Bob Dole unloads on McClellan  —  Bob Dole yesterday sent a scalding email to Scott McClellan, excoriating the former White House spokesman as a “miserable creature” who greedily betrayed his former patron for a fast buck.  —  In an extraordinary message obtained and authenticated by Politico …

McCain campaign: Don't nitpick his verb tenses  —  On a McCain campaign conference call, Senator Jon Kyl did not concede that McCain had made an error in saying, “We have drawn down to pre-surge levels,” instead accusing the Obama campaign and reporters of “trying to nitpick the tense of the verb about the surge troops being home.”

White women cold toward Obama  —  Barack Obama's favorability ratings among white women have declined significantly in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, presenting an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party's base.

Healing the wounds of Democrats' sexism  —  LAST YEAR at the beginning of the presidential primary season, Democrats were giddy with excitement.  Not only did we have an embarrassment of riches in our candidates but we had two historic candidacies to enjoy.

Clinton is top candidate for Dems  —  EDITORIAL BOARD  For the first time in memory, every state will play a role in choosing a nominee for the nation's highest office.  —  Some of those parts are small, but not ours: as one of the last two primary elections, South Dakota Democrats suddenly …

House Broker  —  Nancy Pelosi doesn't like to be threatened.  —  Nancy Pelosi believes in being direct.  With the Democratic presidential contest running hot, in March a reporter with Boston TV station NECN asked the House speaker about the possibility of a dream ticket uniting Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The Obama Gaffe Machine  —  For months, Barack Obama has had the image of an incandescent, golden-tongued Wundercandidate.  That image may be fraying now.  —  As smart and credentialed as he is, Sen. Obama is often an indifferent speaker without a teleprompter.

Don't Link Obama to Former Radicals  —  Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, best known recently as friends of Barack Obama, disappeared in 1969 after two of their colleagues in the Weather Underground died while building a bomb.  Ayers and Dohrn spent 11 years setting off bombs and putting out statements threatening violent revolution.

McCain on Israel, Iran and the Holocaust  —  Two weeks ago, I spoke with Barack Obama about the Middle East, Zionism, and his favorite Jewish writers.  Since my blog is both fair and balanced, I had a lengthy conversation with Senator John McCain earlier this week about many of the same subjects.

The right-wing Politico cesspool  —  Politico reporter Mike Allen, formerly of The Washington Post and Time, appeared yesterday on the show of right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher.  The two of them guffawed together at how absurd are Scott McCellan's claims that the media was “deferential” …

Thank You, and Goodbye  —  My name is Andrew Exum, and for the past year and a half, I have had the great pleasure of editing this blog under the ridiculous pseudonym “Abu Muqawama.”  —  I started this blog as a joke - hence the tongue-in-cheek name - and have been shocked to discover …

Happy Suck On This Day!  —  Five years, or 10 F.U.s, ago today, America's leading foreign affairs public intellectual explained the Iraq war to us. … Five years and 10 F.U.s later, Iraqis are still sucking on it!

GOP priest attacks Obama in invocation  —  Here's the video of the invocation at the New York State Republican Party dinner last night, delivered to a crowd including Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Peter King, and where Dick Cheney later spoke.  —  In it, the priest, Monsignor Jim Lisante mockingly asks God …

U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda  —  Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says  —  Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia …

No, I'm not Chuck Todd  —  There are certain pleasures in writing anonymously.  Particularly in the political world, where there is a whole mythology associated with anonymity — think Deep Throat or Primary Colors or Atrios.  But I'm fortunate enough to have been granted the opportunity …