Dems force Cheney to flip-flop on secret docs  —  Dick Cheney's office is abandoning a justification for keeping the Vice-President's secret papers out of the hands of the National Archives.  —  Officials working for Cheney had tried to claim he is separate from the executive branch …

New Poll Finds That Young Americans Are Leaning Left  —  Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll.

GOP Skepticism On Iraq Growing  —  Key Republican senators, signaling increasing GOP skepticism about President Bush's strategy in Iraq, have called for a reduction in U.S. forces and launched preemptive efforts to counter a much-awaited administration progress report due in September.

Ms. Edwards asks Coulter to stop attacks  —  RALEIGH, N.C. - Elizabeth Edwards pleaded Tuesday with Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks," a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Edwards' husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists.

The Cheney Irony  —  I'm a longtime member of a pretty select group: the Dick Cheney Fan Club.  Chapters gather in phone booths, refrigerator boxes and, at the annual convention, we take up three whole booths in the back of a nearby Arby's.  —  Why do I like Dick Cheney?

GOP preps for talk radio confrontation  —  House Republican lawmakers are preparing to fight anticipated Democratic efforts to regulate talk radio by reviving rules requiring stations to balance conservative hosts such as Rush Limbaugh with liberals such as Al Franken.

Protests rage over petrol rationing in Iran  —  Angry Iranians have torched petrol stations in protests against the sudden imposition of fuel rationing in one of the world's most oil rich nations.  —  The rationing was announced on Tuesday only three hours before it was due to begin at midnight …

Leaving No Tracks  —  Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the 19th-ranking Interior Department official, arrived at her desk in Room 6140 a few months after Inauguration Day 2001.  A phone message awaited her.  —  "This is Dick Cheney," said the man on her voice mail, Wooldridge recalled in an interview.

No Wafer for Rudy  —  Giuliani campaigns as a Catholic, but he's on the outs with God  —  When Pope Benedict XVI attacked Catholic politicians in Mexico who supported abortion rights last month, Rudy Giuliani was asked for his opinion.  The presidential candidate replied in the language of the church …

Files on Illegal Spying Show C.I.A. Skeletons From Cold War  —  Long-secret documents released Tuesday provide new details about how the Central Intelligence Agency illegally spied on Americans decades ago, including trying to bug a Las Vegas hotel room for evidence of infidelity and tracking …

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: The Whole World Is Watching  —  The blogosphere has made the global discussion so much richer — and each of us so much more transparent.

Giuliani Slams Bill Clinton on Terrorism  —  VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday accused former President Clinton of not responding forcefully enough to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing or later terrorist attacks.

Bowling With Our Own  —  Robert Putnam's sobering new diversity research scares its author.  —  Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so.  His five-year study shows that immigration …

Buffett Slams Tax System Disparities  —  Speech Raises at Least $1 Million for Clinton Campaign  —  Warren E. Buffett was his usual folksy self Tuesday night at a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as he slammed a system that allows the very rich to pay taxes at a lower rate than the middle class.