Kucinich Urges Supporters To Choose Obama On Second “Ballot”  —  On Thursday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich might actually swing the results of the caucus, which is why I'm passing this along.  —  Kucinich's supporters could help Obama in non-liberal precincts where the two or three Kucinich supporters …

Independent Voters May Give Obama Edge in Iowa  —  With two days before Iowans go to the polls, significant support for Sen. Barack Obama from political independents has put rival Democratic campaigns on edge, challenging the traditional model of the state's caucuses as a low-turnout exercise dominated by partisan insiders.

Romney says Bush mismanaged Iraq war  —  JOHNSTON, Iowa (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Tuesday the Bush administration mismanaged the Iraq war, distancing himself from his party's unpopular president two days before Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential contest.

Pak Govt makes U-turn on cause of Bhutto's death  —  In a dramatic U-turn, Pakistan government has “apologised” for claiming that former premier Benazir Bhutto died of a skull fracture after hitting the sunroof of her car during a suicide attack.  —  Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan …

Edwards Calls for Quick Pullout of Troops Training Iraqi Forces  —  SIOUX CITY, Iowa — John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.

EDWARDS' GAME PLAN FOR SECOND-CHOICERS  —  I also caught John Edwards' speech on the Iowa State campus, and it was his standard, populist stuff.  But since he and his wife, Elizabeth, and campaign manager David Bonior were all there, and Edwards did a quick press avail afterwards …

Biden hits rivals on Pakistan policy  —  DES MOINES — Misstatements about the crisis in Pakistan by Mike Huckabee, the leader in polls of Republicans heading into Thursday's Iowa caucuses, have been a major focus in the GOP race during the past week.  Today Senator Joe Biden of Delaware tried …

Democrats: More Than Health Care  —  Perhaps you have heard that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have come up with different health care plans.  Hers would require every American to own health insurance.  His would not.  —  That difference is the only one between the two candidates …

New Huckabee ad appeals to Christian conservatives  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - For the second time in the past two weeks, presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has aired a commercial in which a Christian symbol appears in the background.  —  In the campaign ad, Huckabee is addressing members …

Olmert says Israel must internalize divided J'lem  —  Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post.

World's Top Surveillance Societies — Updated with link  —  Privacy International, a UK privacy group, and the U.S.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center have put together a world map of surveillance societies, rating various nations for their civil liberties records.

‘Hikers’ killers were from Fatah'  —  The terrorists who gunned down two off-duty soldiers hiking near Hebron on Friday are both Palestinian Authority workers, and one of them is even a member of the official PA security forces, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) revealed Tuesday night.

Bloomberg Denies Presidential Run...to Ryan Seacrest?  —  ABC News' Kate McCarthy and Ed O'Keefe Report: In a late entry, the award for best political question in the most unusual circumstance goes to . . . Ryan Seacrest!  —  On ABC's “Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve” …

Americans frustrated by influence wielded by Iowa, New Hampshire  —  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — All eyes may be on Iowa and New Hampshire, but many of them are rolling.  —  Despite efforts to evict the two states from the front of the presidential calendar, both managed to hang on for another election cycle …