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CNN: McCain camp: Obama taking a 'premature victory lap'
Sen. John McCain sharpened his attacks against Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday, saying he'd rather give a speech in Germany as president than as a presidential candidate.

Washington Post: Obama Abroad: We Get the Picture; The Candidate Looked Good This Week. Did the Press?
After saying little in public during a weekend in Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama met with traveling reporters near Jordan's Temple of Hercules, a gladiator standing his ground against the media hordes.

WSJ: Amid Turmoil, U.S. Turns Away From Decades of Deregulation
Federal and state governments alike are increasingly hands-on in their effort to deal with failing businesses, plunging house prices, worthless mortgages and soaring energy prices. The steps add up to a major challenge to the movement toward deregulation that has defined American governance for much of the past quarter-century since the "Reagan Revolution" of the early 1980s.

CNN: Today's VP buzz: Rob Portman
Another day, another round of buzz surrounding a potential vice presidential candidate. This time it's former Bush administration official and former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, who made an unscheduled appearance aboard John McCain's Straight Talk Express Thursday afternoon.

Detriot Free Press: McCain, Obama open metro campaign HQs
Neither presidential candidates John McCain nor Barack Obama were in Michigan on Wednesday, but their campaigns ramped up with surrogate visits, phone calls and the opening of campaign headquarters.

CNN Radio: Obama campaigns in Germany, McCain campaigns in German restaurant
Yesterdays presidential campaigning was Deutsch-tastic. Sen. Barack Obama made a major speech at the foot of Berlin’s victory column. Sen. McCain swiftly responded with his own remarks outside Schmidt's Restaurant and Banquet Haus in Columbus, OH. The presidential map has changed and German references abound as Lisa Desjardins has today's CNN Radio Political Ticker.

Boston Globe: McCain's blind spot on Iraq, Vietnam
IS IT ANY wonder that John McCain was feeling a tad neglected? There was Barack Obama on a nine-day trip through eight countries with three network anchors, and all John got was a lousy T-shirt. Or to be more exact, all he got was a ride in George H.W. Bush's golf cart and a rejection slip from a New York Times op-ed editor.

WSJ: Gap Is Narrowing in Battleground States
The presidential race is tightening in four key battleground states, with Republican John McCain holding an advantage among white male voters and Democrat Barack Obama keeping his lead among the youngest voters, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

WSJ: Energy Is Top Economic Issue for Voters
Congress will likely break for the summer without passing legislation to curb high gasoline prices. But Americans are fashioning their own energy policy, founded on conservation and support for more production.

Washington Post: McCain May Act Soon on VP Pick
Anxious to counter the blanket media coverage that has followed Sen. Barack Obama on his overseas journey, Sen. John McCain is weighing whether to announce his running mate in the coming weeks before the spotlight shifts to China and the opening of the Olympic Games next month.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Hispanic voters prefer Obama three to one
Hispanic voters prefer Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over his Republican opponent John McCain by nearly three to one, according to a survey released Thursday.

LA Times: Obama's path to presidency is far from clear
Even as his turn on the global stage hit an emotional peak Thursday with a speech before a cheering crowd of more than 200,000 in Germany, Barack Obama faced new evidence of stubborn election challenges back home.

Boston Globe: McCain pumps up online presence
Trying to catch up with Barack Obama's online machine, John McCain's told supporters this evening that it has created "McCain Nation," a way for them to connect and organize. "Through the McCain Nation online headquarters you can create events, upload and invite your contacts, send out invitations, get maps and directions, and much more," the campaign said in an email to supporters.

Seattle Times: Candidates overseas can be more show than tell
When presidential candidates travel abroad there's rarely more to it than show and tell, with the emphasis on show. Barack Obama's high-profile journey to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe is all but certain to fit that pattern.

NY Times: Obama, Vague on Issues, Pleases Crowd in Europe
For Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years, making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying — emotional, responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about a more flexible, less ideological America.

AP: Obama takes McCain's trip dare leaving McCain on defensive
In one of the most telling and ironic weeks of the presidential campaign, Democrat Barack Obama accepted Republican John McCain's dare and went to Iraq — and far beyond, a foreign expedition of carefully staged photo opportunities that left the Arizona senator both at home and on the defensive.

Times Online: Barack Obama – the world can expect better of America
Barack Obama, already hailed as a political Messiah by the German press, tonight took the US presidential campaign to Europe with a thunderously applauded speech promising a better, more sensitive America and urging a new global partnership.

LA Times: McCain holds small events in a key state: Ohio
With the media spotlight on Barack Obama's speech to a crowd of thousands in Berlin, John McCain wooed voters - and ribbed his rival - Thursday in more intimate settings in the pivotal campaign state of Ohio.

NY Times: Hey, Obama: There’s Bratwurst in Ohio, Too (but No Cheering Masses)
Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign recovered from a near-death experience almost exactly a year ago, and political candidates stumble in and out of troughs all the time. But it is safe to say that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is not having a spectacular week.

