McCain closing gap with Romney  —  In N.H. poll, Obama inches ahead of Clinton  —  Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination was all but dead this summer, has made a dramatic recovery in the Granite State 2 1/2 weeks before the 2008 vote …

Edwards and Romney Highlight Parties' Views of Wealth  —  A fascinating NYT profile shows how John Edwards and Mitt Romney became very wealthy circa 1984 and drew very different lessons from it. … Now, in fairness, the two men came from very different social backgrounds to begin with …

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.

Times Democratic caucus endorsement: Hillary Clinton passes the test  —  Hillary Clinton passes test after test after test.  This Clinton arrived for the caucus campaign with much, much more experience than the first Clinton to stump across Iowa.  In campaign speeches and in an interview …

Iraqi villagers battle to hold off Al-Qaeda  —  Marie Colvin reports from Diyala province on the desperate battle to fend off an extremist surge  —  THIS is the front line of the war with Al-Qaeda.  In other parts of Iraq their fighters are like ghosts, using car bombs and remotely triggered mines …

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 …

It's about Hillary, stupid  —  Something was bugging me, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  Then it hit me.  While I was reading about the campaign, the realization came like a thunderbolt: I'm tired of Bill Clinton.  —  Tired of his half-truths and full lies about where he stood on Iraq.

Hillary's Hidden Hand  —  The former First Lady says her years in the White House give her unmatched experience.  A Clinton biographer assesses her powerful behind-the-scenes role.  —  Charles Ommanney / Getty Images for Newsweek  —  Taking the Lead: After years of counseling Bill, she is now in charge

International Brigades  —  I had sort of guessed that this “war on Christmas” business was one of those only in America things, but according to Polly Toynbee you've got the same BS over in the UK, where the Rev Jules Gomes explains that: … As I've said, I'm not a huge fan of Dawkins' work …

Obama: ‘A common good and a higher interest’  —  The morning of Jan. 20, 1961, dawned under a bright sky.  Despite a heavy snow, the blinding sun's reflection forced poet Robert Frost, 86, to put aside the copy of the inaugural poem he had prepared and instead recite from memory “A Gift Outright.”