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.

Mauling survivor said he yelled at tiger  —  (01-17) 18:05 PST SAN FRANCISCO — One of the two survivors of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack that left a 17-year-old dead told the victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the animal while standing atop the railing of the tiger's exhibit …

Placing the Candidates  —  Interesting chart from the Pew Center.  One piece of bad news for liberals is that it seems that the self-assessed ideology of the American people is still somewhat right of center.  It's also funny how unhinged Republicans' views of Hillary Clinton are.

Mitt Romney's Lobbyist Connections  —  In a tense exchange with an AP reporter on Thursday, Mitt Romney insisted that even though a registered lobbyist is one of his senior advisers, lobbyists do not “run” his campaign.  —  The claim is part of Romney's new self-styled outsider message …

The martyrdom of John McCain  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - The national media thinks John McCain is under siege again, and his campaign is only too happy to help reporters file their stories.  —  At a rally Thursday, outside McCain's headquarters just down the street from the state capitol here …

The president of Florida  —  Just to be safe, I'm going to say right off the bat that Rudy Giuliani might be the smartest campaign strategist in many a year.  —  That way, if the improbable occurs and the former New York mayor wins the Republican presidential nomination, I can say I knew it all along.

Callous Conservative  —  After watching Fred Thompson debate his Republican rivals, I have often wondered why he is not in the top tier of candidates.  He seems to have John McCain's honesty, without his razor-sharp edges, and Mitt Romney's conservatism, without his jaw-dropping inconsistencies.

Military: 75% of Baghdad areas now secure  —  About 75% of Baghdad's neighborhoods are now secure, a dramatic increase from 8% a year ago when President Bush ordered more troops to the capital, U.S. military figures show.  —  The military classifies 356 of Baghdad's 474 neighborhoods in the …

WGA Sells Out To The NAACP  —  After refusing a waiver for the Golden Globes - as the Academy Awards twists in the wind wondering if any stars will show up — as we writers wait - the WGA has just inexplicably granted a waiver to the NAACP Image Awards which not only allows actors to arrive free …

Obama Debuts New Act in Vegas  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) - The White House campaign has brought a new act to Vegas.  Barack Obama has stepped up his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he's trying to use humor to bring her down before this weekend's Democratic presidential caucus.

50 WAYS TO BE A LOSER  —  I know I've been hitting on the Rudy collapse story for a while.  But it's just so vast there are a lot of points to cover.  Remember that the Rudy ‘plan’ (which on many levels is a phony one anyway) was to plan for a knockout blow in February by winning big states like California.

Misjudging McCain  —  He was right about the nuclear option.  —  JOHN MCCAIN HAS COME UNDER HEAVY FIRE from conservatives critical of his alleged apostasies.  To be sure, several of his stances—on tax cuts, illegal immigration, campaign-finance reform—stand at odds with the current mainstream of American conservatism.

Interviewing Jonah Goldberg About His New Book, Liberal Fascism  —  Yesterday, I interviewed Jonah Goldberg about his new book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.  —  What follows is a slightly edited transcript of our conversation.