Obama, Huckabee lead new Iowa poll  —  Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee hold 9-point leads in Iowa with less than three weeks to go before the Jan. 3 caucuses, according to a new poll conducted for the Quad-City Times and other Lee Enterprises newspapers.

Mukasey Rejects Call for CIA Tape Details  —  Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey today sharply rebuffed congressional demands for details about the Justice Department's inquiry into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, saying that providing such information would make it appear that the department was …

Quote of the day  —  "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.  The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad.  My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does …

Huckabee Faces Old Queries in New Spotlight  —  When Mike Huckabee became lieutenant governor of Arkansas in 1993, he complained of being burdened by college tuition bills for his son, the expenses of two residences — one in Texarkana and the other in Little Rock — and the cost of commuting between the two.

Congress ramps up Iraq, Afghanistan spending  —  Defense authorization bill sent to Bush — without timetables  —  WASHINGTON - The Democratic-led Congress authorized more Iraq war spending on Friday, sending President Bush a defense bill requiring no change in strategy after failing again …

Did Immigration Ads Spark Link to Terror?  —  5th Grader Questions Obama, Making Immigration-Terror Link  —  When Iowa Democrat Tod Bowman got home Thursday night, he got an earful from his wife about what their fifth-grader had just done.  —  Earlier that day, their son, Beau Bowman …

The Right and Religion  —  It's amazing to me to watch Rich Lowry and Charles Krauthammer begin to panic at the signs of Christianism taking over the Republican party.  Where, one wonders, have they been for the past decade?  They have long pooh-poohed those of us who have been warning …

In China, Farming Fish in Toxic Waters  —  FUQING, China — Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West.

Schwarzenegger Will 'Declare Fiscal Emergency' In Weeks  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will declare a "fiscal emergency" in January to give him and the Legislature more power to deal with the state's growing deficit.  —  Schwarzenegger made the announcement Friday after meeting …

Wyoming's top Democrat: State's voters 'seem to hate' Hillary  —  SOUTH KOREAN parliament brawls over proposal to impeach prosecutors.

Campaigns Woo 3 Iowans for Paper's Endorsement  —  DES MOINES — The other day, as his sport utility vehicle idled outside, former President Bill Clinton held forth on a sofa in the publisher's suite at The Des Moines Register, explaining why he believed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton should win the newspaper's coveted endorsement.