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.

Huck Hoax: Why He Won't Break Out  —  Mike Huckabee has pulled a neat trick.His appeal so far has been limited exclusively to evangelicals, yet the press has taken him seriously as a new populist force in the Republican Party who could at any moment “break out” to appeal to lower-income voters.

President Bush Discusses Economy, Growth Package  —  Fact Sheet: Taking Action to Keep Our Economy Healthy  —  THE PRESIDENT: Over the past several months I've held a series of meetings with my economic team on the outlook for the U.S. economy.  And before I left for the Middle East …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

Judicial Watch Releases Records Re: Hillary's Health Care Reform Plan  —  Internal Memos Detail Creation of Government “Interest Group Database” to Collect Personal Data on Health Care Debate Activists  —  (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates …

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 …

Chess master Bobby Fischer dead at 64  —  REYKJAVIK, Iceland - “Chess,” Bobby Fischer once said, “is life."  It was the chess master's tragedy that the messy, tawdry details of his life often overshadowed the sublime genius of his game.  Fischer, who has died at the age of 64, was a child prodigy …

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.

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 anyway) was to plan for a knockout blow on February by winning big states like California.

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.

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 …

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?

Clinton plays gaming card against Obama  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has embraced the gambling industry and its executives.  Here, gamblers try their luck at the Desert Inn Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.  —  Democrats' gambling stances may be an issue beyond Nevada.