Confederate Flag Takes Center Stage Once Again  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Republican presidential candidates on Thursday moved to appeal to different types of conservative voters before the South Carolina primary, with Mike Huckabee using colorful language to declare the Confederate flag …

THE NEVADA CAUCUS: Poll: Nevada going to Clinton, Romney  —  Obama picks up no ground; Giuliani fades  —  Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney have comfortable leads in Nevada going into Saturday's presidential campaign caucuses, according to a new Review-Journal poll.

Bill Clinton, Stumping and Simmering  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton may be the spouse running for office, but it is more Bill Clinton who appears to be feeling the heat.  —  After weeks of complaining publicly about Barack Obama's record, the news media's coverage of the Democratic presidential race …

Ad: ‘Hillary Clinton is shameless’  —  The radio ad aired by one of Obama's labor allies re-injects ethnicity into the Democratic primary contest in sharp terms.  —  “Hillary Clinton does not respect our people,” the ad says in Spanish (original and Clinton campaign translation after the jump) …

Huge New Diebold Disparities Found in Manchester, Ward 5 During NH Hand Counts  —  Scores of Votes Mistallied for Every Democratic Candidate...  As mentioned last night, in this disturbing article, the early results of the hand counts of one Diebold precinct in Dennis Kucinich's election contest …

Happy Birthday, Monicagate!  —  AN ANNIVERSARY WE'D ALL RATHER FORGET.  —  The press loves anniversaries of big public events because they're predictable, a quality seldom found in the news.  Coverage can be planned in advance.  Stories can be written, laid out, and put to bed without …

Reagan Advisers See A Bit Of Their Former Boss In Obama  —  Barack Obama found himself under fire on Thursday for having compared his candidacy to Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential run.  —  “I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure,” he told the Reno Journal Gazette editorial board earlier this week.

Chris Matthews Backs Off ‘Nasty’ Remark on Clinton  —  Under pressure from feminist groups and his own bosses at MSNBC, Chris Matthews apologized yesterday for remarks about Hillary Clinton that he now admits sounded “nasty."  —  For 10 days, the “Hardball” host had doggedly insisted …

How Voters Think  —  People in my line of work try to answer certain questions.  Why did Hillary surge after misting up in New Hampshire?  Why have primary victories produced no momentum for the victors?  Why did John McCain win among Republicans who oppose the Iraq war in both New Hampshire and Michigan …

THE NEW ‘LEPERS’  —  THE TIMES' TROUBLE WITH VETS  —  I'VE had a huge response to Tuesday's column about The New York Times' obscene bid to smear veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan as mad killers.  Countless readers seem to be wondering: Why did the paper do it?

New Column: Answering Fred's Call  —  Commentators are citing the unpredictability of the Republican primary contests as proof that Reagan conservatism is dead when precisely the opposite conclusion is warranted.  —  The main reason the conventional wisdom is being shattered in the primaries …

MBIA, Ambac Bond Default Risk Exceeds 70%, Swaps Show  —  Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) — MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., the two biggest bond insurers, have a more than 70 percent chance of going bankrupt, credit-default swaps show.  —  Prices for contracts that pay investors if Armonk …

Thank God the AP is ready for the biggest story of our lifetime  —  At the risk of sounding like Billy Joel's “We Didn't Start the Fire,” since the start of this decade/century/millennium, America and the world have seen a disputed presidential election that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court …