• Lawyers at the Justice Department warned that Rep. Tom Delay’s (R-Texas) redistricting plan was illegal under the Voting Rights Act but senior officials vetoed their findings. [WP]
• Senate Armed Services Committee seeks answers about Pentagon’s propaganda campaign in Iraqi media. Scott McClellan: “We’re very concerned about the reports. We have asked the Department of Defense for more information.” [NYT]
• Revelations about Samuel Alito’s views on abortion “are stiffening Democratic resistance and complicating the nomination for moderates in both parties.” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.): “Certainly the chance of a filibuster is greater today than it was the day Alito was nominated.” [WP, NYT]
• Conversation in 2004 with Time’s Viveca Novak is said to have motivated Rove to change his testimony in the leak investigation. [NYT]
• Prosecutors are investigating whether Jack Abramoff “brokered lucrative jobs for Congressional aides at powerful lobbying firms in exchange for legislative favors.” [NYT]
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) breaks from most in her party with support of Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) plan for withdrawal. Strategist: “If Karl Rove was writing the timing of this, he wouldn’t have written it any differently, with the president of the United States expressing resolve and the Democratic leader offering surrender. For Republicans, this is manna from heaven.” [WP, WT]
• Bush marks World AIDS Day: “I believe America has a unique ability, and a special calling, to fight this disease.” Dean says the administration has “stood in the way of important global efforts to curb this disease.” [WP]

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• Reliable Source: Conservative group charges P. Diddy with pushing liberal activism with “Vote or Die” campaign. . . Robert Downey Jr. got a massage from a local Aveda salon. [WP]
• Under the Dome: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Ken Mehlman, and Jon Stewart named as most influential American Jews by The Forward. . . Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) really likes to use metaphors. [The Hill]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Handwriting analyst says Lewis Libby is “a person with big ideas who does not always bring his imaginings into reality.” [NYDN]
• Cindy Adams: Harold Ickes fell off his motorcycle. [NYP]

• Karl Rove is under pressure in the White House to, “at a minimum,” issue an apology; Patrick Fitzgerald may still charge him with making false statements. Strategist: “Karl does not have any real enemies in the White House, but there are a lot of people in the White House wondering how they can put this behind them if the cloud remains over Karl.” [WP]
• Democrats are trying to frame ‘06 to their advantage; slogan “Together, American Can Do Better” is displayed at events and national platform will be unveiled. [NYT, LAT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Congressional Democrats join John McCain in calling for better treatment of detainees. [WP]
• Scott McClellan’s “credibility is already on trial,” his “reputation has been left dangling in the glare of the television lights.” [NYT]
• Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey will be an “early measure” of ‘06. [WSJ]
• Bush will be met with widespread anti-Americanism on his upcoming trip to South America. [WP, WSJ]
• Administration’s flu plan criticized on Capitol Hill. [NYT]
• House Republicans are willing to cut food stamp program for 300,000 legal immigrants in effort to shave down the budget. [WP]
• Lawmakers turn out in force for funeral of Rosa Parks. [WP, NYT]
• Harry Reid’s idea for a closed-session originated from Tom Daschle. Charles Schumer: “My phones have been ringing off the hook… It has played far better than we had thought.” [WP]
• Former Deputy Interior Secretary said Jack Abramoff offered him a job while he was at the department. [NYT]
• Michael Chertoff unveils border security plan. [USAT]

• President Bush “reluctantly accepted” Miers withdrawal this morning at 8:30am. In doing so, Bush blamed aspects of the Senate confirmation process — the specific aspect being that the Senate seemed to want to have a confirmation process at all.
• Bush: “It is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a President’s ability to receive candid counsel.” Yeah, more like disclosures that would reveal that cronytastic fawning is what’s passing for candid counsel these days.
• When Miles O’Brien asked Candy Crowley if Harriet Miers’ withdrawal was emblematic of the entrenched “culture war” in this country, it must have taken every fiber of Crowley’s being to restrain herself from flinging white-hot WTF beams from her eyes. It had more to do with the administration’s “tin ear for politics.”
• Trent Lott: “I think the President should look across the country and find the most qualified man, woman, or minority.” Yeah, what the heck? Maybe we can make do with one of those genital-less minority fellows! At the very least, maybe we can find the Air Force Academy a wide receiver or two!
• Democrats are developing a meme and it goes a little something like this: “Bush caved in to the extreme wing of the Republican party.” Charles Schumer adds that Bush should choose “slowly…deliberately…carefully…” You know, put on some Johnny Mathis, light a few candles…
• Priscilla Owen, Janice Brown, Michael Luttig, and Alberto Gonzalez all considered back in play. Gonzalez is considered the odd man out based on his perceived “moderation.” We say moderation is a weird word to use in describing a man whose nipples get hard whenever Jack Bauer burns a perp’s fingers in a light socket. — DCEIVER MORE »

• Patrick Fitzgerald “has assembled evidence that suggests Cheney’s long-standing tensions with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame.” [WP]
• Miers tells Schumer: “No one knows how I would rule on Roe v. Wade.” The White House tries to focus on her qualifications. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT, WT]
• Conservative “apparatus” built by Rove “has splintered over Miers and broken free from its commander”; “rarely have they turned against a president so normally aligned with them on such a central, legacy-building priority.” [WP]
• “Confluence of crises. . . has some critics asking whether [Andrew Card] needs to clean house or assert himself more forcefully. . . before [Bush] is downgraded permanently to lame duck status.” David Frum: “The lesson of both Katrina and Miers is that the system of decision making in the White House no longer meets the needs of the president.” [NYT]
• Bush’s approval rating slips to 39% in Gallup Poll; only 29% approve of Congress. [USAT]
• DeLay could have saved his position as majority leader if he accepted deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. [WP, LAT, USAT]

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• Reports look hot wet. [AJC]
• Hitchens will trade right to smoke if NYer would just stop mutilating penises. [Slate]
• Will Bush need to invade more countries, less Laura? [Independent]
• Jesus votes in blue states after all. [Gawker]
• Hot, sexy Dingell wants your company now. [eBay]
• There is no issue that Chuck Schumer does not have a stand on: ” “My daughter goes to college in Boston, and many of her friends ride these buses, and they said they were worried about them.” [NYP]