Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes  —  WASHINGTON — At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda …

Hard-liners for Jesus  —  As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party.  —  There's nothing new, of course, about the Christianization of the GOP.

For Clinton, A Matter of Fair Media  —  Senator's Camp Insists That the Press Holds Her To a Tougher Standard  —  After weeks of bad news, Hillary Clinton and her strategists hoped that winning the endorsement of Iowa's largest newspaper last weekend might produce a modest bump in their media coverage.

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 …

Fire hits building next door to White House  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Firefighters battled thick smoke and flames Wednesday inside the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, which houses the vice president's ceremonial offices.

NATIONAL ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL!  —  The woman linked to Presidential candidate John Edwards in a cheating scandal is more than six months pregnant and telling a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her unborn child, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

It's Edwards the Fighter in the Iowa Homestretch  —  OTTUMWA, Iowa — More than 150 Iowans were rustling in their chairs at a community college here the other night, waiting for John Edwards.  Mr. Edwards's bus was parked and running outside the door, but it was nearly 45 minutes before he finally …

Clinton tops field among Democrats  —  America's next president must be a leader.  —  America's next president must be a healer.  —  America's next president must be an agent of genuine change.  —  When New Hampshire Democrats and nonaligned voters planning to vote in the Democratic primary …

Rush to Judgment  —  One of my male colleagues was explaining why men age better than women.  —  “It's evolutionary,” he said.  “As we wear out our wives, who are running around taking care of the kids, we know we're going to have to get another younger wife, so we stay good-looking.”

No. 1 Book, and It Offers Solutions  —  In 1967, Jack Wennberg, a young medical researcher at Johns Hopkins, moved his family to a farmhouse in northern Vermont.  —  Dr. Wennberg had been chosen to run a new center based at the University of Vermont that would examine medical care in the state.

How Many Degrees Of Separation?  —  Blogosphere buzz today centers on a Drudge story regarding alleged marital infidelity for a major contender in the Democratic presidential primaries.  The story comes from the National Enquirer, so the reliability of the information seems rather debatable.

Strategy that is making Iraq safer was snubbed for years  —  When Army Capt. Jeremy Gwinn's company patrolled Baghdad in 2005, the approach toward roadside bombs was simple: avoid them or die.  —  By early 2006, that strategy had begun to shift: Instead of hunting for the bombs, the soldiers hunted for bombmakers.

Inside a GOP effort to rig the 2002 New Hampshire elections  —  WASHINGTON — A former GOP political operative who ran an illegal election-day scheme to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democrats during the state's tight 2002 U.S. Senate election said in a new book and an interview …