· CNN: On the eve of Iowa caucus, some states give e-voting an 'F'
· In Iowa, the voters get to weigh in at last. Now, at last, it's the voters' turn. Starting Thursday night in Iowa, followed by a blur of state-by-state voting over the next month and culminating in a 22-state "Tsunami Tuesday" on Feb. 5, the American people begin picking presidential candidates for the two major political parties and charting a new course for the country.
· Edwards Campaign: He Won't Fizzle After Iowa
· Populist Message Grows Louder As Caucus Approaches
· Interview with John Edwards (NYTimes)
· Independent Voters May Give Obama Edge in Iowa
· Bob Cesca: Iowa Republicans To Choose Their Favorite FearmongerNot only do Iowa Republicans have a flair for choosing the presumptive nominee, they also possess an uninterrupted predilection for championing crazy people who use fear to better their political chances. It's a lot of pressure. It's a matter of life or death -- and it all comes down to Thursday night. Huckabee or Romney. Who's crazier, Iowa?
· Iowa pastors who support Republican Mike Huckabee for president have received letters warning them that getting involved in politics could endanger the tax-exempt status of their churches. Several pastors who have publicly backed Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has support from many evangelicals, said they have received the letters, which have no return address.
· With the presidential race in full swing, some U.S. states have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of their electronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to the paper ballots they abandoned after the 2000 Florida debacle. In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that widely used voting equipment is unfit for elections. "Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that they are no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite. "Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize that there is something wrong."
· USA Today: America's Voting Rolls are a Disaster, Millions Inappropriately Purged. Discredited GOP Operative Thor Hearne, Failed EAC Executive Director Thomas Wilkey, Both Quoted as Legitimate Sources...
· Election Integrity Concerns in the Iowa Democratic and Republican Caucuses. Watchdog Group Calls for 'Citizen Army' to Monitor, Document Less-Than-Transparent Tallying Procedures of Both Parties...
· Justice Department opens criminal probe of CIA tapes scandal
· Conyers demands special counsel in CIA probe
· 9/11 commission leaders blast CIA on interrogation tapes
· Privacy International, a UK privacy group, and the U.S.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center have put together a world map of surveillance societies, rating various nations for their civil liberties records. Both the U.S. and the UK are colored black for "endemic surveillance," as are Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, China and Malaysia.
· Doctors Who Tried To Resuscitate Benazir Bhutto Were Pressured To Keep Quiet: Here's Their Report
· Musharraf Postpones Election, Calls In Scotland Yard
· Wall Street skidded lower Wednesday after a weaker-than-expected reading on the manufacturing sector and a spike in oil prices to $100 a barrel triggered concerns of a further slowdown in the overall economy.
· NEPA: Priest accused of lying about ties to mob boss
