CNN: Preston on Politics: PUMAs stalking Obama
Party Unity My A–! Not exactly the slogan you want heading into your presidential nominating convention, but one that is being repeated online and in neighborhood bars by a group of disenchanted Democrats, who have dubbed themselves PUMAs.
CNN: Is McCain inching towards Pawlenty?
It's VP tea leaf reading season, and a Republican source who attended a small private meeting with John McCain Tuesday in New Hampshire tells CNN that the GOP candidate dropped a serious hint about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.
WSJ: McCain's Message Gets Makeover
As his campaign bus rolled through northern Wisconsin recently, John McCain interrupted a conversation to take a cell-phone call. It was "Sgt. Schmidt," he reported — his nickname for Steve Schmidt, the sharp-tongued strategist he recently drafted to take over the campaign.
NY Times: A Private, Blunter Bush Declares, ‘Wall Street Got Drunk’
When he talks about why the economy is ailing, President Bush often turns to euphemism, citing “challenges in the housing and financial markets.” But Mr. Bush offered a far blunter assessment last week at a closed Republican fund-raiser in Houston: “Wall Street got drunk.
Politico: McCain says coverage is 'fun to watch' Trying to avoid being portrayed as a whiney spoilsport, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) broke with his advisers Tuesday and told Katie Couric of CBS News that news coverage of the presidential campaign has been fair and even “fun to watch.”
WSJ: Washington hearts investors
"Naked short selling" is short selling that violates rules (when you boil it down) about how speedily a seller must deliver shares to a buyer. These are technical concerns — unless you imagine that naked shorts just take the money and run and never deliver any shares at all, flooding the brokerage accounts of innocent investors with "phantom" shares.
Washington Post: Obama Shifts the Foreign Policy Debate
Sen. Barack Obama, on his first and likely only overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has remade the campaign's foreign policy playing field, neatly sidestepping Republican charges that he has been naive and wrong on Iraq and moving to a broader, post-Iraq focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
CNN: Could an Obama presidency hurt black Americans?
"We had a dream. Now it's a reality.” That's the slogan on a popular T-shirt linking Sen. Barack Obama's presidential run to the Rev. Martin Luther King's dream of racial equality.
CNN: Obama-mania foreign in some parts of Middle East
Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday toured the Jordanian capital of Amman, where the much talked about "Obama-mania" is not that easy to find. Just 22 percent of Jordanians who are following the U.S. presidential election have confidence in Obama, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center.
CNN: Volunteer tells McCain to get new staff
It was a statement that a McCain town-hall participant said would land her on the campaign's "s**t list." Addressing the Republican presidential candidate during his town-hall forum in New Hampshire Tuesday, a woman identified herself as a volunteer for his campaign, and said she had come to believe it was time McCain hires a new staff in the state.
Washington Post: After Visit, Obama Defends Iraq Plan
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his proposal to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq over a 16-month period despite opposition to any timeline from the top U.S. commander there, Gen. David H. Petraeus. More forces are needed to combat a perilous situation in Afghanistan, Obama said.
NY Times: Health Plan From Obama Spurs Debate
It is one of the most audacious promises in a campaign that has been thick with them. In speech after speech, Senator Barack Obama has vowed that he will lower the country’s health care costs enough to “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family.” Moreover, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has promised that his health plan will be in place “by the end of my first term as president of the United States.”
NY Times: Mukasey’s Wary Start Dismays Ex-Backers
When President Bush tapped Michael B. Mukasey to lead the scandal-plagued Justice Department nine months ago, Senator Charles E. Schumer could not say enough good things about his fellow New Yorker. Mr. Schumer ran out of time in ticking off Mr. Mukasey’s accomplishments at his Senate hearing, and the senator’s vote of support ensured his confirmation as attorney general.
CNNMoney.com: Oil falls $3 on economic worries
Crude prices tumble on last day of August contract, as economic fears resume on the back of Wachovia loss and Paulson comments. Gulf storm disruption fears ease.
LA Times: He's Bob Barr, and he's running for president
The Libertarian Party candidate thinks the GOP, which he once served with gusto, has run off the rails. Some Republicans worry their quirky former colleague will spoil McCain's chances.
USA Today: Spending on vets exceeds 1947 high
The federal government is spending more money on veterans than at any time in modern history, surpassing the tidal wave of spending following World War II and the demilitarizing of millions of troops.
AP: Democrats to revisit 'don't ask, don't tell' Democrats are convening the first congressional hearing on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy since its enactment 15 years ago. But they acknowledge there's no chance of repealing it this year.
NY Times: Congressman Pushes Staff Hard, or Out the Door
It started as a routine conference call. But at some point during the call, Representative Anthony D. Weiner became furious, convinced that his scheduler had not given him a crucial piece of information.
Washington Post: Big GOP Donor Faced Trouble Back Home
On the day Republican Sen. John McCain surged to victory in Florida's presidential primary, a group of supporters gathered at the elegant Tampa Club for a luncheon held by Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez.
Washington Post: Is McCain's Age Showing? Tongues Wag Over Flubs
We interrupt the nonstop coverage of Barack Obama's overseas trip to bring you some breaking whispers about John McCain. He has been making a series of verbal slips — invariably described as "gaffes" — that are starting to ricochet from liberal blogs to the mainstream media.
NY times: Veto Seems More Likely in Battle Over Tobacco Bill
In its sharpest criticism yet of the tobacco legislation pending in Congress, the Bush administration has said it “strongly” opposes the effort to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco.
NY Times: The Double Life of an Infamous Serbian Fugitive
The infamous fugitive, long charged with war crimes, was not in a distant monastery or a dark cave when caught at last, but living in Serbia’s capital. Nor was Radovan Karadzic lurking inconspicuously, but instead giving public lectures on alternative medicine before audiences of hundreds.
Washington Post: A Wake-Up Call From Afghanistan
For Kurt Zwilling, the nine days since his soldier son was killed in an assault on a U.S. outpost in Afghanistan have been like living in a faded photograph. He stood near his son's coffin Tuesday and told mourners, "You know, right now the world looks a little bit off. The colors are not as bright."
Washington Post: Ex-Advisers Warn Against Threatening to Attack Iran
The Bush administration should stop talking about a military attack as an option if negotiations do not immediately halt Iran's uranium reprocessing program, two former national security advisers said yesterday.
NY Times: Sharpton Says Federal Inquiry Has Ended
The Rev. Al Sharpton’s lawyer said on Tuesday that federal prosecutors had ended a criminal investigation into his finances and those of his nonprofit organization, the National Action Network.
NY Times: Spitzer Is Target of Ethics Investigation Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer is a target of a continuing investigation by a state ethics commission into his administration’s handling of travel records, people who have been briefed on the inquiry said on Tuesday.
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