Judiciary approves contempt resolutions  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved contempt resolutions against Karl Rove, the former top aide to President Bush, and Joshua Bolten, the current White House chief of staff.  The vote was 12-8.  —  The criminal contempt resolutions now move …

Clinton insiders question top aide's approach  —  Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks at a "town hall meeting" in San Francisco December 11.  (McClatchy-Tribune / December 11, 2007)  —  DES MOINES - On the eve of the final Iowa debate before the Jan. 3 caucuses …

Shaheen Resigns from Clinton Campaign  —  New Hampshire pol and co-chair quits over Wednesday's drug comment.  —  "I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down ...." Read his full statement.  —  Earlier: CLINTON PERSONALLY APOLOGIZES TO OBAMA OVER DRUG FLAP

Mitchell report: Baseball slow to react to players' steroids use  —  NEW YORK — George Mitchell's 20-month report into steroid use in professional baseball blamed both players and management for the problem.  —  Mitchell addressed the media and released his report Thursday.

Dumond goes viral UPDATE  —  Mike Huckabee's advocacy of rapist/killer Wayne Dumond's release has hit YouTube in a piece Talking Points Memo terms brutal in the course of looking into its provenance.  The mother of Dumond's Missouri murder victim is featured.  —  An Arkansas Republican, Keith Emis, takes responsibility.

Subpoenas for Al Sharpton's aides  —  Teams of federal agents swooped down on up to 10 close associates of the Rev. Al Sharpton Wednesday, demanding the flamboyant clergyman's financial records since 2001.  —  Sharpton's former chief of staff said he was roused at his Harlem home about 6:30 …

A dream comes true: USASpending.gov goes live today  —  Nearly eight years ago, Bill Beach, director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis, and I invited Gary Bass of OMB Watch over for a chat about the possibility of our two organizations collaborating in an effort to put all federal spending on the Internet.

Secular Europe's Merits  —  The cathedral here, on which work began in the 12th century, was once the largest in Scotland, until a mob of reformers bent on eradicating lavish manifestations of "Popery" ransacked the place in 1559, leaving gulls to swoop through the surviving facade.

C.I.A. Agents Sense Shifting Support for Methods  —  WASHINGTON — For six years, Central Intelligence Agency officers have worried that someday the tide of post-Sept. 11 opinion would turn, and their harsh treatment of prisoners from Al Qaeda would be subjected to hostile scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution.

Misreading the Iran Report  —  The extraordinary spectacle of the president's national security adviser obliged to defend the president's Iran policy against a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) raises two core issues: How are we now to judge the nuclear threat posed by Iran?

Democratic Debate: First Take  —  Everyone had a good debate.  —  (Campaign pull-quote compilers, take note.)  —  But who did best?  The audience is undecided Democratic caucus goers.  Who stood out?  Who was different?  Who seemed most presidential?  Who parlayed their strengths?

Live-Blogging The Democrats  —  What's this?  Heading Right covering a Democratic debate?  Sure!  It's the last major debate before the Iowa caucus, and we'll take a conservative perspective on what's happening on the Left.  I'll blog this in reverse-chronological order …