Obama holds 12-point lead over McCain, poll finds  —  A Times/Bloomberg Poll says that in a two-man contest, 49% of respondents favor Barack Obama, while 37% support John McCain.  With Ralph Nader and Bob Barr added to the mix, Obama holds 15-point edge.  —  » Discuss Article WASHINGTON …

They Like Him, They Really Like Him  —  Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the Constitutional Sell-out of the year award (brought to you by The Politico and the good people from Depends): … .  —  What a guy.  Clearly, those who demand that the party should hew closer to the positions …

The Bush Paradox  —  Let's go back and consider how the world looked in the winter of 2006-2007.  Iraq was in free fall, with horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing that sent a steady stream of bad news across the world media.  The American public delivered a stunning electoral judgment …

OBAMA/MCCAIN: ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL’ BENEFIT?  —  Yesterday, McCain admitted that his offshore drilling proposal would probably have mostly “psychological” benefits, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy reports.  At a town hall in Fresno that primarily focused on energy issues, McCain was asked a question …

McCain's Core Advantage  —  In politics, we're having a Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr kind of year.  It was Karr, a French writer, who coined the phrase plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, which means, as Barack Obama has shown, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Department  —  WASHINGTON — Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials …

Seizing Laptops and Cameras Without Cause  —  A controversial customs practice creates a legal backlash  —  Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington …

Retiring GOP reps frustrate leadership  —  House Republican leaders might be forgiven for thinking that retiring rank-and-file Republicans would soften the blow caused by their departures by casting some cost-free votes down the party line.  —  But they would be mistaken.

Dying Is Hard.  Comedy Is Harder.  —  THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about.  I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes.  We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: “I feel safe for a while.

Economy on brink of recession, Greenspan says  —  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned on Tuesday the U.S. economy was on the brink of a recession, with the chances of that happening at more than 50 percent.  —  The U.S. economy has been hit …