Where Wright Goes Wrong  —  We all have our crosses to bear.  The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has become Barack Obama's.  —  I'm sorry, but I've had it with Wright.  I would never try to diminish the service he performed as pastor of his Chicago megachurch, and it's obvious that he's a man of great charisma and faith.

Democrats Divided Over Gas Tax Break  —  WASHINGTON — As angry truckers encircled the Capitol in a horn-blaring caravan and consumers across the country agonized over $60 fill-ups, the issue of high fuel prices flared on the campaign trail on Monday, sharply dividing the two Democratic candidates.

McCain Strongly Rejected Long-Term Iraq Presence: “Bring Them All Home”  —  When it comes to getting U.S. troops out of Iraq, Sen. John McCain was for the idea before he was against it.  —  Three years before the Arizona Republican argued on the campaign trail that U.S. forces could be in Iraq …

Police looking for meth lab, find fish tank  —  Brooklyn Park police were looking for a meth lab, but they found a fish tank and the chemicals needed to maintain it.  —  And a few hours later, when the city sent a contractor to fix the door the police had smashed open Monday afternoon …

SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN'S TEMPER?  —  So, a fresh and sly political subtext in a very bizarre campaign season.  The two Democratic nominees remain icily calm when in each other's vicinity—plain as it is that they cordially loathe and despise one another—while huge shudders …

Democrats need dream ticket, but selling it won't be easy  —  If Democrats are going to win the White House in November, they need a shotgun wedding in June.  This is not something that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton wants to hear, nor is it anything party leaders have been willing to say — at least not publicly.

Chinese Students in U.S. Fight Unwelcome Images of Home  —  LOS ANGELES — When the time came for the smiling Tibetan monk at the front of the University of Southern California lecture hall to answer questions, the Chinese students who packed the audience for the talk last Tuesday had plenty to lob at their guest:

Clinton: $2.3B in earmarks  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.  —  The Democratic presidential candidate's staggering request comes …

U.S. Was ‘Clueless’ on Counterinsurgency  —  WASHINGTON — Paul Wolfowitz, in his first public remarks on the Iraq war in years, said the American government was “pretty much clueless on counterinsurgency” in the first year of the war.  —  The former deputy secretary of defense said yesterday …