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 …

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 …

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-?? …

Russia denounces Kosovo declaration  —  MOSCOW - Russia denounced Kosovo's independence declaration Sunday, warning that the move threatened to ignite a new conflict in the Balkans and calling on NATO and U.N. officials in the territory to nix the decision.  —  Russia requested a meeting …

Clinton would seek to try 9/11 plotters in established courts  —  If elected president, Hillary Clinton would ask the Justice Department to determine if alleged 9/11 plotters currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be tried in civilian courts or regular military courts rather …

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.

Kurtz does Tweety  —  Howard Kurtz wrote a piece about Chris Matthews this week because of his bizarre anti-Hillary election coverage that has enraged most progressives that included a recap of events and quotes from Matthews, his guests and producers that are pro and con. It's the usual profile …

For McCain, a Choice on a Role for Bush  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain's campaign advisers will ask the White House to deploy President Bush for major Republican fund-raising, but they do not want the president to appear too often at his side, top aides to Mr. McCain said Sunday.

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 …

Philip Giraldi: What FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds found in translation  —  Why is her story being covered up?  —  Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will.  —  The former FBI translator turned whistle-blower tells …

The Bush Doctrine as Neo-Realism  —  The New York Times starts a series “examining the lives of youth across the Muslim world at a time of religious revival” in Egypt: … Ahmed Muhammad Sayyid, used as the NYT's anecdotal window into this larger picture, is also used to show the ultimate risk of this dynamic to US national security:

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 Olympic Games and the U.S. Elections: Bad Timing for Beijing  —  What do the Olympic Games and Steven Spielberg have to do with the U.S. elections?  It all has to do with the calender.  According to Pierre Rousselin, deputy editorial page editor of France's Le Figaro, The rage of Steven Spielberg is not in itself conclusive.