Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed  —  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces rounded up dozens of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from Hamas, increasing pressure on the Islamic militants to release a captured Israeli soldier, and witnesses said tanks moved into northern Gaza …

Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans.

INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE TEXAS REDISTRICTING CASE  —  The Supreme Court's decision today in LULAC v. Perry is a rich and complex set of six opinions, and there is a huge amount of material, especially on interpretation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, that will require more sustained study for me to understand.

Insurgents offer to halt attacks in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks — including those on American troops — if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bunning: New York Times committed treason with story  —  WASHINGTON — The New York Times committed treason by revealing an anti-terrorism program that checks international banking records of Americans and others, U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said yesterday.  —  "That the press wouldn't have better sense …

A SWIFT Kick in the Head  —  When asked to back up the White House accusation that a recent New York Times story put American lives at risk by disclosing vital secrets to terrorists, the best press secretary Tony Snow could do yesterday was this: "I am absolutely sure they didn't know about SWIFT."

Commentary: Media provides cover for assault on traditional marriage  —  Editor's note: James C. Dobson is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action.  He has a Ph.D. in child development and is author of the best-selling book, "Bringing Up Boys."  He's currently working on a follow-up, "Bringing Up Girls."

Indiana Jones?  No, it's Weldon  —  It's a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie - or an Indiana Jones parody:  —  A caravan of jeeps and heavy equipment crawls across the Iraqi desert, headed for a secret location on the banks of the Euphrates River.  —  Their mission: to dig 25 feet …

Senator seeks tax on pimps, prostitutes  —  Grassley: 'It's a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers'  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don't pay.

Nominations Sent to the Senate  —  John Preston Bailey, of West Virginia, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, vice Frederick P. Stamp, Jr., retiring.  —  Mary O. Donohue, of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York …

Democrats More Eager to Vote, But Unhappy with Party  —  Gay Marriage, Inheritance Tax Among the Lowest Public Priorities  —  Summary of Findings  —  With less than five months to go before Election Day, Democrats hold two distinct advantages in the midterm campaign that they have not enjoyed for some time.

GOP's New `values Agenda' Item Fails  —  House Republicans failed Wednesday to advance a bill protecting the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Only a day earlier, the GOP had placed the measure on its "American Values Agenda" in hopes of bolster the party's prospects in the fall election.

The Huffington Post's Swift Antics  —  Some readers of HuffingtonPost.com have initiated a new wave of harassing phone calls to Swift Boat veterans who questioned John Kerry's military record in the 2004 campaign — and the website's proprietors remained ignorant of it for days, despite repeated complaints.