An Attack That Came Out of the Ether  —  Scholar Looks for First Link in E-Mail Chain About Obama  —  PRINCETON, N.J.  —  The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds.

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must ‘kiss my ass’ for his support  —  By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in New York  —  Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.

The Corroded Corruption at the Heart of Moving to the Center  —  There are several articles today on Obama moving to the center.  In the LA Times, Obama is shifting toward the center, several pundits discussed Obama's recent political triangulating.  Will Marshall of the DLC …

Hagel, Republican for Now, Says He Has No Plans to Back McCain  —  Senator Chuck Hagel declined to endorse his party's likely presidential nominee, John McCain, and said he would consider serving as secretary of defense in a Barack Obama administration.  —  Hagel, who last year considered …

Americans Oppose Income Redistribution to Fix Economy  —  Half say the government is doing too much, 43% too little to solve country's problems  —  PRINCETON, NJ — When given a choice about how government should address the numerous economic difficulties facing today's consumer …

Dobson vs. Obama  —  Earlier this week, Focus on the Family's James Dobson criticized Sen. Barack Obama, accusing him of “deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit ... his own confused theology,” of having a “fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution” …

Obama Supporters Take His Middle Name as Their Own  —  Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge.  But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.

Can you hear me now?  —  Bedeviled by a bad cellphone connection, John McCain gives a conference call speech to dead air.  But he gets a do-over.  —  Although John McCain was stumping in Ohio on Friday, his campaign arranged for him to talk by phone to leaders of B'nai B'rith International …

In a Complicated Term, Kennedy Left Boldest Mark  —  WASHINGTON — It was not last year's spectacularly divided Supreme Court.  The term that ended Thursday lacked last term's gory display of 5-to-4 decisions, with only 11 cases out of 67 decided this time by one-vote margins.

The Return of Dr. No  —  “They didn't live up to what they promised to do.  Power corrupted them.  They spent lots of money and tried to buy votes.  Republicans concluded that they could make voters love them by governing the way Democrats did.”  —  So says former Texas senator and current John McCain economics adviser Phil Gramm.

NRA sues San Francisco on public-housing gun ban  —  The NRA has decided not to waste time in the wake of the Heller decision, but to begin pushing on a wide front to dismantle gun bans around the nation.  In San Francisco, that means testing a ban on gun ownership in public housing …