NY Times: For a Week, McCain Has the Trail to Himself
As Senator Barack Obama headed off for a vacation in Hawaii last week, Senator John McCain was left in the continental United States with the Iowa State Fair to himself.
WSJ Op-Ed: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: The War in Georgia Is a War for the West
As I write, Russia is waging war on my country. On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system.
WSJ: Georgia Conflict Tests Candidates on Foreign Policy
The violence between Russia and Georgia quickly thrust foreign policy into the U.S. presidential election, with John McCain standing to benefit and Barack Obama facing a more perilous situation.
Politico: Clinton to forfeit $13 mil loan, unless…
Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who once deducted $6 on their taxes for donating three pairs of his underwear, plan to take a $13-million hit to their personal bank account by forfeiting loans she made to her failed presidential campaign.
Rocky Mountain News: Dems plan parties aplenty for mixing and mingling
Denver will party hard with the notable and elite attending the Democratic National Convention later this month. Gov. Bill Ritter is gearing up to throw a reception for his peers and their spouses on Aug. 26 at his residence in Capitol Hill.
Politico: New Obama book coming this fall
Barack: The Book will hit stores on Sept. 9, just as the fall campaign is heating up. "Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise” includes a campaign photo album from the road, a collection of seven of the hit speeches by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and new essays outlining his policy proposals.
CNN: McCain VP buzz starts at the airport
Sen. John McCain spends the next two days campaigning through Pennsylvania with the state’s former Gov. Tom Ridge at his side.
LA Times: Between a maverick and a hard place
John McCain and the adjective "maverick" were once seemingly inseparable, and his quixotic attempt in 2000 to win the Republican presidential nomination helped weld that link.
AP: Denver wants delegates to see the old and the new
This frontier town turned modern city wants to put its best foot forward for the Democratic National Convention — just not necessarily one wearing a cowboy boot.
CNN: Bush, Cheney signal support for Georgia
President Bush condemned the escalated violence between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia on Sunday, while Vice President Dick Cheney said aggression against Georgia "must not go unanswered."
Washington Post: On the Streets of the Capital, a Sense of Patriotism Mingled With Defiance
Russian forces had just routed Georgia's army from the capital of the disputed territory of South Ossetia, but on Sunday night the mood here in the Georgian capital was almost festive as tens of thousands of people streamed through the streets, waving flags and singing the national anthem in what some called defiance of the Russians.
NY Times: In Georgia and Russia, a Perfect Brew for a Blowup
As the bloody military mismatch between Russia and Georgia unfolded over the past three days, even the main players were surprised by how quickly small border skirmishes slipped into a conflict that threatened the Georgian government and perhaps the country itself.
WSJ: McCain Adviser Was Lobbyist for Georgia
John McCain's top foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, is a leading expert on U.S.-allied Georgia — and was a paid lobbyist for the former Soviet republic until March, in the run-up to what has become a major battle between Georgia and Russia.
Washington Times: McCain, Obama target trade's impact
Foreign trade has played a key role in defining the economic policies of the presidential contenders, and the issue's perceived impact on jobs and wages could be the determining factor in the election's outcome.
USA Today: Vetting teams scour pasts of potential VPs
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who campaigned last week with Barack Obama as news stories weighed his vice presidential prospects, is a blank slate to most Americans. So is Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who deflected questions about running with John McCain during a recent appearance at the National Press Club.
CNN: Edwards could face political free fall from affair
John Edwards, who made his marriage a central part of his overall message during the 2008 Democratic primaries — was dealt a political blow Friday after admitting to having an extramarital affair.
NY Times: Behind a Meeting That Exposed Edwards’s Affair
It was the encounter that would unceremoniously hoist former Senator John Edwards’s extramarital affair into full public view: a visit last month with the woman and her baby in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, Calif., where Mr. Edwards was confronted by reporters for The National Enquirer as he tried to leave the building.
CNN: Edwards affair: Was media part of a 'conspiracy of silence'?
Rumors about John Edwards' love affair had been circulating for months, but it wasn't until the former Democratic presidential candidate admitted to the affair that national news organizations jumped on the story.
Politico: Why I also didn't write on John Edwards
Over the past two days, the mainstream media has taken its lumps for not aggressively following up on the John Edwards story after the National Enquirer’s first report in October 2006, and especially since the magazine revealed on July 22 that there was a confrontation with their reporters at the Beverly Hilton.
NY Times: All of Us, the Arbiters of News
Early on in any journalist’s career, the young reporter is besieged by advice from all sides. Flacks, sources and run-of-the-mill busybodies will pound on the phone about why the reporter isn’t covering this or that story. And then, a sage editor will appear and counsel the newbie: “We decide what the news is.”
NY Times: Endorsement From Winfrey Quantified: A Million Votes
Presidential candidates make the most of celebrity supporters, showing them off in television ads and propping them on podiums to stand and wave. No doubt Mike Huckabee’s aborted campaign for the Republican nomination got some sort of bump from those commercials of him with Chuck Norris, right?
CNNMoney.com: Gas prices drop: 24 days and counting
The national average price for a gallon of gas slips to $3.818. Only 10 states are above $4 a gallon, AAA finds. Prices slide 15 cents in past two weeks, Lundberg Survey finds.
AP: Paulson: Bush right on Wall Street `hangover' quip
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former investment firm executive, says "absolutely there's a lot of truth" to President Bush's comment that Wall Street "got drunk and now it's got a hangover," in understanding the current economic climate.
NY Times: Paulson Says No Plan Afoot to Rescue Mortgage Agencies
The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., said Sunday there are no plans to use his new authority to inject capital into mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which both posted worse-than-expected earnings last week.
NY Times: Bush Banters as a Buffer in Beijing
Emerging from services at a small Protestant church here, President Bush on Sunday prodded China’s leaders over religious freedom, saying they had nothing to fear from believers, but he avoided public confrontations over it or any other issue during his visit for the Olympic Games.
Washington Post: Bush 41 In China: Kinda Like Old Times
Former president George H.W. Bush doesn't give a lot of interviews these days, and for one simple reason: He doesn't want to have to start talking about his son, the president. "Then somebody wants to psychoanalyze you, stretch you out on the couch . . . go into the differences that might exist," he says dismissively, gesturing to the sofa in his hotel suite here, high above this bustling city.
Washington Times: Financial transparency sweeps nation
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry began posting all of his office expenses on the Internet two years ago, he kicked off the financial transparency trend that many state and local governments now are joining.
WSJ: Musharraf Is Offered Immunity If He Steps Down
As Pakistan's ruling coalition prepares a charge sheet for the attempted impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan People's Party, the leading coalition partner, is in secret negotiations with Mr. Musharraf's aides to offer the former general immunity from prosecution if he agrees to step down.
CNN: Purported al-Zawahiri message criticizes Pakistani leadership
In what's believed to be the first English-language message from al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri criticizes Pakistan's leadership and calls for Pakistanis to support the jihadist movement.
NY Times: Iraq Private Sector Falters; Rolls of Government Soar
Hampered by years of violence, a decimated infrastructure, a lack of foreign investors and a flood of imports that undercut local businesses, Iraq’s private sector, particularly its small non-oil economy, has so far failed to flourish as its American patrons had hoped.
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