Romney Leads in Ill Will Among G.O.P. Candidates  —  TAMPA, Fla. — At the end of the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire this month, when the Democrats joined the candidates on stage, Mitt Romney found himself momentarily alone as his counterparts mingled, looking around a bit stiffly for a companion.

Some in Party Bristle At Clintons' Attacks  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign aired a new radio ad here Wednesday that repeated a discredited charge against Sen. Barack Obama, in what some Democrats said is part of an increasing pattern of hardball politics by her and former president Bill Clinton.

Source at Fund-Raiser: Edwards Calls McCain ‘Crazy’ and Says Hillary Thinks There's More on Rezko  —  Before John Edwards let David Letterman mess up his hair on the Late Show last night, the former Senator was at a private fund-raiser in midtown Manhattan, also attended by Kevin Bacon …

Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments  —  As the Senate takes up “debate” today over granting the President new warrantless eavesdropping powers and granting immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, the individual who joined forces with Dick Cheney to get this ball rolling …

Franken didn't exactly leave 'em laughing in Northfield  —  Franken apparently had more fun than senior history major Peter Fritz.  —  Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Al Franken didn't exactly leave 'em laughing in Northfield.  —  Earlier this month Franken was at Carleton College …

Venezuelan troops seize food  —  Venezuela's top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez's campaign to stem shortages.  —  The leftist Chavez this week created a state food distributor and loosened …

‘Paradigm Change’ Is Seen as Arabs Flee Gaza  —  UNITED NATIONS — Washington, Cairo, and Jerusalem are expressing “concern” regarding the flow of hundreds of thousands of Gazans into Egypt, testing border agreements that have existed since Israel completely withdrew from the heavily populated strip in 2005.

The Clintons' Coal-Gate  —  Scandals: Hillary Clinton calls President Bush's talks with the Saudis about increasing oil output “pathetic."  But it's not as pathetic as her co-president husband locking up billions of tons of clean coal in exchange for political contributions.

Slick Willie Rides Again  —  The Clintons play dirty when they feel threatened.  But we knew that, didn't we?  —  The recent roughing-up of Barack Obama was in the trademark style of the Clinton years in the White House.  High-minded and self-important on the surface, smarmily duplicitous underneath …

John Edwards on FISA  —  John Edwards: … Well...yes.  And that includes candidates, you know, leaving the campaign trail to do their jobs.  Which Obama and Clinton can — and should — do.  South Carolina is an hour and a half plane ride away.  —  Get thee to DC and filibuster, Senators.

Obama said oops on 6 state Senate votes  —  He pushed the wrong button, he asserted at the time.  Two of the admitted flubs were on hotly contested issues.  —  Barack Obama angered fellow Democrats in the Illinois Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago's West Side.

‘Hamas staged some of the blackouts’  —  On at least two occasions this week, Hamas staged scenes of darkness as part of its campaign to end the political and economic sanctions against the Gaza Strip, Palestinian journalists said Wednesday.  —  In the first case, journalists who were invited …

John Gibson Mocks ‘Weirdo’ Heath Ledger's Death: ‘He Found Out How To Quit You’  —  Opening his radio show with funeral music yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson callously mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger, calling him a “weirdo” with a “serious drug problem.”