DEM RACE TIGHTER THAN EVER; HUCKABEE SURGE CONTINUES  —  From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro  —  If the first round of MSNBC/McClatchy/Mason-Dixon presidential state  —  polls are any indication, we're in for a wild ride these next six weeks.

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002  —  Intelligence Panels' Chiefs Did Not Then Protest CIA Technique  —  In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody.

There Are Flops, And Then There Is "Redacted"  —  Brian De Palma's "Redacted," the Iraqi war movie that won the best director prize at the Venice Film Festival but has been dismissed as loathsome and awful in other circles, has been in theaters - okay, 15 theaters - nationwide for three weeks now.

Bolton calls report on Iran quasi-putsch  —  The former ambassador to the U.N. says the the latest intelligence estimate is meant not to inform but to influence policy.  —  BERLIN — U.S. intelligence services attempted to influence political policy by releasing their assessment …

As a Republican, I'm on the Fringe  —  Are university faculties biased toward the left?  And is this diminishing universities' role in American public life?  Conservatives have been saying so since William F. Buckley Jr. wrote "God and Man at Yale" — in 1951.

ABC's "Man in the Middle" isn't.  —  After a whirlwind highly-qualified-contrition* tour of the media, the man who credits himself with convincing Karl Rove to move all the way to the right because the center no longer exists has landed at ABC News.  Predictably, he's going to be providing us with his bipartisan view from the center.

Shas minister: Americans' attitude to report reminiscent of Auschwitz  —  Yitzhak Cohen says during cabinet meeting 'US intelligence report was ordered by someone who wants dialogue with Tehran.  Minister Eli Yishai: 'We must not play dumb in the face of the report's findings'

Reshaping the Debate on Raising Taxes  —  POWERFUL anti-tax rhetoric has made legislators at every level of government afraid to talk publicly about a need to raise taxes.  The constituents of the few who dare speak are typically bombarded with attack ads that go something like this …

Huckabee Steps Up TV Ads  —  Laura Meckler reports on the presidential campaign.  —  Mike Huckabee, his fund-raising robust and poll numbers climbing, is stepping up his television advertising.  Two new ads hit the Iowa airwaves Monday, and he goes on the air for the first time in both New Hampshire and South Carolina.

BUSHIES GAIN ACCESS TO NBC AIRWAVES  —  For quite a while, it seemed as if the only political ads that were rejected by television networks came from the left.  Last week, for example, Fox News rejected an ad from the Center for Constitutional Rights about the administration's torture because …

U.S. attorney firings open doors for the 9  —  A year ago, a Justice Department scandal forced them into new careers.  Despite some bitterness, they've landed on their feet.  —  WASHINGTON — Daniel Bogden had just settled back into his office in Las Vegas early last December after a trip …

Andrew Young: Obama too young for White House  —  Civil rights leader and former Carter Administration U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young says 46-year-old Barack Obama is too young to be president and lacks the network of political allies that can provide important support for a national leader.