Poll: Electability key among Democrats  —  WASHINGTON — Democratic voters increasingly are focused on nominating the most electable presidential candidate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama fares better than New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton against prospective Republican rivals.

Dems consider ousting Byrd as appropriations chair  —  A group of Senate Democrats has begun quietly exploring ways to replace the venerable Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, believing he's no longer physically up to the job …

The Obama-Clinton Issue  —  Hillary Clinton has been a much better senator than Barack Obama.  She has been a serious, substantive lawmaker who has worked effectively across party lines.  Obama has some accomplishments under his belt, but many of his colleagues believe that he has not bothered …

Romney Attended Planned Parenthood Fundraiser in 1994  —  ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: Mitt Romney attended a fund-raising reception for Planned Parenthood in 1994 in conjunction with a $150 donation his wife made to the organization — notwithstanding Romney's contention that he had …

House guts border fence  —  Update 1:20pm Eastern.  Omnibusting links the section of the bill containing the border-gutting.  —  Update 10:20am Eastern.  The fence gets robbed, but the spending bill gives $10 million in "emergency" funding for attorneys of illegal immigrants?!!?!

A Beauty Contest?  Have You Seen These Beauties?  —  Could one bad picture derail a presidential campaign?  Have political campaigns become the equivalent of beauty contests for both men and women, and if so, can women get a fair shake at an age where candidates have the requisite experience?

With Magic, HRC Thinks She's Got Her Groove Back  —  DES MOINES, Dec 18 — NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, joined Hillary and Bill Clinton at a Hy-Vee grocery store Tuesday morning, chatting up a mostly Black crowd of about 40 people, many of whom were high school and junior high school basketball players …

FBI, CIA Debate Significance of Terror Suspect  —  Agencies Also Disagree On Interrogation Methods  —  Al-Qaeda captive Abu Zubaida, whose interrogation videotapes were destroyed by the CIA, remains the subject of a dispute between FBI and CIA officials over his significance as a terrorism suspect …

Chris Matthews dismisses Carol Hunter of the Des Moines Register because of Hillary Clinton endorsement  —  Chris Matthews' obsession with Hillary Clinton in recent weeks got even more bizarre after he attacked Carol Hunter for endorsing Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party because she's a woman.

Ezra Levant: Censorship in the name of 'human rights'  —  'Drug dealers get the benefit of the Charter, but not pastors accused of homophobia'  —  The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) is taking Maclean's magazine to a human rights commission.  Their crime?

Stay Classy, Bob Kerrey  —  It's hard to express how odious I find Bob Kerrey.  His behavior as a Senator was entirely discreditable, and it's hard to see that he's done anything good in his life in non-Senator roles.  Keeping it up, he's now following up on his "Barack Hussein Obama" …

America's next top Democrat  —  COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — In the headlong rush to the Jan. 3 caucuses, the Democratic presidential race has become — bizarrely enough — a virtually issue-free zone.  Vanished from view are the public battles over Iraq and the skirmishing over whose healthcare plans provide universal coverage.

The Worst Debate in Western History, Remixed  —  After Fred Barnes called last week's moderator Nurse Ratched, I threw this together for fun, putting Carolyn Washburn's words in the good nurse's mouth.  Creepy isn't she?

A Stanton For the Saudis  —  "A court in country X sentenced a black man who had been severely beaten by white men to six months in jail and 200 lashes."  —  How would you react if you read that in a newspaper?  Shock, horror, anger at the regime in country X, no doubt.

How High is Up?  The Defense Budget gets even crazier  —  For those of you concerned about the state of US security—levees that don't collapse, for example, or bridges that don't fall into the Mississippi river, sit down before you see these numbers.  —  Last week, both houses …

Why Did Reid Pull the Telecom Bill?  —  I'd like to believe that Harry Reid pulled the telecom bill yesterday because members of the Senate actually did realize how shameless and horrifying their soliloquies on behalf of the poor beleaguered telecos made them sound, but I'm skeptical.