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Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher who expressed his thought in a campaign manual for scoundrels. When a threat to your success is small enough to be dealt with, he shrewdly warned, it is all too easy to ignore. When it has grown too large to ignore, it is often too late to do anything about it. So even the most unscrupulous ambition needs at least this much scruple: never take your position for granted. If you were preparing a new edition of "The Prince," you could illustrate this advice with Hillary Clinton's picture. As results came in on Super...

It was billed as "Fight Night", "The Final Showdown", and even "The Democrats' Ali versus Frazier". But in the end, the first one-to-one TV debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was not so much a punchfest as a barbed match of who could be the most polite. By the end of the two hours, Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were even agreeing to consider the other as their vice president and held each other close as they talked in one another's ears immediately after the debate. The Hollywood A-list audience was certainly expecting blood on the canvas as it...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton criticizes rival Barack Obama's record on abortion rights in a mailing sent to New Hampshire voters. The mailer says that seven times during his time in the Illinois state Senate, Obama declined to take a position on abortion bills, while Clinton has been a defender of abortion rights. During his eight years in the legislature, Obama cast a number of votes on abortion and received a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives. He...

DES MOINES, Iowa With two days to go, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll out Tuesday shows Democratic and Republican races tied at the top. Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the most support, with 33% of likely Democratic caucus-goers backing Clinton and 31% for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Taking into account sampling error of 4.5% points the race is virtually tied. Former Sen. John Edwards in third place at 22%. Clinton and Obama both gained 3 points since the mid-Dec CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll with Edwards dropping 4 points. Former Mass Gov. Mitt Romney has the backing of 31% of...

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama said they would not participate in a presidential debate sponsored by Fox News Channel, throwing the event in jeopardy. The two senators joined former Sen. John Edwards, who announced on Friday he would not participate in the debate, one of four being held by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. The Congressional Black Caucus contracted with Fox to co-sponsor two of its debates -- one Democratic and one Republican -- and gave the two others to CNN. But now the top three Democrats in the race have said they will not participate in...