White House asks NYT to remove sub-headline from CIA tape story  —  The White House on Wednesday took the rare step of publicly asking The New York Times to change the sub-headline of a story on the destruction of CIA tapes showing the interrogations of suspected terrorists.

UPDATE: NATIONAL ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL!  —  Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered.  —  The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to Edwards …

Fire in Cheney's Office Causes Leftists to Rant Uncontrollably  —  There was a fire in Dick Cheney's office this morning, and as usual the leftist blogosphere is brimming over with lunatic ranting.  —  At Think Progress, the Morlocks who inhabit their comments are sure this is a ploy to cover up the destroying of documents.

A Real Edwards Surge  —  Is John Edwards's surge a media-created phenomenon, a collective reaction formation to the media's desire to see a three-person race, or guilt for building up Barack Obama?  Does the media really have that power?  —  Or are we seeing something more organic?

That Rasmussen Poll...  ...in Iowa suggests that John McCain — not Fred Thompson — is becoming the choice of disaffected Huckaboomers.  McCain has picked up six points since the last survey, Huckabee has lost 11.  Romney has gained four.  Fred has gained nothing.

Tancredo to get out?  —  Tom Tancredo has scheduled a press conference in Des Moines tomorrow afternoon to make a “major announcement regarding the campaign,” according to a media advisory his campaign sent out today.  —  Asked whether Tancredo intended to drop out of the race …

Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged  —  WAVERLY, Iowa — When is retail politics not retail politics?  When candidates refuse to get off their big buses and go do it.  —  Fred Thompson rolled into this small town on the Cedar River in north-central Iowa on a giant brown bus Tuesday.

Cafferty Files: Wazzup with Family Values in '08?  —  James Dobson won't be happy about this story.  USA TODAY says that in this election cycle [family values ] the religious right doesn't have the umph...it once did.  I guess bashing gays is out for 2008.  Hey, James—where's Karl Rove when you need him?

All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord, Study Shows  —  Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of “occupying forces” as the key to national reconciliation …

Person of the Year: Vladimir Putin  —  A Tsar Is Born  —  No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's.  The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved …

Torture Tapes are the Watergate of Our Times  —  As I write these words on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 19, high- and low-level officials of the Bush administration involved in torture, and the destruction of the torture tapes, are consulting their criminal lawyers as The New York Times reports …

“Mitt Romney...Helped Save My Daughter”  —  At first blush, this seems like a genuinely great campaign ad — the story of how Mitt Romney basically closed down his business, Bain Capital, in 1996 when the daughter of one of his partners went missing in New York City and Romney sent dozens …

Dennis Kucinich's 52-year-old brother found dead  —  Perry Kucinich, 52, was found dead in his home in the 4100 block of East 71st Street.  —  His brother Larry found him about 9 a.m. There were no signs of violence, officials said.  The Cuyahoga County Coroner is performing an autopsy this hour.