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 …

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 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.

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?

New York Times in Iraq: "Blackwater shot our dog"  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Iraq is investigating another deadly shooting incident involving its Blackwater bodyguards — this time of the New York Times's dog.  —  Staff at the newspaper's Baghdad bureau …

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.

Little Outrage Over Student Beating at Princeton University  —  Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:  —  Silent Night  —  Conservative students and faculty at Princeton University are questioning the absence of campus and community outrage — following the beating …

Mormons Back Romney — in Iowa  —  Support Could Give  —  Presidential Hopeful An Edge in Close Race  —  BETTENDORF, Iowa — Pam Garner brought two of her four children and some homemade mint-chocolate-chip cookies to a town-hall meeting here last week with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

New Fred Thompson Video: Kill.  Protect.  Punch.  —  If Fred wants to win the election, all he has to do is put this in constant rotation in Iowa and his victory would be guaranteed...or he would actually drop into last place.  One or the other.

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 …

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 …

MIKE EYES '08 TEAM  —  AIDES SOUND OUT ADVISERS FOR RUN  —  Mayor Bloomberg's aides have been reaching out to consultants from his past campaigns about whether they are free for a possible 2008 White House bid - including one who helped make his slick mayoral TV spots, The Post has learned.

Elder Bush nixes Clinton trip idea  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former President George H.W. Bush has shot down his successor Bill Clinton's idea of a diplomatic mission under a Hillary Clinton presidency that would send him and other notables abroad to assure other nations that "America is open for business and cooperation again."

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 …