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<p>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran acknowledged Sunday it had a strong dialogue with embattled Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, but rejected accusations that he passed classified intelligence to Iran.</p> <p>Chalabi's long-standing contacts with Iran have left some in the U.S. government suspicious about his intentions. Chalabi has denied allegations he handed over sensitive information to Iran about the U.S. occupation.</p>

Published in Conspiracy Theories in American History: An EncyclopediaSanta Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2003 Vol. 2, pp. 547-50 The October Surprise conspiracy theory holds that in October 1980, Ronald Reagan conspired with the Islamic Republic of Iran to beat Jimmy Carter in the U.S. presidential elections on 4 November . The deal: in return for the Khomeini government keeping its U.S. hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran until after the election, damaging the Carter's candidacy, Reagan would reward it with armaments. The conspiracy theory endured for over a decade, from 1980-93, but has since disappeared. The idea originated with Lyndon...

LaRouche is the only qualified candidate for U.S. President with a political movement representing what Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to as the "forgotten man," who is now facing ruin in the ongoing Global Depression and the Neo-con drive for perpetual war.

"Where is LaRouche? Where is LaRouche? " a group of audience members began to chant in the middle of Joe Lieberman's speech. Lieberman froze. "I suspect he's in jail" Dean quipped. Al Sharpton appealed to the audience asking them to respect candidates' right to speak and was rewarded with a resounding round of applause. At that time I did not pay much attention to this incident. I assumed that a couple of hardcore Republicans decided to disrupt the debate and that LaRouche was some sort of a cartoon character that I was not aware of because of my Disney-deprived childhood....

<p>"Strange surveys"</p> <p>"More Wesley weirdness: ForClark.com, an official campaign Web site, features a series of very strange online surveys," James Taranto writes in his Best of the Web Today column at www.OpinionJournal.com.</p> <p>" 'What is the best Democratic ticket for '04?' asks one — and of the 10 choices offered, Clark heads the ticket in only four of them. Four more have Clark as No. 2 on the ticket, and two of them (Dean/Edwards and Edwards/Dean) shut out Clark entirely. The most popular ticket, garnering more than a third of the votes, is Kucinich for president, Clark for veep," Mr. Taranto said.</p>

<p>Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean won the District's nonbinding Democratic presidential primary last night in an election that was supposed to draw attention to the city but was marked by average turnout for a presidential primary.</p> <p>The Rev. Al Sharpton, seen as Mr. Dean's biggest challenge, conceded the contest just before 11 p.m. He told supporters at his postelection party at Republic Gardens restaurant on U Street that Mr. Dean had too much institutional strength.</p>

So I was back in San Francisco on business a few weeks ago and headed to the Montgomery Street BART station to catch a train to take me away from the grime and madness of The City to the relatively more palatable grime and madness of the East Bay. Which is when I spotted them -- a couple of young men standing in front of the train station staircase. They were waving sings and carrying on and generally making a nuisance of themselves by trying to stand in front of rapidly fleeing passersby. They also were singing -- at the...

WASHINGTON -- The government will give six presidential candidates $15.4 million combined in federal matching funds on Friday, less than half of the amount it divided among presidential candidates during the same period in 2000. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark will get $3.7 million, the largest amount. That's followed by $3.6 million for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, $3.4 million for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and $3.1 million for Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt. Perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche will get $839,000 and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will get $736,000. Taxpayers pay for the program by checking a box on their income-tax...

Edwards fails to qualify for Rhode Island ballot 973 signatures ruled valid; candidates in primary must submit 1,000 Democrats in Rhode Island will be able vote for perennial also-ran Lyndon LaRouche, but barring state Supreme Court interference, they won't be able to vote for John Edwards when they vote in the Sept. 15 presidential primary. "(Edwards) did not have enough valid signatures to qualify," said George Bowen, the associate administrator for the Rhode Island Board of Elections. "He will not be on the ballot." In order to qualify for the Rhode Island ballot, a candidate must have submitted 1,000 valid...

