Obama: McCain is ‘losing his bearings’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Barack Obama chastised John McCain Thursday for engaging in “smear” politics, and defended himself from critics who question whether he is capable of being commander-in-chief, during a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer …

Clinton campaign opposes giving Obama more Mich. delegates  —  LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign opposes Michigan's plan to give fewer delegates to her and more to rival Barack Obama, a campaign spokesman said Thursday.  —  The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan …

Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri captured  —  Iraqi forces claimed tonight to have arrested the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during an operation in the northern city of Mosul, one of the terrorist organisation's last major hold-outs in the country.  —  Abu Ayyub al-Masri …

Cindy McCain says she'll never release her tax returns  —  WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.  —  “You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years.

Once-secret memos question Clinton's honesty  —  A decade before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted fudging the truth during the presidential campaign, federal prosecutors quietly assembled hundreds of pages of evidence suggesting she concealed information and misled a federal grand jury …

Larsen endorses Obama after Hill meeting  —  Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) surprise visit Thursday to the House floor has already paid dividends in the form of a superdelegate endorsement.  —  Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) announced, after meeting with Obama at the Democratic Congressional …

Democratic Dream Team in the Works?  —  Nomination Endgame Fuels Behind the Scenes Push for Obama-Clinton Ticket  —  With pressure growing on Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to end her presidential campaign, “intermediaries” have resumed discussing the possibility of an Obama-Clinton “dream team” ticket.

‘Deafening’ silence on analyst story  —  Even with countless media outlets available these days, a Sunday New York Times cover story could always be counted on to send a jolt through the television news cycle.  —  But apparently that's no longer the case.  Indeed, reporter David Barstow's …

Many Economists Back McCain, but More Are Silent  —  Almost half of the economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey decided against answering a question on which presidential candidate offers the most responsible fiscal policies.  However, Sen. John McCain was the clear favorite of those who answered the question.

Unwanted Sexual Contact, in Context  —  The college social scene is the setting or context for much of the unwanted sexual contact that happens on campuses, as a new report by researchers at the University of New Hampshire, exploring the experiences of the university's undergraduates, details.

Salter: Who's the victim now?  —  An exquisitely sensitive McCain memo says it's the senator* from Arizona.  Writes Mark Salter: … Victimhood is, of course, a favored posture for everyone.  But Obama has never actually played the victim card this directly: As Clinton learned …

Code Pink Protesters Try Witchcraft at Anti-Marine Rallies  —  Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting Berkeley's controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center.  —  The women's anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells …

Pentagon Drops Post in Pakistan for Top General  —  WASHINGTON — When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal …

Rumsfeld blames the generals for poor pre-war planning.  —  In February 2003, Gen. Eric Shinseki famously predicted that “several hundred thousand” troops would be needed for post-war hostilities in Iraq.  According to documents recently released by the Pentagon in response to The New York Times's expose …