Kristol Suggests People of Iran Would Embrace U.S. Attack, Triggering Regime Change  —  This morning on Fox, Bill Kristol continued to escalate his calls for war against Iran, stating, "We can try diplomacy.  I'm not very hopeful about that.  We have to be ready to use force."

In First Veto, Bush Blocks Stem Cell Bill  —  President Bush today used the first veto of his presidency to stop legislation that would have lifted restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research.  —  "This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope …

Two soldiers killed in clash with Hezbollah inside Lebanese territory  —  Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed Wednesday during heavy exchanges of fire with Hezbollah guerillas inside Lebanese territory, across the Israel-Lebanon border.  —  One of them was identified …

Four in 10 Republicans Would Not Find McCain an "Acceptable" Nominee  —  Clinton, Edwards, Gore most acceptable possible Democratic nominees  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A recent Gallup Panel poll asked Republicans and Democrats whether they would find each of several possible contenders …

In Ga., Reed out and McKinney in runoff  —  ATLANTA - Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney couldn't avoid a runoff in her first election following a scuffle with a Capitol Hill police officer, and now faces a second contest against her main challenger, Hank Johnson.

Blogosphere Day 3: Ned Lamont For US Senate  —  Two years ago, on July 19th, the blogosphere sprang into action for Ginny Schrader.  In one short day, a long-shot race became seriously competitive.  It remains so to this day.  From the $50K the blogosphere raised that day …

CT-SEN: It's Official — Lieberman Rules Out Any Run On GOP Line  —  As I wrote below, Election Central posed a question this morning to the Lieberman campaign: Would he or would he not rule out a run on the GOP line if he lost the Dem primary and the line were offered to him?

NEW PEW BLOGGER STUDY  —  The Pew Internet and American Life project today released a fascinating study on Americans who consider themselves bloggers — that is who say they maintain "a web log or 'blog' that others can read on the web."  A summary is available here, the full report and questionnaire here.

An Exclusive Mini-Interview With Mimi Miyagi  —  Yesterday, I got together with Mimi Miyagi, a former porn star running for Governor of Nevada as a Republican.  Her campaign is quite a ways back in the polls at the moment, but I thought she'd still be a fun interview — and she was!

DeWine blunder adds fuel to controversial Sept. 11 ad  —  The controversial video of the burning World Trade Center towers in a television campaign ad for Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine is doctored, U.S. News has learned.  The television spot, which has been lambasted by critics as a political exploitation …

Is This War Bush's Fault?  —  One of the stranger memes to arise in the last week is the notion that the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict is somehow the fault of George Bush.  Howard Kurtz covers this in today's Media Notes, along with links to plenty of people willing to cast blame at the White House.

Turkey Signals It's Prepared to Enter Iraq  —  Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there - a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.

O'Reilly smeared Media Matters, Democracy Alliance as "left-wing Mafia" that "intimidates good people" … Over the course of two segments during the July 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly falsely attacked the Democracy Alliance, an organization of donors formed …

Thune Says He'd Distance Himself From Bush  —  Freshman Sen. John Thune, the Republican hero two years ago for ousting the Senate Democratic leader, said Wednesday that if he were running this year, he'd distance himself from President Bush and his agenda.  —  In 2004, the White House …