Clintons Move to Tamp Down Criticism From Blacks About Recent Comments  —  WASHINGTON — The Clinton campaign moved Friday to try to quell a potentially damaging reaction to recent comments by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton that have drawn criticism from African-Americans …

Iraq to reinstate Saddam party followers  —  BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to allow some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs and said others could receive pensions but could not return to work.  President Bush said the legislation was “an important step toward reconciliation.”

‘Filipino Monkey’ may be behind radio threats, ship drivers say  —  The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”

Blumenthal On the Boil  —  Sidney Blumenthal plays hardball.  A longtime confidante and adviser to the Clintons, he has zealously defended them through any number of scandal investigations.  Along the way, Blumenthal has shown an affinity for the sharp counterattack.

A Combative Thompson Sways Voters  —  MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — John and Ann Berenberk dutifully watched the umpteenth Republican presidential debate on television on Thursday night and had an epiphany.  It was about the candidate they had previously referred to as the tall, silent one.  Fred D. Thompson.

Joe Won't Be The Veep Pick For McCain  —  Unlike in the 2004 campaign, when a still-angry McCain allowed rumors of a second-slot deal with John Kerry to percolate just a little before denying them, the McCain campaign wants to scotch rumors of a similar deal with Senator Joe Lieberman.

Teachers Sue to Block Hotel Workers' Union Vote in Nevada Caucus  —  LAS VEGAS — Nevada's state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state's huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.

Cutting Through the Katrina Krapola  —  “You've got a mouth full of gimme, a hand full of much obliged."  — Bessie Smith, Gulf Coast Blues  —  I don't know about you but I have had it with the legions of hustlers, grifters, drunks, junkies, pathics and drooling layabouts that keep waddling …

Hillary's gotta have it  —  In courting the voters, maybe she should play by 'The Rules.'  —  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have clawed her way out of an abyss in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, but the shadows over her campaign are a reminder that the path she's forging is still in the deep woods.

Bush and Congress Seen Pushing for Stimulus Plan  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and Congressional leaders, increasingly concerned about a possible recession, are moving closer to agreeing that an economic stimulus package is needed soon, Washington officials said Friday.