Top Items:
Jennifer Parker / Political Punch:
Obama's Answer on the Johnson Conundrum — ABC News' Sunlen Miller today asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, how he could “rail against Countrywide Financial Corp as an example of insiders and today's economy while your VP search is headed by someone who got questionable loans from Countrywide?”
Discussion:
michellemalkin.com, Redstate, NewsBusters.org, Commentary, JammieWearingFool and John McCain Report blog
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama: No vetting the vetters — At a press conference in St. Louis, Obama defends his choice of Jim Johnson to lead his vetting team, calling reports into Johnson's ties to the mortgage company Countrywide “a game.” — “Johnson has a very discrete task,” he said, dismissing the notion that he'd “hire vetters to vet the vetters.”
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama's hypocrisy on Johnson continues Update: “Preposterous” — Apparently, what's good for the goose has no relation to the gander in the Barack Obama campaign. After David Axelrod shrieked about Mark Penn's connection to Countrywide during the primaries, the Obama campaign seems rather undisturbed …
CNN:
Senator says Obama VP search team discussed 20 names — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential vetting team discussed roughly 20 names with a senior Senate Democrat Tuesday, including some well-known options and others that are “outside the box.”
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
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Mark Murray / MSNBC:
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES... From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro — So you think you know who's on Obama's veep short list? Well, think again. According to sources on the Hill, Obama veep vetters — specifically Jim Johnson and Eric Holder — have been asking Dem members …
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Lieberman Camp To Obama: Back Off — We've been keeping you abreast of the ongoing behind-the-scenes battle between Barack Obama and Joe Lieberman, who is fast emerging as the front man for John McCain's attacks on Obama as unfit to defend the country, and now there have been some key new developments.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, TIME.com, The Mahablog, Open Left and The Reaction
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Leila Fadel / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
U.S. seeking 58 bases in Iraq, Shiite lawmakers say — BAGHDAD -Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed “status of forces” agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely. — Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties …
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David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:
Barack gets dressing down for dorkiness — Barack Obama ditched the campaign trail for the bike trail last weekend, offering onlookers a rare peek into the Democratic nominee's casual-wear closet. — It wasn't a pretty picture: ill-fitting jeans, a tucked-in golf shirt …
CNN:
McCain: ‘I will veto every single beer’ — (CNN) - John McCain issued a promise Tuesday that may cause a bit of unrest with a broad swath of voters: — He'll veto every single beer? — In a slip of the tongue while railing against excessive earmarks at the National Small Business Summit in Washington …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama could raise $100 million in June, fundraisers say — Leading Democratic fundraisers predict that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few months if he opts out of public financing and begins raising money for the general election.
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David Brown / PittsburghLIVE.com:
Ron Paul plans his own convention — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — Maverick GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has booked an arena in Minneapolis for a “mini-convention” that could steal some of John McCain's thunder just days before he accepts the Republican nomination.
Edward J. Markey / Wall Street Journal:
Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes? — Here's a quick geopolitical quiz: What country is three times the size of Texas and has more than 300 days of blazing sun a year? What country has the world's largest oil reserves resting below miles upon miles of sand?
Chris Orr / The New Republic:
Get Carter — We'll see whether it's a line of attack he sticks with, but John McCain's effort to tie Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter in an interview with Brian Williams last night seems like an awfully weak political gambit. McCain quipped: … Where to begin?
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New York Post:
BARACK'S BITE — WE'RE in for taxing times if Barack Obama wins the White House, says CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. “He's going to take the capital gains tax at 15 percent right now all the way up to 25 to 28 percent,” the “Money Honey” tells Avenue. “Sell anything, like a home or stocks, and make a profit . . .
Discussion:
Blog entry, TIME.com, Commentary, Confederate Yankee, John McCain Report blog, Left in the West, Gawker, Oliver Willis and QandO
Marc Ambinder:
Clinton Asks Pledged Delegates To Support Obama (Updated) — Multiple Democratic sources say that Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a series of private conversations and conference calls, continues to urge her pledged delegates to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
M. Duss / Wonk Room:
Fred And Kim's Pot O' Gold — The very first line of Fred and Kim Kagan's op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal gives evidence of their strategic myopia. Declaring that “America is very close to succeeding in Iraq,” the Kagans go on to present an extremely optimistic interpretation of recent events in Iraq …
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