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.

Giuliani Admitted to St. Louis Hospital … KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Republican Rudy Giuliani was admitted to a hospital Wednesday night for flu-like symptoms, his campaign said.  —  The former New York City mayor felt the symptoms while campaining for the Republican presidential nomination in Missouri …

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 …

Democrats in a dead heat in Iowa  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Just two weeks until the Iowa caucuses, the Democratic presidential candidates appear to be in a dead heat in the Hawkeye State, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll.  —  Thirty percent of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers support …

Bush rejects Bill Clinton idea  —  President Bush today rejected President Bill Clinton's idea of a diplomatic repair mission by the next Clinton administration as unnecessary, and predicted that Republicans will hold the White House, anyway.  —  “I believe we will keep the White House,” …

Official: Justice Dept. slowed probe into phone jamming  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over.

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 …

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.

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.

The Flavor of the Month  —  Having just returned from Iowa, I can report that the state is as flat, cold and snow-covered as ever.  It's also filled with a lot of political junkies and just plain decent folks who are beginning to focus on the quadrennial role they will play in picking the next president of the United States.

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.

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.