Rudy Giuliani to run for U.S. Senate; If elected may aim for White House in 2012  —  Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year - but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.  —  A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking …

Ben Nelson threatens filibuster  —  Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Thursday that he would prevent health reform from moving to final passage if restrictions on federal funding for abortion weren't tightened during the amendment process.  But, he added, “there are a lot of other things …

Poll: Majority Of Republicans Think Obama Didn't Actually Win 2008 Election — ACORN Stole It!  —  The new national poll from Public Policy Polling (D) has an astonishing number about paranoia among the GOP base: Republicans do not think President Obama actually won the 2008 election — instead, ACORN stole it.

VIRUS in the VOTING MACHINES: Tainted Results in NY-23  —  GOUVERNEUR, NY - The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines.

Palin's Gold Mine  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Sarah Palin sold 300,000 copies of Going Rogue on its first day of sale, Duff McDonald has learned.  One component of a media rollout that doubled as a a one-woman economic stimulus package.  —  Did you hear that Sarah Palin has a book out?

The war industry's drums are beating  —  The pressure is on President Obama to act quickly in Afghanistan.  But why?  —  Hurry, hurry.  There's no time for thinking; it's time to act.  Washington's permanent war lobby has worked itself into a veritable lather.

W.H. SHRINKS HANUKKAH PARTY  —  The White House's forthcoming state dinner with the Prime Minister of India is expected to be larger than those of President Barack Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.  But another upcoming White House event will be smaller than in years past: The White House's annual Hanukkah party.

Oprah Winfrey to End Her Talk Show  —  The media mogul Oprah Winfrey will end her daytime talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” in 2011 as she prepares to start a cable channel of her own.  —  A spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey's production company confirmed Thursday evening that Ms. Winfrey …

Fred Thompson: Afghan war ‘has been lost’  —  Former Sen. Fred Thompson today intensified his party's criticism of President Obama's long deliberation over policy in Afghanistan, announcing that Obama's delay signals that “the war has been lost” and that nothing the president now does will “make any difference.”

The $100 Million Health Care Vote?  —  ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports:  —  What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?  —  Here's a case study.  —  On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

John Kerry's Daughter — Busted  —  Senator John Kerry's daughter, Alexandra Forbes Kerry, was arrested early this morning on suspicion of DUI ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.  —  It went down in Hollywood at 12:40 AM in Hollywood.  Alexandra, a 36-year-old film producer and director …

The Unbearable Paradox of Glenn Beck  —  About six weeks ago, I engaged in an exchange about Glenn Beck, arguing that he makes it harder to convert the unsaved to the cause of limited government, and got an earful in return, mostly in the form of thoughtful but forceful emails saying I hadn't given him a chance.

Leahy: No need to interrogate bin Laden  —  If the U.S. captures Osama bin Laden, there's no need to interrogate him, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday.  —  Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman of that committee, said that arguments raised by Republican senators …

Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out  —  Global warming appears to have stalled.  Climatologists are puzzled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years.  Some attribute the trend to a lack of sunspots, while others explain it through ocean currents.

Deconstructing Sarah, Ctd  —  Well, as promised the Dish is back to normal.  I'm not.  “Going Rogue” is such a postmodern book that treating it as some kind of factual narrative to check (as I began to), or comparing its version of events with her previous versions of the same events …

Panel votes to audit the Fed; cap its spending at $4 trillion  —  Measure would audit the Fed's monetary policies such as interest rates  —  WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Rep. Ron Paul, who has sought to audit the Federal Reserve for 26 years, has inched ever so much closer to his goal.

Foxx: Republicans ‘Passed Civil Rights Bills Back In The 60s Without Very Much Help’ From Democrats  —  During a debate on the House floor today over designating 21 miles of the Molalla River as “wild and scenic,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who opposes the legislation, tried to claim a progressive environmental record for her party.

The LA Story, Part IV: Program for Torture Victims  —  Lavelle Stewart, of ACORN in South Central Los Angeles, tells us she thinks we have to hook up with “someone who's on that international sex business level,” that “14 and 15 year olds been traveling overseas for years,” …

The EU's New Team  —  It's not quite a done deal yet, but it increasingly looks like the new European Union leadership team will be Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as EU President with foreign policy run by Catherine Ashton, Baroness of Upholland and current EU Trade Commissioner.