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.

Cindy McCain Presses Obama Patriotism Case  —  ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Laura Bush may be ready to give Michelle Obama the benefit of the doubt when it comes to her patriotism but Cindy McCain may not.  —  “I don't know why she said what she said,” Mrs. McCain explains in an interview …

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 …

More Fun in Obamaconspiracyville: In Which Larry Sinclair Gets Arrested  —  I blogged a few weeks back about a convicted criminal, Larry Sinclair, who'd been begging the media to cover his wild allegations about Barack Obama.  Today Sinclair trotted into the National Press Club to air …

“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.

GAO upends Air Force tanker award  —  The Government Accountability Office today upheld Boeing's protest of the Air Force's decision to award a $40 billion contract for new aerial refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co, saying its review found the service made …

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.

BELLY OF THE EARMARK BEAST!  —  We've just gotten a hold of “Intern's Survival Guide” which is part of the initiation material handed out to new interns in the office of Congressman Don Young (R) when they start at the office.  —  Lots of fun color, as you'd expect.

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.

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 …

From the Fact Check Desk: What Did Obama's Half-Brother Say About Obama's Background?  —  It was a sloppy paraphrase that emerged as false evidence.  —  Malik Obama, the older half brother of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, gave a brief interview to Israeli Army Radio.

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?

Bredesen says Obama ‘not real competitive’ in Volunteer State  —  KINGSPORT — Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is “not real competitive” with GOP opponent John McCain in Tennessee right now, Gov. Phil Bredesen admitted Tuesday.  —  “I think that unless it gets closer …

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 …