For the second day in a row, the New York Times has a positive Iraq piece, this one about Sunnis wanting to have a part drafting the consitution. For weeks, administration insiders have been telling me how: 1) the Shiite slate has been amazingly respsonsible in its actions and statements; 2) there will be plenty of chances to buy reasonable Sunnis into the political process even after the January 30 election. Stunningly, both points have now been reported and given high-profile play in the Times. Note how even some of the Sunnis boycotting the election are hedging their bets:

The Iraqi Islamic Party’s announcement of withdrawal in late December was considered a big blow to the elections because the party is popular among Sunni Arabs. But the party never removed its slate of candidates from the ballot. Mr. Abdul-Hameed said that if the slate won national assembly seats, he would not bar his candidates from taking them, as long as the candidates were not official party members.