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 …

In '74 Thesis, the Seeds of McCain's War Views  —  About a year after his release from a North Vietnamese prison camp, Cmdr.  John S. McCain III sat down to address one of the most vexing questions confronting his fellow prisoners: Why did some choose to collaborate with the North Vietnamese?

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 …

Obama Goes One on One, Battling ‘Just a Speechmaker’ Label  —  Standing before Senator Barack Obama at a campaign event Thursday in Wisconsin, a young man asked him earnestly, “What does life mean to you?”  —  “Oh, goodness,” Mr. Obama began.  “Well, you know, I, uh, you don't know where to start on a question like that.”

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 …

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.

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.

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.”