Top Items:
Ed OKeefe / Political Punch:
Obama to Break Promise, Opt Out of Public Financing for General Election — In a web video to supporters — “the people who built this movement from the bottom up” — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, announced this morning that he will not enter into the public financing system, despite a previous pledge to do so.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama aide blames McCain on public-financing — Obama spokesman Bill Burton is blaming Senator John McCain's campaign for failing, he says, to negotiate in good faith on a course to public financing. — “In the past couple of weeks, our campaign counsels met and it was immediately clear …
John McCormick / The Swamp:
Obama rejects public financing — by John McCormick, updated with McCain response — In a widely expected decision, Sen. Barack Obama announced this morning that his Democratic presidential bid will reject public financing, abandoning an earlier pledge to participate in the system if his Republican challenger agreed to do the same.
Lynn Sweet:
Obama told Tim Russert at Feb. 27 debate he would “sit down with John McCain” to discuss public financing. Obama never did before opting out of system. — WASHINGTON-The legacy of the sharp questioning of Tim Russert, who died Friday, is clear in this exchange he had in a Feb. 27 Democratic primary debate …
Sam Graham-Felsen / Barack Obama:
Video: Important Announcement from Barack — The campaign sent out this email this morning... Friend — Barack Obama recorded a video message with an important announcement that he wanted you to hear first: — We have made a crucial decision that will impact how we compete in the general election …
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back — BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
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Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers Reach Deal To Expand Surveillance — WASHINGTON — After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades.
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Daniel W. Reilly / The Crypt's Blogs:FISA Deal completed, House vote likely tomorrow
Discussion:
Redstate
New York Times:
Obama's Campaign Tightens Control of Image and Access — At a rally for Senator Barack Obama in Detroit on Monday, two Muslim women said they were prohibited from sitting behind the candidate because they were wearing head scarves and campaign volunteers did not want them to appear …
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Roxana Tiron / The Hill:
Rumsfeld repays McCain; declines to back candidate — Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently declined to answer whether he will support Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president. — McCain, the GOP presidential standard-bearer, has been one of Rumsfeld's harshest critics.
Jacques Steinberg / New York Times:
Russert's Son Sounds a Theme of Unity at Funeral — WASHINGTON — In death, Tim Russert did on Wednesday what no living journalist has accomplished this campaign season: he got Barack Obama and John McCain to sit together and talk, quietly. — Specifically, it was Mr. Russert's son, Luke …
CNN:
Americans drive 1.4 billion fewer highway miles — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did in April 2007, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. — That marks the sixth consecutive monthly drop and coincides with record gas prices …
Chuck Bennett / New York Post:
SUBPOENA BLITZ PUTS HEAT ON AL — IRS SEEKS INFO FROM TOP DONORS — The probe into the Rev. Al Sharpton's finances intensified this week, with the IRS sending out a flurry of subpoenas to his most generous corporate donors, The Post has learned. — Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser …
New York Times:
Officials Report Routing of Taliban — ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — After a day of air strikes and ground operations against Taliban fighters, Afghan and NATO officials claimed broad success on Thursday, saying they had largely expelled the insurgents from the strategic Arghandab region near Kandahar, killing more than 50 of them
Discussion:
Weekly Standard Blog
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama and McCain Spout Economic Nonsense — Barack Obama and John McCain are busy demonstrating that in close elections during tough economic times, candidates for president can be economically illiterate and irresponsibly populist. — In Raleigh, N.C., last week, Sen. Obama promised …
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