AP NewsBreak: Richardson Ends Bid  —  MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his impressive credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power.

Obama Campaign Co-Chair Questions Hillary's Tears  —  The Tears are now officially an issue in Campaign 2008.  —  Obama's national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson, Jr., just went on MSNBC and appeared to question Hillary's tears, which he called “tears that melted the Granite State,” adding that those tears “moved voters.”

It's a Fake  —  The Pentagon's version of the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday morning, involving U.S. Navy warships and Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats is, at the very least highly suspicious.  On Tuesday, the Navy released video footage and an audiotape to back its claims …

CIA whistle-blower Philip Agee dies in Cuba  —  HAVANA (Reuters) - Philip Agee, a former CIA spy who exposed its undercover operations in Latin America in a 1975 book, died in Havana, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma said on Wednesday.  —  Agee, 72, died on Monday night …

Fox News: We Report — Even if We Know It's False  —  I've been dealing with the media and politics for 25 years, but I've never had a more surrealistic day than January 8.  Several times that day Fox News reported that I was joining Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Polling the New Hampshire Primaries: What Happened?  —  President and CEO  —  Zogby International  —  There was no shortage of polls going into the New Hampshire primary in 2008 and it looks like we all missed the mark on the Democratic side.  This will require a lot of scrutiny …

Romney Goes Dark In FL, South Carolina  —  Up on television in Florida and South Carolina through yesterday, Mitt Romney is not running any television ads in those states now, according to a Republican with knowledge of the traffic purchases in the state.  —  Romney's campaign hasn't booked any television time in those states, either.

One Day After Saying He'll “Never Underestimate Hillary Clinton Again,” Chris Matthews Says She's Only A Presidential Candidate Because Bill “Messed Around"  —  January 9, 2008 — 9:36 AM EST // link //  —  Normally Chris Matthews isn't worth the bother, because he serves up so much non-stop clowning …

MoDo On Clinton  —  She gets the core narcissism at the heart of the Clinton machine: … My fear is that if you merely wound her candidacy, you are in danger.  The Clinton machine is now poised to pull every partisan lever and deploy every cheap tactic: the gender card, the elderly card …

Supreme Court appears likely to back voter ID law  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A conservative majority of the Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to support an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo identification, despite concerns that it could deprive thousands of people of their right to vote.

Media Blow It Again  —  At the outset, the pundits seemed ticked that their expected story line—an Obama blowout—was failing to materialize.  —  What about those preelection polls we all based our blather on?  —  When the cable networks couldn't predict at 8 p.m. that Hillary would lose …

Study: 151,000 Iraqis died in 3 years after U.S. invasion  —  About 151,000 Iraqis died from violence in the three years after the United States invaded, concludes the best effort yet to count deaths — one that still may not settle the fierce debate over the war's true toll on civilians and others.