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 …

Rudy Giuliani comments on the outrage of NYC Firefighters: “radio malfunctions”  —  Rudy will be dogged by the firefighters until the race is over and he should be.  Check out his response to some of their major problems with Rudy on ABC's THIS WEEK which include his handling of their radios …

Ron Paul on Meet the Press: Liveblogging  —  10:32: Russert points out that the income tax repeal would cost $1 trillion.  Paul: “That's good."  —  10:33: How much would we save if we pull our troops out of every overseas post?  The first of many gotchas, but Paul is ready: More than a trillion dollars.

SUNNI AWAKENING UPDATE....I've mentioned a few times before that our “bottoms up” strategy of supporting Sunni tribes in the provinces surrounding Baghdad carries a number of risks.  The biggest risk, I suppose, is that once the tribes finally feel safe from the threat of al-Qaeda in Iraq …

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 …

William “The Bloody” Makes His New Year's Predictions  —  Somebody has been hitting the eggnog really hard.  William “The Bloody” Kristol makes his predictions for the coming year.  They would be scary if they weren't just so completely ridiculous, but at least Kristol is continuing his habit of being completely and utterly wrong.

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

Concord Monitor: ‘Not Romney’  —  CONCORD, N.H. — Newspapers have an historical tradition of endorsing candidates in political races, offering their readers long arguments why they should support a candidate.  But something quite extraordinary could be found on the opinion page of the Concord Monitor Sunday morning.

Obama mocks Edwards on 527  —  Obama cheerfully pressed his attack against John Edwards in a diner in West Des Moines this morning, suggesting that the plans for independent spending on his behalf either reveal his rival as a hypocrite or call into question his ability to govern.