NSA SECRETLY COLLECTS PHONE RECORDS OF AMERICANS: The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans -- most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. USA Today: NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

DOJ LAWYERS REFUSED SECURITY CLEARANCE FOR NSA PROBE: The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers' role in the program. "We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program," OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. AP via Yahoo! News: NSA Stymies Justice Dept. Spying Probe

"ANATOMY OF A TURF WAR": As befits the CIA's former spy chief, Porter Goss' only public comment on his surprise resignation last week has been that the reasons behind it would have to remain a "mystery." But a senior U.S. intelligence official with firsthand knowledge of events says Goss was dismissed as CIA director after the White House became convinced that strong disagreements with his immediate boss, John Negroponte, were beyond resolution. Those disputes involved changes that Goss feared would limit the agency's scope and influence, undercutting its role in analyzing intelligence. The disagreements, the official said, had been "ongoing for a couple of months" before Goss' departure. In an ironic twist, it was Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, whom President Bush has nominated to fill Goss' position, who began the critical assault on Goss by complaining of his performance to a CIA civilian oversight body. Goss, Negroponte and the new White House chief of staff, Josh Bolten, met recently "and came to the conclusion that this is pretty much a place that they weren't going to get past," the official said. Chicago Tribune: Anatomy of a turf war for the CIA

DEAN VS. DCCC ON NOVEMBER $$$: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have clashed angrily in recent days in a dispute about how the party should spend its money in advance of this fall's midterm elections. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who is leading the party's effort to regain majority status in the House, stormed out of Dean's office several days ago leaving a trail of expletives, according to Democrats familiar with the session... Emanuel's fury, Democratic officials said, was over his concern that Dean's DNC is spending its money too freely and too early in the election cycle -- a "burn rate" that some strategists fear will leave the party unable to help candidates compete on equal terms with Republicans this fall. Washington Post: Democrats Are Fractured Over Strategy, Funds

WH LOGS SHOW ABRAMOFF MEETING WITH ROVE: Newly disclosed White House visitor logs involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff refer to a 2001 visit in which Mr. Abramoff talked with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, about hiring two people for jobs at the Interior Department, a Bush administration official said Wednesday night. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the Justice Department's continuing investigation of Mr. Abramoff's illegal lobbying, said that neither person got a job at the Interior Department, an agency of special interest to Mr. Abramoff because of his multimillion lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribe gambling operations. The administration official said there was nothing improper about the March 2001 meeting with Mr. Rove, whose ties to Mr. Abramoff have come under review by federal investigators in recent months. New York Times: Abramoff Visits in White House Logs Are Linked to Rove and a Budget Aide

FEDS INVESTIGATING APPROPS CHAIRMAN: Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Californian who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has issued subpoenas in an investigation into the relationship between Lewis (R-Redlands) and a Washington lobbyist linked to disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe), three people familiar with the investigation said. The investigation is part of an expanding federal probe stemming from Cunningham's conviction for accepting $2.4 million in bribes and favors from defense contractors, according to the three sources... Lewis said Wednesday that he was not aware of any investigation, had not been contacted by any investigator and did not know why he would be investigated. "For goodness sake, why would they be doing that?" Lewis asked. Los Angeles Times: Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham

McCLELLAN HANDS OUT BROWNIES AS HE SAYS FAREWELL: Outgoing White House press secretary Scott McClellan had already said goodbye to the television cameras. On Wednesday, he spent his final day on the job accompanying President Bush on Air Force One -- handing out farewell brownies. Bush and the small cadre of aides who travel with him gathered in the plane's wood-paneled conference room for a private goodbye party on the way back to Washington from Florida. There was a round of short speeches -- and platters of brownies that McClellan's wife, Jill, had made and sent along. The always-gentlemanly spokesman appeared afterward in the press cabin to share the baked goods. He indulged a few photos, but made sure photographers stopped shooting long enough to partake. AP via Yahoo! News: McClellan Spends Last Days Under the Radar

PATAKI APPROVAL RATING AT 30%: Gov. Pataki's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level ever - and is the lowest of any governor in the 23 years that Marist College has been conducting such polls. Pataki's anemic 30 percent job-approval rate is below the lowest rating ever given Mario Cuomo, who lost to Pataki in 1994, according to a Marist survey released yesterday. The poll found that just 30 percent of New York voters approve of Pataki's performance in office, while 67 percent disapprove. Pataki, who is not seeking re-election but is exploring a run for the Republican presidential nomination, was rated poorly in all regions of the state. New York Post: Pataki is the Pits with State Voters

BENSE SAYS NO TO SENATE RUN: House Speaker Allan Bense rejected the high-level push from the White House, the governor and their political network Wednesday and decided not to enter the U.S. Senate race, leaving U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris the lone Republican. And he handed his party a mess to mend. Bense told Gov. Jeb Bush and others Wednesday that he preferred to head home to Panama City rather than seek the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November -- despite warnings this week from Bush that Harris "can't win" and pledges from Bush-family backers to send Bense money and support. "It was a great time to do some soul-searching and figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up, but I decided that the U.S. Senate was not something I could do right now," said Bense. Miami Herald: Bense won't run for Senate

"IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN HER SENATE RE-ELECTION": News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and the New York Post, said [Wednesday] that he his standing by his decision to host a political fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Clinton later this year. During a conference call about his company's robust earnings report, I asked Murdoch what conservatives are to make of his willingness to support the liberal New York senator. "It will be pretty modest support," Murdoch said. "It's giving the opportunity to people in our office who want to join us at a breakfast. "We think that she's been effective on state issues and local issues here in a New York. She's been an effective and good senator. And if people want to come to breakfast for $1,000, they're welcome. It's no big deal. It's not a million-dollar raising. It's got nothing to do with anything other than her Senate re-election." Human Events: Murdoch Defends Plan to Host Hillary Fundraiser; Calls Her 'Effective, Good Senator'

"BUSH 44"? 45? 46?... Could there be a third President Bush? The current chief said Wednesday that younger brother Jeb would make a great one, too, and has asked him about making a run. The first President Bush likes the idea as well. Jeb Bush, the Republican governor of Florida, has one asset that his presidential brother doesn't right now - approval from most of his constituents. While George W. Bush's approval ratings are in the low 30s, some 55 percent of Florida voters surveyed last month by Quinnipiac University said Jeb was doing a good job. The governor has repeatedly said he won't be a candidate for president in 2008, but that doesn't stop his family from encouraging him to go for it some day. AP via Yahoo! News: Another President Bush? First 2 Are for It