NBC11  —  Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn endorsed Dennis Kucinich for president in San Francisco Friday.  —  Penn made what had been billed as a "major political statement" at San Francisco State University.

Former 'No Nukes' Protester: Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Power  —  The only way to rescue our plug-hungry planet from catastrophic global warming is to embrace nuclear power, and fast.  —  That's the argument of Gwyneth Cravens, a novelist, journalist and former nuke protester.

Clinton Team Turns Iowa Focus to Women  —  DES MOINES — Seeking to steady her campaign in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will bring a wave of prominent women to blanket the state and target female voters in the final weeks before its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Why we stay mute on Islamic sex apartheid  —  US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton last week urged President George W. Bush to call on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to drop all charges against a 19-year-old Saudi woman who had been gang-raped at knifepoint …

Jim McCrery to announce retirement  —  Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, is planning to retire, according to GOP insiders.  —  The 58-year-old McCrery was first elected to the House in 1986, and he would have taken over the powerful Ways …

Iran Curveball  —  This latest intelligence fiasco is Mr. Bush's fault.  —  President Bush has been scrambling to rescue his Iran policy after this week's intelligence switcheroo, but the fact that the White House has had to spin so furiously is a sign of how badly it has bungled this episode.

MIKE HUCKABEE'S SUNDAY SCHOOL FOREIGN POLICY  —  Earlier this week, I compared Mike Huckabee's stated approach to foreign policy to that of Jimmy Carter.  The more I learn about Huckabee, the more I think I may have been unfair to Carter (Carter the president, that is; not the Carter of today).