HUMAN EVENTS Endorses Fred Thompson  —  The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years.  It's been more than five decades since such a race didn't feature an incumbent President or Vice President.  Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election …

LAS VEGAS STOP: Clinton pitch hits home  —  Democratic hopeful goes door to door  —  People in the Las Vegas neighborhood saw all the cameras and trucks and buses and police on the streets Thursday, and they began to trickle out of their houses to find out what was going on.

Snow falls on Baghdad for first time in memory  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Snow fell on Baghdad on Friday for the first time in memory, and delighted residents declared it an omen of peace.  —  “It is the first time we've seen snow in Baghdad,” said 60-year-old Hassan Zahar.  “We've seen sleet before, but never snow.

Civil Rights Tone Prompts Talk of an Endorsement  —  WASHINGTON — Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, said he was rethinking his neutral stance in his state's presidential primary out of disappointment at comments by Bill …

Paul the Peter  —  Andrew Sullivan: … [Me] Just so.  Furthermore, I doubt Paul has ever been any different.  I had a most interesting email yesterday from a friend in Texas.  My friend's father was a slightly-cranky far-rightist who'd corresponded with Paul in the early 1980s.

Kucinich Wants What?  —  Maybe Dennis Kucinich just wants to confirm that anyone in New Hampshire would be silly enough to vote for him.  The Democratic presidential also-ran has filed a formal request for a recount in the Granite State primary, based on — I'm not kidding — “allegations and rumors":

THE AD MS. DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE  —  The American Jewish Congress submitted this understated advertisement about the status of women in Israel to Ms. Magazine.  Underneath the attractive photographs of Israel's foreign minister (Tzipi Livni), Supreme Court president (Dorit Beinish) …

Bringing Obama Back to Earth  —  WASHINGTON — Was it the tears in the New Hampshire coffee shop?  Whenever there is a political upset, everyone looks for the unscripted incident, the I-paid-for-this-microphone moment that can account for it.  Hillary Clinton's improbable victory in New Hampshire …

Top Giuliani staffers to go without pay  —  MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) — CNN has learned that top staff members of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign were asked to work without pay for the month of January, and perhaps longer, so that campaign resources could be focused on the Florida Republican presidential primary.

The Comeback Continent  —  Today I'd like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics.  No, I'm not talking about a politician.  I'm talking about an economy — specifically …

Massive US Air Attack South of Baghdad  —  ZAMBARANIYAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected al-Qaida in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.

Iran Incident: The Backpedaling Begins  —  The backpedaling has begun regarding Pentagon claims that Iranian fast boats swarmed U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.  —  As I noted here yesterday, my initial reaction was disbelief.  And that the incident was being used as a pretext …

Edwards and Organ Transplants  —  Campaigning in the primaries, former Sen. John Edwards is leveraging the tragic story of Nataline Sarkisyan — the 17-year-old California woman who recently died awaiting a liver transplant — to press his political attack on insurance companies and argue for European-style, single-payer health care.

John Edwards is a loser.  He has won exactly two elections in his life and lost 31.  Only one of his wins and all of his losses were in presidential primaries and caucuses.  He remains perfectly positioned to continue to lose with a Kucinich-like consistency.  Nothing but egomania keeps Edwards in the race now.

Detainees barred from challenging torture, abuse  —  Ruling in a case of four Britons who formerly were detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the D.C. Circuit Court decided Friday that the prisoners have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for allegedly torturing …