<p>It's time to scrap America's 30-year-old experiment with public financing of presidential campaigns.</p> <p>Only about one out of every nine Americans checks the box on his tax return to earmark $3 for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which matches private campaign donations of up to $250 to qualified candidates. This notwithstanding that tax returns make clear contributing won't increase your tax liability. Now that both Howard Dean and John Kerry have opted out of this public financing system for their primary campaigns, you'd think good-government liberals would re-evaluate how badly the system is working. Instead they are coming up with even more harebrained schemes to try to save it. Some propose raising the amount earmarked out of each tax return to $10 or even $20, though the idea that this would increase public participation strains belief.</p>

WOULDN’T YOU know? Right after New Hampshire Baseball backed away from its plan to call Manchester’s minor league team the New Hampshire Primaries, the perfect mascot appeared. Or, rather, reappeared. Lyndon LaRouche of Leesburg, Virginia, turned up at the New Hampshire State Library in Concord on Wednesday and announced to the non-waiting world that he is once again a candidate for President of the United States. He is entering the lists as a Democrat and claims to have already raised $5.7 million for his dark horse campaign. LaRouche would have been the ideal mascot of the New Hampshire Primaries for...

German police files have exposed flaws in their own investigation into the mysterious death of a British student. Jeremiah Duggan, from Golders Green in north London, died last March in Wiesbaden after allegedly running into the path of two vehicles.Mr Duggan, who was Jewish, had travelled to Germany to attend what he thought was an anti-war conference before discovering that the groups he had joined, the Schiller Institute and its associated newspaper, Nouvelle Solidarité, were run by the American Lyndon LaRouche, a convicted fraudster with a history of anti-Semitism.The German police decided that his subsequent death was suicide, but an...

The Democratic presidential debate, sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus, was interrupted several times by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. Washington Post columnist David Broder noted that front-runner Howard Dean, in response to a heckler’s question, "Where is LaRouche?," replied, "I suspect he’s in jail." LaRouche had served time in prison on fraud charges. That was a funny exchange, but the fact is that LaRouche is a Democratic presidential candidate with significant support in the party. And he is making some of the same charges against Bush and the Republicans that are being made by other Democrats. Christine...

Name that tune When not collectively ganging up on President Bush, Democratic presidential hopefuls individually are coming up with some unusual campaign gimmicks to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Take Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who is announcing the availability of a signed limited edition die-cast replica of the Craftsman Truck Series No. 50 "Bob Graham for President" Ford F-150 truck driven by racing phenomenon Jon Wood. One can play with the nifty red and white toy trucks for an $80 campaign contribution. The die cast is signed by Mr. Wood, who drove the F-150 to victory...

<p>BALTIMORE — Supporters of perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche (search) and other hecklers interrupted Tuesday's Democratic debate at Morgan State University (search) and university police arrested four people.</p> <p>"Where's LaRouche?" shouted one woman during remarks by Sen. Joe Lieberman (search). There were at least five interruptions during the 90-minute debate.</p>

This is the live thread for tonights debate on Fox scheduled for 8 pm..

(CNSNews.com) - Ignored by the Democratic political establishment, perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, Jr. has raised nearly $5 million for a 2004 White House bid, more money than four major candidates whom the Democratic National Committee acknowledges and invites to its events. The DNC isn't the only organization excluding Larouche. The party's allies, like the AFL-CIO, make no mention of LaRouche on their websites or at their candidate forums. The Republican Party ignores LaRouche as well, even when disparaging the field of Democratic candidates seeking to replace George W. Bush at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Then there are the pollsters -...

WASHINGTON - Next week will see the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, which also spawned a whole new branch in international anti-Semitism. A survey published this week by the Anti-Defamation League finds that "hateful conspiracy theories" - claiming that Jews and Israel were behind the attacks in which 3,000 people were killed - are still being disseminated. In fact, these theories are gaining strength rather than dying out. "The 9/11 attacks have fueled an entire new genre of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories leading to an environment where rumors about Jews are finding acceptance in the...

(CNSNews.com) - Former President Bill Clinton turns 57 years old on August 19, and the Democratic National Committee is hoping the birthday will result in campaign cash for the 2004 elections. The DNC Thursday sent an e-mail urging Democrats to contribute money and send a "personal message" to the impeached president and "let President Clinton know he remains in your hearts and minds." "Give President Clinton the best gift of all for his 57th birthday: a brighter and better America," reads the message, signed by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. The e-mail solicitation invites recipients to send Clinton "a message...

The family of a British student who died mysteriously after attending meetings organised by a rightwing political group in Germany have called for a new investigation into his death. Jeremiah Duggan, 22, was hit by a series of vehicles on a road outside Wiesbaden, western Germany, in March. German police concluded that Mr Duggan, who was studying English literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, had committed suicide. But following private inquiries, his family are pressing for the German authorities to take a fresh look at the case and at the activities of the group he was staying with. The Metropolitan...