For or Against Presidential Candidates  —  Clinton and Romney Have Highest Level of Core Opposition Among Leading Candidates  —  Among the leading Presidential candidates, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have the highest level of core opposition among voters.

Obama hits Edwards on 527 group  —  In Oskaloosa this morning, in response to a questioner who said he saw Hillary fading and the choice as being between Obama and Edwards, the Illinois senator suggested that outside spending on Edwards' behalf is part of a broader pattern with his rival.

Huck offers olive branch to Rush, asks for him to get in touch  —  SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The best-talking Republican politician in America has a message for the best-talking conservative voice in the country: Let's talk to one another.  —  Mike Huckabee, taking questions from reporters …

What Choice Was There?  —  The Washington Post reports this morning that Hillary Clinton has reached the earth-shaking conclusion that she has to embrace her husband in her campaign to win the presidency in 2008.  Apparently, this strategy created controversy in her campaign despite …

SIMON SAYS....In the annals of unconvincing excuses, this one is now quickly rising into gold medal territory.  The question is why the CIA never turned over its interrogration videotapes to the 9/11 Commission: … So let's review:  — The 9/11 Commission was an official investigative body chartered …

FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics  —  $1 Billion Project to Include Images of Irises and Faces  —  CLARKSBURG, W. Va. — The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give …

A Request for Clemency Leads to a Political Issue for Huckabee  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It took a jury less than 15 minutes to convict Eugene Fields of driving while intoxicated, his fourth such conviction in less than five years.  Mr. Fields, whose pickup crashed after he drank 12 beers …

Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950  —  A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

Why Inexperience Matters  —  The AP takes a look at the political development of Barack Obama, and it's hard not to look at it as an apprenticeship.  His position changes don't count as flip-flops in the same sense that a teenager's infatuation with radical politics changes with some maturity.

Gen. David Petraeus, Man of the Year  —  Time magazine got it wrong.  —  I remember the excitement.  It was the week before Christmas a year ago, and I had lazily picked up my copy of Time magazine.  And there it was: Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is “You."  —  Wow!

Destroying CIA Tapes Deserves a Thank You  —  His name isn't yet familiar to most Americans, but I expect it will be by the end of 2008: Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. He is the man, according to recent press reports, who ordered the destruction of interrogation tapes made by the CIA …

Huck vows to review controversial shooting  —  Mike Huckabee vowed in Iowa Saturday that one of his first actions as president would be to review what he called the “absurd” convictions of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean - and suggested he might pardon them immediately.

The Eggnog Factor  —  Often, I will describe the success or failure of a candidate in terms of the “beer factor” — whether voters would want to have a beer and a conversation with a contender or not.  This measure transcends partisanship.  I'd rather have a beer and a chat with Bill Clinton …