Obama on GOP: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’  —  Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.  —  “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun …

McCain doesn't pick up on Michelle Obama joke  —  So a man finally got a question into McCain and he had a very different sort of question.  —  The questioner noted that he had been educated at Princeton and Harvard and made more than $300,000 a year.  —  “How can I be proud of my country?” he asked.

Lost city of ... Iowa  —  The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain.  —  The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city …

Powerful Iraqi Cleric Recalibrates Strategy  —  The movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that it would not take part in provincial elections this year, one day after it formed a new paramilitary group to fight U.S. troops.  —  The back-to-back moves suggested …

Labour MP backs Davis's challenge  —  Opponents of 42-day detention risk losing whip  —  Gordon Brown faced a fresh challenge to his authority last night after a leading Labour rebel promised to campaign for David Davis in the renegade Tory's forthcoming by-election.

Black conservatives conflicted on Obama campaign  —  WASHINGTON - Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president.  That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.  —  “I don't necessarily like his policies …

Tariff to Nowhere  —  According to Political Science 101, candidates run to extremes in primary season and crowd the center in November.  A good test will be whether the apparent Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, tries to reclaim a moderate position on trade.

The Long Run: In '74 Thesis, the Seeds of McCain's War Views  —  An essay written for the National War College in 1974 illuminates some of the themes of Senator John McCain's political career and the development of his views on foreign policy.

Getting Paid  —  Saudi Arabia has a plan to boost their oil production in the near future.  According to the NYT's Jad Mouawad that “was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices.”