Washington Post: Capitol Hill Gets Exercised
Congress, its support at 14 percent in the latest Gallup poll, is having some self-esteem issues. Yesterday, lawmakers happened upon a novel solution. The solution wore a red spandex tank top with glitter and stars.

Bloomberg: Ethics Panel Members Named
Former lawmakers were named to four of the six seats on a new independent panel that will review ethics complaints against House members. Board members will have the power to initiate investigations, but all conclusions will be voted on by current members of the House ethics committee.

CNN: On the trail for McCain, Pawlenty dodges VP questions
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was able to dodge questions about the vice presidential game – for a second.

CNN: Obama: New walls need tearing down
U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama used a speech Thursday in Berlin - the German city that once symbolized Cold War division - to warn about the dangers of allowing new walls to come between the United States and its allies.

CNN: Young conservatives worry about McCain's appeal
From cyberspace to college campuses, many young conservatives are worried that Sen. John McCain is not appealing to their generation. At a town hall meeting in Ohio this month, a student told McCain that Republicans were a dying breed on his campus.

CNN: Obama uses Berlin symbolism to reunite old allies
Standing before a massive crowd in a city that once symbolized division, Sen. Barack Obama warned Thursday about the dangers of allowing new walls to come between the United States and its allies.

Seattle Times: U.S., Russia try to quiet flap over bombers in Cuba
The U.S. and Russia are trying to quiet speculation over a possible deployment of Russian nuclear-capable bombers to Cuba, but the reports haven't gone away.

CNN: Previously secret torture memo released
The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions against torture unless they "have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released Thursday.

CNNMoney.com: Traders manipulated oil prices – U.S.
Regulators claim firm attempted to 'bang the close' by amassing large positions just before markets closed.

CNNMoney.com:Fannie's new watchdog: All bark?
Bailout skeptics doubt even a new, stronger regulator will succeed in bringing the mortgage giants to heel.

WSJ: Jobless Claims Soar for Week, Payrolls Falling
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits soared last week, suggesting no stabilization is in sight for labor markets. Initial claims for jobless benefits rose 34,000 to 406,000 after seasonal adjustments in the week ended July 19, the Labor Department said.

CNNMoney.com: Housing, jobs send stocks skidding
Dow plunges more than 280 points, halting a Wall Street rebound, as housing and unemployment worries sink stocks.

WSJ Op-Ed: Dick Armey: The Fan/Fred Bailout Is a Scandal
Americans who work hard, pay taxes and play by the rules can't seem to get fair representation in Washington, D.C., these days. In the current debate over a government bailout of speculators, irresponsible banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the responsible majority has once again been pushed aside in a legislative rush to "do something."

CNN: Air Force says officers fell asleep with nuke code
Three Air Force officers fell asleep while in control of an electronic component that contained old launch codes for nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, a violation of procedure, Air Force officials said Thursday.

Seattle Times: House OKs $48 billion for global illness fight
The House voted Thursday to triple money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world, giving new life and new punch to a program credited with saving or prolonging millions of lives in Africa alone.

Washington Post: Man Hit by Novak Has Hurt Shoulder but Is 'Doing Fine'
The homeless pedestrian who was struck by a car driven by syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak said in a radio interview yesterday that he is "doing fine," recovering from a dislocated shoulder, and voiced surprise and amusement that the prominent political pundit was at the wheel of the Chevrolet Corvette that hit him.

Washington Times: Chicago's spiraling murder rate sparking political spats
It's been one long, bloody year for the Windy City. Murders are up 13 percent. During the past school year, 29 Chicago-area youths were killed by gunfire. On one April weekend, 40 people were shot. Over the July Fourth weekend, nine people were gunned down – with three more killed this past weekend. The press is dubbing Chicago "Beirut by the Lake."

NY Times: 4 Spitzer Aides Broke Ethics Law in Bid to Smear Rival, Panel Says
Four Spitzer administration officials violated the state’s ethics law when they used the State Police last summer to gather travel documents they hoped would tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, then the State Senate majority leader, according to a report released on Thursday by the State Commission on Public Integrity.

NY Times: Governor’s Angry Moods Pour Forth in E-Mail
On e-mail he was “Laurence,” a sloppy typist who often dashed off messages in fits, riddling them with typos, misspellings and terse abbreviations. “Why has the state pty not out out a full list if bruno fundraising and 1199 support for him etc as a way to respomd to the fundraising bs?” the author, Eliot Spitzer, then the governor of New York, wrote to his most senior adviser on May 16, 2007.

AP: Allies of Phoenix mayor fight recall effort
It's a political oddity: a TV commercial extolling the public safety record of a sitting mayor, except the spot isn't soliciting votes and the politician's name isn't scheduled to appear on the November ballot.