In his Page 1 story in today's Washington Times, Joe Curl reports on the resilience of President Bush — and the impact his resurgence might play in upcoming elections:

Some Democratic presidential candidates, most notably Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have continued to run against Mr. Bush. But that strategy will likely miss the mark, Mr. Rove told The Washington Times yesterday.

"If the Democrats make this about, as they seem to be inclined to do, 'I'm not Bush, and I'll do everything different than Bush did,' the American people understand that Bush is not on the ballot," he said.

"I think it's one of the reasons why Hillary Clinton is not doing well against named Republicans candidates, because all she can talk about is how she's not Bush."

The Mideast peace process is restarted, voters in Venezuela just rejected anti-Americanism, and, most importantly — as Rep. Jack Murtha says — the surge is working.

The Democrats (and more than a few Republicans, as well) may need to rethink the strategy of throwing rocks at Mr. Bush.

-- David Eldridge, managing editor, WashingtonTimes.com

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) dispatched its Chicago office director Ahmed Rehab to the Heartland Presidential Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday to ask Democratic candidate John Edwards "a question about American Muslims and the civil rights movement," the group announced yesterday.

CAIR issued a transcript of the question and answer, which it said was accepted with frequent applause.

AHMED REHAB: Senator, my name is Ahmed Rehab from Chicago, Illinois. I'm from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

REHAB: As a full-time civil rights activist, I receive hundreds of complaints from American Muslims regarding the sort of abuses, and prejudices, and discriminations that they face on a regular basis simply because of their name, physical appearance, or faith affiliation, whether it's housing discrimination, or employment discrimination, or having to wait two to five years over the average time limit in order to obtain their citizenship.

Sadly, it seems that we're facing a culture of fear-mongering that is replacing our collective constitutional vision for equal opportunity for all.

Senator, in the '60s, Malcolm and Martin gave up their lives fighting for justice for all. The civil rights movement is not over. It's not done yet. We're still fighting.

Senator, fighting the civil rights movement is what I do on a daily basis, and we would like to know if you will fight with us, if elected president. Thank you.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS: … We've got to stop this racial profiling that's going on in the United States of America.

And we've got to change the entire atmosphere. Here's what I'll do as president: I will close Guantanamo, which I think is a national embarrassment.

We will have no more secret prisons, no more rendition, no more — and I use this word intentional — no more illegal spying on the American people by the president of the United States of America.

And then, finally, finally, it is so heartbreaking that we have a debate in America about what kind of torture is permissible. I have an answer to that: No torture is permissible in the United States of America. And those are all things that I would do as president.

CAIR does not appear to care much for Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, whom they have criticized in past press statements.

Last week CAIR demanded a meeting with Mr. Romney to discuss a statement he made about placing Muslims in his Cabinet. In October, CAIR demanded Mr. Giuliani fire a campaign adviser who is a vocal critic of CAIR.

— Audrey Hudson, homeland security reporter, The Washington Times

Capitol Hill is buzzing today over Sara Carter's story about Iraqis who've gone missing from their U.S. training assignments:

Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether, The Washington Times has learned.

Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family earlier this year.

Army officials yesterday confirmed that five Iraqi military personnel whom the Army had been training disappeared between 2005 and 2007. They did not know how many other Iraqis sponsored by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy may have done the same. . . .
Defense officials said the Iraqis' backgrounds are checked by the State Department before they are accepted into the program.

And why don't I feel better knowing that it was the State Department who checked these people out?

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.:

Linked at Outside the Beltway, where by James Joyner remarks:

Still, if we can't track Iraqi generals on our Army bases, it's no wonder we haven't gotten a handle on 20 million-odd illegal aliens.

Seriously, if you were from Iraq and here for training, you wouldn't go AWOL? In my mind, sweeping floors at the nearest Taco Bell is probably better than going back to pretty much anything in [Iraq]."

Barack Obama has failed to get a significant Oprah Winfrey-endorsement bounce in New Hampshire, a new poll finds.

The 7News-Suffolk University poll also suggests that the Mike Huckabee-mania that has moved the former Southern Baptist minister into the lead in some Iowa polls and in second place in some national polls hasn't hit New Hampshire.

Mitt Romney, at 31 percent, still leads by a hefty margin, with John McCain surging past Rudy Giuliani into second place, at 19, in the Republican presidential primary field, according to the new poll.

Mr. Giuliani has 17 percent, and Mr. Huckabee has 10 percent and fourth place, though 3 percentage points higher than last month.

Appearing to be candid with voters, which some political analysts thought might be nearly as imortant as likeability in this election, plays to Mr. McCain's strength, the poll found.

More New Hampshire voters — 15 percent — said Mr. McCain is the most candid candidate, 13 percent named Mr. Obama and 11 percent named Hillary Clinton.

The poll sampled 300 voters likely to participate in the Jan. 8 Democratic primary and was conducted Monday and Tuesday, after Miss Winfrey's appearance in the state with Mr. Obama on Sunday.

The poll also sampled 300 voters likely to vote in the Republican primary and was conducted on Sunday and Monday.

Significantly, the poll found that Mrs. Clinton benefits from John Edwards staying in the Democratic nomination contest.

Among his supporters, 57 percent had a favorable view of Mr. Obama and 26 percent had an unfavorable view. But 46 percent view Mrs. Clinotn favorably, while 39 percent see her unfavorably.

"If Edwards were to fold after Iowa, most of his voters would probably migrate to Mr. Obama," said poll director David Paleologos.

In another significant trend, Mr. Paleologos noted that Democratic voters were deserting the lowest-tier candidates and moving to Mr. Obama or to the undecided column, which shifted from 12 percent to 19 percent in the same poll last month.

Mr. Paleologos said Mr. Romney's three-point decline decline from last month may be related, in part, to "a disagreement about the role of religion in government."

"When likely Republican voters were asked if freedom requires religion, as Romney claimed in his speech on 'Faith in America' last week, 55 percent said 'no' while 34 per cent said 'yes,' " he said. "And 53 percent said there should be complete separation of church and state, while 35 percent said no."

— Ralph Z. Hallow, senior national correspondent, The Washington Times