Sen. Sam Brownback (R) !(New York Sun) Brownback has no regrets in passing up Huckabee: Despite Mike Huckabee’s surge in the polls, a fellow social conservative, Senator Brownback of Kansas, says he has no regrets about throwing his support behind Senator McCain of Arizona, who has had a rocky relationship with many in the Christian right. “I’m still comfortable with the decision that I made, but I am glad that Mike Huckabee is doing well,” he told The New York Sun. He said his endorsement came down to Messrs. McCain and Huckabee, contrary to reports that he was considering Mayor Giuliani. The Kansas senator said Mr. McCain was the consistent conservative best equipped to defeat Senator Clinton in a general election. Brownback endorses The Israeli Initiative: Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) !(Jerusalem Post) Tiahrt questions amount of intelligence agents in the field: U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, told deputy director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr he was puzzled by the new intelligence estimate (on Iran’s nuclear capability). “We have this sort of dichotomy, the words and actions from Iran seem to be offset by the National Intelligence Estimate,” Tiahrt said. He suggested US intelligence agencies had gotten too big at their headquarters and not put enough agents in the field. In response, Kerr said that the new report was one of the most comprehensive National Intelligence Estimates ever, with more than 1,000 “source notes.”