Huck & Chuck on BBQ, Romney and chokeholds  —  DES MOINES - On Monday, Gov. Mike Huckabee held a news conference to show reporters an attack ad he said he won't run against Gov. Mitt Romney — a bizarre campaign stunt that seemed difficult to top in absurdity.  —  Huckabee did it in about 29 hours.

Kucinich Tells Supporters to Caucus for Obama  —  SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Representative Dennis Kucinich urged his Iowa followers today to select Senator Barack Obama as their second choice at the caucuses on Thursday if his support is not strong enough to be viable in the 1,781 precincts across the state.

Poll: McCain ties Romney in New Hampshire  —  (CNN) — With six days to go until the New Hampshire primary, there are ties in poll results for the top candidates in both parties.  —  With roughly a quarter of those polled in both parties saying they won't make up their mind until the election …

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 …

EDWARDS CALLS FOR PULLOUT OF TROOPS TRAINING IRAQIS  —  John Edwards is advocating a more rapid and complete troop withdrawal from Iraq than his principal rivals.  — Text of Interview |  Times Topics: John Edwards  —  MORE IN POLITICS  — Leonhardt: Democrats Are More Than Health Care

Deign or Reign?  —  Edith Wessel, an 80-year-old white-haired retired nurse, moved slowly up the aisle with her walker after listening to Hillary make her pitch.  —  She told one of the Hillary volunteers that she had “great admiration” for the senator, but also great doubts about whether …

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.

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.

FRED THOMPSON: Too sane to be President?  Quite possibly. … I think he's right.  Thompson is running the kind of campaign — substantive, policy-laden, not based on gimmicks or sound-bites — that pundits and journalists say they want, but he's getting no credit for it from the people who claim that's what they want.

Caucuses Bring Power Only to Some in Iowa  —  DES MOINES — Jason Huffman has lived in Iowa his whole life.  Lately he has been watching presidential debates on the Internet, discussing what he sees with friends and relatives.  But when fellow Iowans choose among presidential candidates on Thursday night …

Partisan Trends  —  Number of Republicans in U.S. Increases in December to Two-Year High  —  The number of Americans who consider themselves to be Republicans jumped nearly two percentage points in December to 34.2%.  That's the largest market share for the Republican brand in nearly two years …

Mob Sets Kenya Church on Fire, Killing Dozens  —  NAIROBI, Kenya — Dozens of people seeking refuge in a church in Kenya were burned to death by a mob on Tuesday in an explosion of ethnic violence that is threatening to engulf this country, which until last week was one of the most stable in Africa.