Power Behind the Throne

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda operative in Afghanistan has been killed, CNN is reporting, based on information from an Islamist web site and Western officials. Abu Laith al-Libbi, a veteran jihadist of Libyan descent, is described as the No. 3  al-Qaeda leader, "not far below the importance of the top two al-Qaeda leaders," Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. More »

(Newser) - GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign got an injection of foreign policy expertise yesterday from the vice president’s daughter. Liz Cheney, a State Department official responsible for Mideastern and North African initiatives, will be Romney's senior foreign policy adviser, FOX News reports. Cheney had been a co-chair of Fred Thompson’s failed campaign. Romney, meanwhile, joined the scramble in Florida ahead of tomorrow's important primary. More »

(Newser) - With few votes to show for his efforts and facing a tough congressional re-election fight, left-leaning Dennis Kucinich said today he's dropping out of the Democratic presidential race. Kucinich, a six-term Ohio congressman, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer he's leaving the race for practical reasons, though he's "been able to do more than hold my own." More »

(Newser) - Some 70 million voters in 24 states will make their presidential primary picks in two weeks, but pundits doubt whether Super Tuesday will resolve 2008's muddled race in either party, McClatchy Newspapers report. "No one has ever seen anything like this," said one Bush-Cheney adviser. A political science professor conceded: "We're in uncharted territory." More »

(Newser) - Vice President Dick Cheney may be questioned under oath in a free-speech and civil rights lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested and threatened with assault charges when he approached Cheney at a ski resort. The 2006 incident has sparked a storm of controversy inside the Secret Service with agents charging one another of a cover-up. Steven Howards was busted when he touched or pushed Cheney on the shoulder and called US policy in Iraq "disgusting," More »

(Newser) - Now is the time to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney, declares former Democratic nominee George McGovern in a passionate, if quixotic, plea in the Washington Post . The duo have committed a plethora of "high crimes and misdemeanors," says McGovern, including illegal wiretapping, systematic torture, and substantial lying to the American people. The administration has reduced the US "to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world," he writes. More »

(Newser) - With all eyes focused on Iowa, another state is gearing up for its own caucus: Wyoming, whose Republican Party will choose delegates this Saturday. Only three candidates have bothered to visit Dick Cheney's home state ahead of the poll, and none are planning to show up between now and Saturday except back-of-the-pack Duncan Hunter, who's floated a possible appearance. "Candidates are where the media are," one professor told the AP. More »