Bill Kristol To Become New York Times Columnist In 2008  —  The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008.  Kristol, a prominent neo-conservative who recently departed …

Crisis Overseas Is Sudden Test for Candidates  —  WEBSTER CITY, Iowa — For the presidential candidates, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has emerged as a ghoulish sort of test: a chance to project leadership and competence — or not — on a fast-moving and nuanced foreign policy issue.

Huckabee Slipping  —  WASHINGTON — While public polls show Mike Huckabee leading Mitt Romney in Iowa, a new survey of an oversized sample shows Huckabee slipping and no longer ahead of Romney.  —  A private corporate interest commissioned a phone bank survey of 15,000 Iowans …

Invisible Blogger  —  The sidewalks of Harlem's main thoroughfares are wide and inviting, and in the 1960s the kids playing “boxball” shared the asphalt squares with some of the greatest orators in creation.  The most famous spot for speechifying was the “Speakers' Corner” …

Bush claims Senate's pro forma sessions don't count  —  That veto George W. Bush threatened of the Defense authorization bill?  The one with the troops' pay raise in it?  —  He hasn't even got the stones to put his signature to it: … That's right, civics fans: Bush is claiming this is a …

John Edwards: Obama 'Living in Never-Never Land'?  —  Edwards Criticizes Rivals as the Campaign in Iowa Enters the Home Stretch  —  In a wide-ranging, free-wheeling interview with Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards with ABC News Friday afternoon, the former North Carolina senator labeled …

Lott's Mississippi Senate Successor Gets Named on Monday  —  There will be a New Year's Eve Senate name-dropping in Mississippi, when Republican Gov. Haley Barbour is scheduled to announce his appointee as the interim replacement to resigned Republican Sen. Trent Lott.

Kucinich backers mad over Pizza Hut ad  —  A new Pizza Hut ad (see YouTube video above) that uses slices of presidential debate commentary to tout a cut-rate pizza deal has angered backers of Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich.  —  “Are people seeing lower prices now?” …

Giuliani, Seeking to Gain Ground, Returns to a Familiar Theme: 9/11  —  FORT DODGE, Iowa — With his campaign hitting a rocky patch just before the first votes are cast, Rudolph W. Giuliani is returning to the themes that transformed him from a lame-duck mayor of New York City …

The Amateurs' Hour  —  Is the Internet destroying our culture, or is it just annoying our snobs?  —  The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture, by Andrew Keen, New York: Currency, 228 pages, $22.95  —  Andrew Keen's website claims, without a hint of humility …

Activists want Bush, Cheney subject to arrest  —  MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP) — President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes.  —  A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda …

Gen. Clark on Obama's Attack on Hillary  —  Gen. Wesley Clark today: … Here's another tidbit of information.  On December 12, 2007, Katie Couric asked the candidates which country frightened them the most.  Barack Obama answered “Iran."  Hillary answered “Pakistan."  From the transcript (available on Lexis.com):

Bolton denies he is a Huckabee adviser  —  In recent days, Mike Huckabee has tried to answer long-standing questions about who is on his foreign policy team.  On Friday morning, he listed former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as someone with whom he either has “spoken or will continue to speak.”

Topless Woman Lured Perverts in Police Sting  —  Firefighter Busted for Exposing Himself to Sunbather Appeals ‘Entrapment’ Conviction  —  Law enforcement officials say that sting operations like these are an extremely effective means of lowering crime rates and stopping the criminally minded before they commit worse offenses.

China Lets Currency Appreciate a Bit Faster  —  HONG KONG — China's currency rose steeply against the dollar this week, feeding speculation that Chinese authorities, yielding to international pressure and economic realities at home, were allowing their currency to appreciate more rapidly.

News flash for Osama bin Laden  —  Here's a news flash for Osama bin Laden, who earlier today released a call " to guerrilla forces in Mesopotamia. “  —  I have directly observed how more and more Iraqis have grown to hate al Qaeda as much as Americans do.