Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps  —  Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges Interference  —  Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.

Obama To Beat Clinton In Second Quarter Fundraising  —  The Huffington Post has learned from sources close to both candidates that the Obama campaign will surpass the Clinton campaign in second quarter fundraising.  "It's a matter of pure mathematics," an Obama fundraiser told HuffPost.

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban  —  Brian Ross and Christopher Isham Report:  —  NATO officials say they have caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces, in what the officials …

Immigrant Measure Survives Challenges  —  The plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system survived its most serious challenges yesterday, when the Senate defeated amendments to disqualify hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from legalization and to extend visas to hundreds …

Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells  —  In a surprising advance that could sidestep the ethical debates surrounding stem cell biology, researchers have come much closer to a major goal of regenerative medicine, the conversion of a patient's cells into specialized tissues that might replace those lost to disease.

Giuliani and McCain to Skip Straw Poll in Iowa  —  Bucking a ritual for Republican presidential candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator John McCain announced Wednesday that they would skip participation in what has been a significant early test of candidate strength, the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, this summer.

Report: 39 secretly imprisoned by U.S.  —  LONDON - A coalition of human rights groups has drawn up a list of 39 terror suspects it believes are being secretly imprisoned by U.S. authorities and published their names in a report released Thursday.  —  Information about the so-called …

I'm a McCain Man, Through and Through—Unless the Democrats Nominate Obama.  Then, Forget the McCain Thing  —  Barack Obama cultivates an image as a politician whose appeal reaches across party lines.  But even he might be surprised to learn that one of his biggest admirers works for GOP Sen. John McCain …

To Be an American  —  For many, illegal workers are a rebuke to dutiful citizenship.  —  People tend to regard the idea of "democratic" politics with high reverence, when in practice it consists most of the time of the right of any citizen to describe one's opponent as an idiot, or worse.

Sen. Stevens Told to Keep Records for Graft Probe  —  Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, disclosed in an interview that the FBI asked him to preserve records as part of a widening investigation into Alaskan political corruption that has touched his son and ensnared …

When Pardons Turn Political  —  President Bush has pardoned 113 people during his presidency, including a Tennessee bootlegger and a Mississippi odometer cheat.  —  But none has drawn the public scrutiny, nor posed the same political challenge, as the candidate that many conservatives hope …

Your Right to Leer  —  When I look at my husband with affection, am I leering?  —  I guess not since I'm a woman and can do no wrong except for being a right-leaning libertarian.  However, if you're a man, particularly a Republican man, who looks at his wife with affection, you are now accused of …

Campaign Funds for Alaskan; Road Aid to Florida  —  It is no secret that campaign contributions sometimes lead to lucrative official favors.  Rarely, though, are the tradeoffs quite as obvious as in the twisted case of Coconut Road.  —  The road, a stretch of pavement near Fort Myers …

A Contender's Worn-Out Welcome  —  The dynamic performance by John Edwards in Sunday's Democratic presidential debate, assailing his competitors for the nomination, got high marks from political reporters, Republican politicians and left-wing activists.  But not from the Democratic establishment.

Beware the Bloggers' Bile  —  A strange thing happened to me the day the House of Representatives voted to pass the Iraq-war-funding bill.  Congresswoman Jane Harman of California called as the debate was taking place.  "Look, I would love to have cast a vote against Bush on this," she told me.

Lynne Cheney, Susan Thomas floated as possible replacements for late Sen. Craig Thomas  —  Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, is being floated in Senate GOP leadership circles as a possible replacement for the late Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who died Monday night.

ANALYSIS: OIL STRIKERS MET BY IRAQI TROOPS  —  On the third day of an oil strike in southern Iraq, the Iraqi military has surrounded oil workers and the prime minister has issued arrest warrants for the union leaders, sparking an outcry from supporters and international unions.