Clinton Launches Obama Attack Web Sites  —  Clinton Campaign Registered Names of Two Web Sites to Attack Ill. Senator  —  ABC News has learned that the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has registered the names of two Web sites with the express goal of attacking her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Senior Qaeda Theologian Urges His Followers To End Their Jihad  —  WASHINGTON — One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims."  —  In a serialized manifesto written …

Giuliani Has Decided to Zag While the Other Candidates Zig  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Fred D. Thompson all stumped in Iowa on Wednesday, 15 days before its caucuses.  Senator John McCain campaigned in New Hampshire, 20 days before its primary.  —  And Rudolph W. Giuliani?

Kerrey apologizes to Obama for Muslim comments  —  (CNN) — Former Sen. Bob Kerrey sent a letter to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday in which he apologized for raising the issue of the Illinois senator's Muslim heritage on the campaign trail several days ago.

Romney fields questions on King  —  Campaign says claim not literal  —  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he watched his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, in a 1960s civil rights march in Michigan with Martin Luther King Jr.

Ron Paul's thought-provoking choice on racist's $$$  —  You have to hand it to Ron Paul.  Most presidential candidates who weren't running as white supremacists themselves would reflexively return a donation from a self-proclaimed racist so fast they would break speed records for financial transactions.

Huckabee: Romney's campaign in ‘desperate position’  —  IOWA (CNN) — Republican Mike Huckabee is going on the offensive in response to presidential rival Mitt Romney's latest attack: that as Arkansas governor, he was too lenient on the state's criminals.  —  At Iowa campaign stops Wednesday …

Welcome to America  —  Via Andrew Sullivan, a young Icelandic woman recounts her experiences with the new home of the free: … You see, in 1995 she overstayed a visa for three weeks.  I remember standing in the Reykjavik airport on a security line with my shoes off, held in my left hand …

Now the Okie Napoleon is banning ‘Christmas’  —  Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson drew national scorn earlier this year when he arrested Paul Jacob of the Sam Adams Alliance and two colleagues on trumped-up charges that they violated a discredited state law requiring all circulators …

Crackdown has illegal immigrants leaving Arizona  —  NOGALES, Sonora - It's a common scene this time of year: streams of overloaded cars, pickups and vans with U.S. license plates crossing into Mexico for the holidays.  —  Most are filled with Hispanic families from Arizona and other states …

Baptists Not on Board  —  When Mike Huckabee went to Houston on Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved presidential candidacy, a luncheon for the ordained Baptist minister was arranged by evangelical Christians.  On hand was Judge Paul Pressler, a hero to Southern Baptist Convention reformers.

Torture house, mass graves discovered in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Coalition forces found 26 bodies buried in mass graves and a bloodstained “torture complex,” with chains hanging from walls and ceilings and a bed connected to an electrical system, the military said Wednesday.

MBIA Bond Risk Soars on $8.1 Billion CDO Disclosure  —  Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) — MBIA Inc. tumbled the most since 1987, and the risk of default soared after the world's biggest bond insurer revealed that it guarantees $8.1 billion of collateralized debt obligations repackaging other CDOs and securities linked to subprime mortgages.