TOXIC  —  For the last week it's seemed that Sens. Clinton and Obama were adhering to their tacit truce, continuing the primary campaign but avoiding the harsh exchanges that make later party unity a dimmer and dimmer prospect.  Clinton particularly had deescalated her rhetoric.

McCain officially rejects Hagee endorsement  —  From CNN Correspondent Brian Todd, CNN's Dugald McConnell, CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand  —  (CNN) — In the face of mounting controversy over headline-grabbing statements from Pastor John Hagee, CNN has learned presumptive Republican nominee John McCain …

Ellen DeGeneres weds: McCain walks me?  —  Ellen DeGeneres, who hosts a popular daytime television talk show and has announced on-air that she will marry her girlfriend, broached the question of gay marriage today with Republican John McCain, the party's presumptive presidential nominee.

I'd like wife to take my seat: Kennedy  —  Ted Kennedy has made clear to confidants that when his time is up, he wants his Senate seat to stay in the family - with his wife, Vicki.  —  Multiple sources in Massachusetts with close ties to the liberal lion say his wife of 16 years has long …

Petraeus: Diplomacy, Not Force, With Iran  —  Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Bush's nominee to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, supports continued U.S. engagement with international and regional partners to find the right mix of diplomatic, economic and military leverage …

Conservatives And The Wrong Problems  —  Ezra Klein: … I think this gets things the wrong way round.  In fact, the argumnent is framed in such a way as to violate conservatism's core insight - and that was also the case with Packer's article (and a lot of what my friends, David Brooks, Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat said in it).

Graham: If Republicans Vote Against The 21st Century GI Bill, ‘We Will Get Rewarded In The Next Election’  —  Just over an hour ago, the Senate voted overwhelmingly — a veto-proof 75-22 — to approve Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) 21st Century GI Bill, which would expand educational benefits …

Kennedy Talked, Khrushchev Triumphed  —  IN his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy expressed in two eloquent sentences, often invoked by Barack Obama, a policy that turned out to be one of his presidency's — indeed one of the cold war's — most consequential: “Let us never negotiate out of fear.

Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama  —  BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — At the Aberdeen Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the fountains were burbling, the man-made lakes were shining, and Shirley Weitz and Ruth Grossman were debating why Jews in this gated neighborhood of airy retirement homes feel …

Viral e-mails attack Obama's life story  —  The main obstacle standing between Barack Obama and the White House was distilled into five words by a local television correspondent in South Charleston, W.Va., earlier this month.  —  Prefacing a question about the challenges of winning over white …

McCain Set to Release Health Data on Friday  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is set to release 400 pages of medical records, including documents related to his melanoma surgery in August 2000, to a tightly controlled group of reporters on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

Exposed  —  Back in 2006, when I was 24, my life was cozy and safe.  I had just been promoted to associate editor at the publishing house where I'd been working since I graduated from college, and I was living with my boyfriend, Henry, and two cats in a grubby but spacious two-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Where right sees bogeyman, GOP sens. see go-to guy  —  Despite his reputation outside Washington as a liberal ideologue, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is revered by his adversaries on Capitol Hill for being the chamber's greatest dealmaker and Republicans sensed his absence as much as Democrats did Wednesday.

Quietly, Obama Begins The Quest To Find A Running Mate  —  Very quietly, Sen. Barack Obama has begun the process that will end in his choosing a running mate, Democrats inside and outside the campaign said.  —  Obama has sworn a small group of his senior staff to secrecy.

Vice Presidential Matchups: Virginia  —  Here's a look at our May 2008 4×4 matrix of Vice Presidential possibilities in Virginia.  —  There's a finite limit to the number of names we can test in a given poll; we're aware not naming Jim Webb in Virginia (or Bill Richardson in New Mexico, among others) seems an oversight.

Muslim convert held after nail bomb blast in restaurant  —  A Muslim convert with a history of mental illness was being held tonight after two bombs were found in a family restaurant toilet following an explosion at lunchtime.  —  Police and bomb disposal teams were called in after Nicky Reilly …