Break The Public Financing Pledge Now Sen. Obama  —  Unlike most good government types, I believe that until there is full public financing of political campaigns, the Democratic Party should NEVER give away an advantage when it has one.  This year the Democratic nominee is almost certain …

Obama visits Edwards  —  Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) paid a secret visit to his former rival, John Edwards, in quest of his endorsement on Sunday.  —  The meeting in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Edwards lives, is the latest effort by Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to win …

BILL SPARS WITH OBAMA SUPPORTER  —  From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli  —  CANTON, OH — Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton.  He did — and he said the former president wasn't happy about it.  —  Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd …

Count WHOSE Vote?  —  Based on exit polls, among the approximately 16.3 million people who identified themselves as Democrats, over 678,000 more voted for Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama.  If we're going to “let the people decide” who the Democratic nominee would be, shouldn't we be basing that on the will of Democrats themselves?

Dems Accuse Bush Administration of Politicized Fear-Mongering on FISA  —  It is worth observing that the Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, was the Director of President Clinton's National Security Agency from 1992-'96.  He is not a partisan hack.

Kosovo Declares Its Independence From Serbia  —  PRISTINA, Kosovo — The former Serbian province of Kosovo declared independence on Sunday, sending tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians swarming through the streets to celebrate what they hoped was the end of a long and bloody struggle for national self-determination.

Hardline imams sought to fight terror  —  HARDLINE Muslim spiritual leaders who preach the fundamentalist Salafi brand of Islam espoused by Osama bin Laden have become the latest recruits in combating global terrorism.  —  Australian security agencies have been urged by former Scotland Yard …

Arabs for Obama?  —  From Tamara Cofman Wittes  —  I'm in Doha for the 5th Annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum—my fourth year at this annual confab (organized by my fine colleagues in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution) that brings together Americans with Muslims …

The Dumbing Of America  —  Call Me a Snob, but Really, We're a Nation of Dunces  —  “The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States.

RNC donor event outlines Obama attack plan  —  Focusing on Barack Obama's “inexperience” and “undisciplined messaging” are two ways to ensure that the senator from Illinois doesn't get to be president, according to honchos at the Republican National Committee.

The Next Senate Majority Leader  —  There is a rumor going around that Harry Reid will step down as majority leader either at the end of this year to focus on his re-election campaign, or in three years after he retires from the Senate.  While I should emphasize that I have nothing to back up this rumor …

This Week: Iraq is McCain's Winning Issue  —  Ever wonder why John “Let's stay 100 years in Iraq!”  McCain is doing so well with anti-war primary voters?  Maybe it has to do with bobbleheaded discussions like this one on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where the round table panel thinks that Iraq is a winning issue for McCain.

Obama Adding Detail to His Oratory  —  EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — If he does say so himself, Senator Barack Obama delivers a fine political speech.  —  “Don't be fooled by this talk about speeches versus solutions,” Mr. Obama told a crowd of Wisconsin voters.  “It's true, I give a good speech.  What do I do?

“That Root,” “youths,” and why Reuters is a disgrace  —  In “Portrait of an Age,” G. M. Young's classic overview of early Victorian England, there are a few melancholy pages devoted to the devastating Irish potato famine of the mid 1840s.  Young notes in an aside that Sir Robert Peel …