For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk  —  WASHINGTON — Early in Senator John McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.  —  A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet.

Clinton camp splits on message  —  A strategist who favors emphasizing strength and experience prevails over advisors who think she should show warmth and empathy.  —  WASHINGTON — Before the Iowa caucuses, senior aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton fell into a heated argument during …

Video of Spy Satellite Getting Shot Down  —  Watch as General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer's older brother) shows how the Aegis missile launches and successfully destroys the rogue spy satellite.  This is a huge success for the Pentagon …

‘What Is There To Debate?’  —  Every time we suggested dropping Ron Paul from the national debates, his supporters would go nuts.  They claimed in the one instance where he did get dropped, the January 3rd debate just before Iowa, that a grand conspiracy existed to keep his message from the people and to stop the 4% revolution.

Obama's New Vulnerability  —  In campaigns, there are sometimes moments when candidates shift ground, causing the race to change dramatically.  Tuesday night was one of those moments.  —  Hammered for the 10th contest in a row, Hillary Clinton toughened her attacks on Barack Obama …

Playing the ‘Fair’ Card  —  Judging from complaints by her minions, Hillary Clinton considers it unfair that Barack Obama has been wafted close to the pinnacle of politics by an updraft from the continent-wide swoon of millions of Democrats and much of the media brought on by his Delphic utterances such as “we are the change.”

Even blowing his nose, Obama gets applause  —  DALLAS - It's probably safe to say that you have arrived as a politician when your audience applauds when you blow your nose.  —  Yes, just a day before a debate in Texas, Sen. Barack Obama has a head cold.  —  And about a half-hour into a speech here …

Biggest brain drain from UK in 50 years  —  Britain is experiencing the worst “brain drain” of any country as highly qualified professionals settle abroad, an authoritative international study showed yesterday.  —  Record numbers of Britons are leaving - many of them doctors …

‘NOOSE’ PROF A PLAGIARIST  —  STOLE STUDENTS' WORK AT COLUMBIA  —  The black Columbia University professor who last fall found a hangman's noose pinned to her office door plagiarized the work of another faculty member and two students, according to a school investigation released yesterday.

Lessig wants to build a “creative commons in Congress”  —  Stanford legal theorist Lawrence Lessig isn't throwing his hat into the ring quite yet, but the renowned cyberlawyer has announced that he is seriously considering a run for Congress in response to a fast-growing netroots campaign pushing …