Yesterday, it was the large turnout of Iraqis casting votes in their historic parliamentary elections that Miss Nemcova was saluting.

"You have to take a risk for what you believe in," she says. "If you are fearful and never try, then you never achieve anything.

"It may well take many years for stabilization and democracy in Iraq; it will not happen overnight," she says. "But I'm confident it will happen, and I personally wish them the very best."

100 AND COUNTING

In less than a year's time, freshman Rep. Tom Price, Georgia Republican, has become one of the more familiar faces on Capitol Hill.

We wrote in September about when Price's colleagues crowned him the "gold minuteman," because of his knack for delivering one-minute speeches on the floor of the House drawing attention to the hot-button issue of the day, whether it was Social Security or the war in Iraq.

The congressman - the first state Republican majority leader in the history of Georgia, who was elected to Capitol Hill without opposition in November 2004 - has now delivered his milestone 100th floor speech.

A medical doctor in real life (he speaks from experience when the debate turns to health care), Price was appointed deputy assistant whip by then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. He also serves on the National Republican Congressional Committee's executive board.

TAUGHT RIGHT

One of the top 10 conservative colleges in the country happens to sit in the shadow of Washington.

Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., has just been ranked one of the top 10 conservative colleges in the United States, judged each year by Young America's Foundation for discovering, maintaining and strengthening the conservative values of their students.

"Most offer coursework and scholarship in conservative thought and emphasize principles of smaller government, strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values. A number have a religious affiliation, but some do not," says Tom McFadden, director of admissions and marketing at Christendom, a Roman Catholic liberal-arts college.

Other schools to make the list include Hillsdale College in Michigan, Grove City College in Pennsylvania and Liberty University in Virginia, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.