Muslims barred from picture at Obama event  —  Two Muslim women at Barack Obama's rally in Detroit Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women's headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

EXCLUSIVE: Obama Expresses ‘Deep Disappointment’ in McCain's Silence on Wife Attacks  —  In a one-on-one interview with The Brody File, Barack Obama says he is deeply disappointed that John McCain has not spoken out against the attacks leveled against his wife.

Obama: NAFTA not so bad after all  —  The Democratic nominee, in an interview with Fortune, says he wants free trade “to work for all people.”  —  WASHINGTON (Fortune) — The general campaign is on, independent voters are up for grabs, and Barack Obama is toning down his populist rhetoric - at least when it comes to free trade.

Working Group  —  Obama announces his “National Security Working Group”  — Secretary of State Madeleine Albright  — Senator David Boren, former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence  — Secretary of State Warren Christopher  — Greg Craig, former director …

The Truth About Barack Obama  —  RUMORS THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN SHOULDN'T TRY TO CORRECT.  —  The Barack Obama presidential campaign introduced a new site last week, FightTheSmears.com, that it hopes will debunk persistent myths about the senator: that he's a Muslim, that he won't say the Pledge of Allegiance, etc.

GIULIANI'S PRE-9/11 MENTALITY  —  From NBC's Domenico Montanaro  —  The Obama campaign and the DNC struck back at Giuliani for criticizing Obama for pointing out the handling of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial as an example of how to deal with terrorists in American courts.

McCain's Drilling Flip-Flop Is a Good First Step  —  Warts and all, John McCain's flip-flop on offshore drilling is a very welcome development.  When circumstances change, political leaders should change their policies.  And $4 at the pump and $140 in the open market is certainly enough …

“The View” ladies dive in to rescue Michelle Obama after she calls Barack “pathetic.”  UPDATE Obama spokesman Vietor said Michelle said “empathetic.”  —  UPDATE after this was posted, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor called to say Michelle Obama said “empathetic,” not pathetic.

Russert Took Media Bias Seriously  —  There have been millions of words written and spoken in the past few days about Tim Russert — words about how Tim knew his beat better than almost anyone in Washington, about how hard work was in his blue-collar DNA, and about what a decent guy he was.  All true.

Obama accuser has long rap sheet  —  Larry Sinclair is wanted in Colorado, but you can catch him today at the National Press Club.  —  Sinclair is familiar to political junkies and reporters as the source of outlandish allegations about Senator Barack Obama, tales that began with sex and drugs and moved on to murder.

Today's Polls, 6/18  —  A little more than two months ago, I ran through a scenario that predicted what might happen if half of the Hillary Clinton Democrats who said they were going to vote for John McCain instead gravitated back to Barack Obama.  The prediction was that the so-called …

Kucinich Vows More Impeachment Articles On the Way  —  Democratic leaders who are worried about Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) impeachment obsession ain't seen nothing yet.  —  Kucinich tells us he's giving the House Judiciary Committee 30 days to act on his resolution proposing 35 articles …

Boeing wins tanker protest, but drama is far from over  —  The saga of the Air Force refueling tanker contract is not over by a long shot, though Boeing won a huge victory Wednesday when the Government...  The saga of the Air Force refueling tanker contract is not over by a long shot …

Huckabee: Demonizing Obama is a ‘fatal mistake’  —  (CNN) - Former GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee called Barack Obama's candidacy “a landmark achievement” Tuesday, and warned fellow Republicans not to demonize Obama.  —  “Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake …

Blackwater wants lawsuit decided under Islamic law  —  The private military company Blackwater has cultivated a patriotic reputation, with its staff of retired military and former police officers, and the requirement that most of its workers swear an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Discuss: “We would have loved to knock his head off, too, but we had nothing to knock it off with.”  —  I can't get this story out of my head and heart.  —  How do you feel about the quote by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department's spokesman at the very end of the piece?