Can't Anyone Play This Here Game?  —  If any presidential primary ever exemplified None Of The Above, it's the one inflicted on us now.  According to Rasmussen, everyone gets a negative favorability rating in this race — and I mean everyone (via Memeorandum):

2 Candidates, 2 Fortunes, 2 Views of Wealth  —  By the final weeks of 1984, well before either turned 40, John Edwards and Mitt Romney had already built successful careers.  But the two men were each on the verge of an entirely new level of financial success.

Romney should not be the next president  —  December 22.  —  If you were building a Republican presidential candidate from a kit, imagine what pieces you might use: an athletic build, ramrod posture, Reaganesque hair, a charismatic speaking style and a crisp dark suit.

A Résumé Can't Buy You Love  —  WE can only imagine what is going on inside John McCain's head when he contemplates Mike Huckabee.  It can't be pretty.  No presidential candidate in either party has more experience in matters of war than the Arizona senator …

Pakistan's Islamic Parties Struggle for Support  —  5 Years After Sweep In NW Province, Backers Frustrated  —  PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In 2002, Ibrar Hussein voted for an Islamic takeover.  —  Fed up both with Pakistan's military-led government and with the mainstream, secular opposition …

Savior or Saboteur?  —  Once it was about Hillary, but now, of course, it's about Bill.  —  Our ubiquitous ex-president is playing his favorite uxorious game, and it goes like this: Let's create chaos and then get out of it together.  You ride to my rescue or I ride to yours.

Splintered GOP Seeks Unifying Presence  —  DES MOINES — For three decades, the Republican presidential nominating contest has served to unify the national party's coalition of social, economic and foreign policy conservatives in advance of a general election fight with Democrats.

How the Queen got well connected  —  In a bid to appeal to the internet generation, the royals launch their own YouTube channel  —  The Queen has taken a bold stride into cyberspace by launching her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.  The Royal Channel launches today …

Iran Cited In Iraq's Decline in Violence  —  Order From Tehran Reined In Militias, U.S. Official Says  —  The Iranian government has decided “at the most senior levels” to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq, a move reflected in a sharp decrease in sophisticated roadside bomb attacks …

In Britain, A Respected, If Rowdy, Holiday Ritual  —  LONDON — Just before midnight, the well-dressed, 25-year-old financial trader arrived by ambulance at the makeshift hospital tent pitched at a train station in central London.  Blood oozed from his scalp, staining his elegant pink-striped shirt.

The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All  —  CapQ readers want to have an eggnog with him, and now we know why.  Fred Thompson just released the best Christmas ad in this cycle, one in which no one will find floating crosses, holiday fruitcake, downer lighting, and especially tone-deaf “gifts” …

Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies  —  From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:  —  NEVADA, IOWA — John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change …

WHEN A CLAIM BECOMES OFFENSIVE  —  Two women contacted the Mitt Romney campaign this week, offering their memories of seeing Romney's father march with Martin Luther King Jr., in Grosse Point Michigan in 1963.  Campaign officials were well aware that the women were mistaken.

Candidates on executive power: a full spectrum  —  They assess use of signing statements  —  WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain says that if he is elected president, he would consider himself bound to obey treaties because they are “the law of the land."  But Mitt Romney says he would …

Bill Clinton: Hillary's Political Boon Or Political Albatross?  —  To many, the 2000 Presidential election was really about “the Bush restoration” — bringing back the Bushes after the unseemly interruption of Democrat Bill Clinton's Presidency.  And now there are growing signs that the 2008 primary …