The Pulpit and the Potemkin Village  —  Would Reagan survive in today's GOP?  And is Mrs. Clinton in for a fall this winter?  —  What is happening in Iowa is no longer boring but big, and may prove huge.  —  The Republican race looks—at the moment—to be determined primarily by one thing, the question of religious faith.

Code Huckabee  —  Is the thought of Mike Huckabee as president just vaguely scary?  Or have we learned enough about the man that we should be hair-on-fire alarmed at the prospect, still pretty remote, that he could actually win?  —  True, none of his opponents for the Republican nomination inspires much confidence.

Paul foots bill for Huckabee critics' trips  —  LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Two former Republican legislators from Mike Huckabee 's home state are in Iowa this week criticizing Huckabee's record on immigration and taxes on trips paid for by Ron Paul, one of Huckabee's Republican presidential rivals.

An Overdose of Public Piety  —  Mitt Romney declares, "Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."  Barack Obama opens his speech at his South Carolina Oprah rally with "Giving all praise and honor to God.  Look at the day that the Lord has made."

Exclusive: Eyewitness Account of Huge Taliban Defeat  —  Afghanistan's government flag was raised Wednesday on what had been one of the biggest strongholds of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and a leading world center of heroin production.  —  The town of about 45,000 people was secured …