Fred Wins, Iowa Loses  —  Why Carolyn Washburn should keep her day job.  —  HERE WE WERE on Wednesday, a nation of political junkies gathered around our televisions to watch the candidates debate each other one last time, and we had as a moderator one Carolyn Washburn, the editor of the Des Moines Register.

Clinton N.H. Official Warns Obama Will Be Attacked on Drug Use  —  Bill Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire co-chair.  (AP).  —  DOVER, N.H. — Billy Shaheen, the co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign in New Hampshire, raised the issue of Sen. Barack Obama's past admissions of drug use …

Deal would give Bush victory on war funding  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic lawmakers and staffers privately say they're closing in on a broad budget deal that would give President Bush as much as $70 billion in new war funding.  —  The deal would lack a key provision Democrats had attached …

Muslim helps Jews attacked on New York subway  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — A Muslim man jumped to the aid of three Jewish subway riders after they were attacked by a group of young people who objected to one of the Jews saying "Happy Hanukkah," a spokeswoman for the three said Wednesday.

First Take: The Final Republican Debate  —  The headline is that no one laid a glove on Mike Huckabee.  And that Mitt Romney had a hell of a good afternoon.  He seemed more sinewy than usual, less programmed, quite (dare we say) presidential, and even-tempered.

Personal Presidential Elimination Process: The Case Against Mike Huckabee  —  In my continuing quest to decide which (if any) of the GOP candidates to support in the 2008 Presidential primaries, we come back to the case of Mike Huckabee.  I've joked in the past about never giving Hope …

MORE ON THE HUCK....Ross Douthat has more on the fact that Mike Huckabee is basically just making stuff up as he goes along and plainly doesn't have clue about most of the things he's asked about.  Economic policy?  How about a 30% sales tax?  Foreign policy?

The Cartoon Mitt Romney Doesn't Want You To See [VIDEO]  —  Posted by Oliver Willis, Oliver Willis.com at 4:32 AM on December 12, 2007.  —  That it's got over 500,000 views on YouTube can't help someone like Mitt Romney  —  I don't know enough about Mormon theology to know if this bit …

Scrooges on the Hill: Saying no to Christmas resolution  —  From the office of GOP Rep. Steve King:  —  Congressman Steve King reacted this morning to the nine "NO" votes on his resolution to honor Christmas and the Christian faith.  The vote shocked Capitol Hill observers because votes …

Update on Ratings of Bush, Congress  —  Thirty-seven percent approve of Bush, 22% of Congress  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll, conducted Dec. 6-9, finds 37% of Americans approving of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, an improvement from his recent scores in the low 30s.