Turkey's armed forces could enter Kurdish Iraq to retaliate for recent Kurdish attacks inside Turkey. The Turkish Prime Minister is under domestic political pressure to do something. If he goes for it, things could get very complicated.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post says the most interesting part of their new poll about Iowa is not that Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field, but that Mike Huckabee could be the surprise of the Republican field. You'll notice that Congressman Ron Paul's fans have stormed the comments section. They remind me of the passion exhibited by the Buchanan Brigade in 1996. That passion led to one upset, New Hampshire, but eventual defeat at the hands of Bob Dole. As I recall, Buchanan was mired at low numbers in the polls right up until the last week or so before Iowa and New Hampshire. This is also true for Ron Paul today. We shall see if he makes a surge near the finish line, as Buchanan did. This time, though, there is no accepted establishment candidate to act as a counter to Paul's people, as there was with Buchanan. Although that could change if Paul does unexpectedly well in Iowa, NH or both. That would cause voters to coalesce around a mainstream candidate as the news media would go all out to publicize any Ron Paul thoughts and quotes that fall outside the mainstream, just as they did with Buchanan (although Pat didn't help himself with his "ride to the sound of the guns" rhetoric and waving a rifle over his head at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona).

Here in New Hampshire, according to this story in the Boston Globe, voters are warming to Hillary Clinton. That may be true. Certainly, she continues to poll well here.

So, once again a leak to the news media by someone inside the government results in an intelligence failure. I just don't know how we are going to win this war if we keep bumbling and stumbling along.