Thompson: Doesn't like campaign process, ‘will not be devastated’ if he loses  —  Bill Theobald of Gannett News Service has been following Republican Fred Thompson around Iowa.  In a dispatch today from Burlington, Bill quotes the former Tennessee senator as saying he doesn't like modern campaigning …

Paul: Fox News is ‘scared of me’  —  PLAISTOW, N.H. — Ron Paul said the decision to exclude him from a debate on Fox News Sunday the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary is proof that the network “is scared” of him.  —  “They are scared of me and don't want my message to get out …

Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid  —  First, Main Candidates Urged To Plan ‘Unity’ Government  —  New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans …

Hillary Clinton is the Democrats' best choice  —  December 29.  —  Immediately after taking office, President Hillary Clinton would begin preparations to withdraw American troops from Iraq.  —  She would send a message to world leaders that the United States intends to rejoin the community of nations.

Courting Iowa's Undecided Voters With a Late Push  —  CLINTON, Iowa — On the final weekend before Iowa's presidential caucuses, the Democratic contenders tangled over electability Saturday as the leading Republican candidates delivered fresh attacks on their rivals, hoping to nudge undecided voters …

Obama Derides Outside Spending  —  For much of the last week, Barack Obama has alleged that the series of independent organizations spending money on behalf of his main Democratic rivals in Iowa raise real questions about those candidates' commitment to serious reform of the political process.

Kristol Mess?  It's Official —'NYT' Explains Hiring New ‘Op-Ed’ Wag  —  NEW YORK A day after the Huffington Post first reported it, The New York Times has announced that it has indeed hired conservative pundit, and Fox News analyst, Bill Kristol, as a new regular op-ed columnist.

2007 DMN Texan of the Year: The Illegal Immigrant  —  He is at the heart of a great culture war in Texas - and the nation, credited with bringing us prosperity and blamed for abusing our resources.  How should we deal with this stranger among us?  —  He breaks the law by his very presence.

Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image  —  WASHINGTON — If Abu Zubaydah, a senior operative of Al Qaeda, died in American hands, Central Intelligence Agency officers pursuing the terrorist group knew that much of the world would believe they had killed him.

Huckabee Has Heart, And It May Be Enough  —  INDIANOLA, IOWA — A string of foreign policy gaffes has made it clear to the national political press corps that Mike Huckabee is manifestly unqualified to be president.  Those questions dogged Huckabee at a press conference in Iowa today …

Bin Laden issues warning on Iraq, Israel  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening “blood for blood, destruction for destruction.”