Election 2008: Montana Presidential Election  —  Montana: Obama Leads McCain By Five  —  Barack Obama is leading John McCain by five percentage points in Montana.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Obama attracting 48% of the vote while McCain earns 43%.

A dose of discipline for McCain's campaign  —  The Sergeant has been promoted.  —  Whenever Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) needed an answer to a political question during long days on buses and planes with reporters during the GOP primary, he would turn to a linebacker of a campaign adviser.

Judge Rejects Bush's View on Wiretaps  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the “exclusive” means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government's claim that the president's constitutional authority …

Can Barack Buy the Presidency?  —  On the money front, how do Sens. Obama and McCain stack up?  No contest, it seems.  Since the campaign began, Mr. Obama has raised a staggering $295-plus million, versus Mr. McCain's almost $122 million.  But that's misleading.  —  Mr. Obama spent a lot to win the nomination.

Hostage Rescue Is Happy Coincidence for McCain in Colombia  —  Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, and his wife, Cindy, visited a Colombian Navy drug interdiction boat off Cartagena on Wednesday.  Mr. McCain cited both progress and work to be done in stemming the flow of drugs into the United States.

Research: Wind power pricier, emits more CO2 than thought  —  'Windfarm output is never zero.  Sometimes it's less'  —  Fresh contenders have entered the UK wind power debate, as a turbines expert funded by the Renewable Energy Foundation publishes an investigation into a hotly-disputed subject …

Justice Dept. Admits Error in Not Briefing Court  —  WASHINGTON — In a highly unusual admission of error, the Justice Department acknowledged on Wednesday that government lawyers should have known that Congress had recently made the rape of a child a capital offense in the military …

Deputy Chief of Staff to leave White House  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin will be leaving his job this month, according to White House spokesperson Dana Perino.  —  Perino says Hagin's last day will be July 20th.  —  “The President said that he thanks Joe …

McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes  —  Governors' Fund Recruits Big Donors; Bid to Catch Obama  —  Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write — and they're using them to reel in huge contributions to help him compete with Sen. Barack Obama.

6th straight month of job losses.  —  The monthly Labor Department jobs report released this morning says “payrolls dropped by 62,000” while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent.  June marks the sixth month in a row that the economy has lost jobs.

MoJo Convo: Iran Panic?  A Follow Up Question for the Experts  —  Earlier this week MoJo writer Laura Rozen asked an Israeli intel correspondent, an Iranian American activist, an arms expert, a former peace negotiator, and an anti-war intellectual:  —  How likely is a scenario in which the US …

Fist bump not gone?  —  (CNN) — Rest assured America, perhaps Barack Obama has not abandoned his signature fist bump.  —  It appears Tuesday's pool report — widely reported by several media outlets, including CNN — that Obama refused to bump fists with a child in Ohio was incorrect.

America's Days Aren't Numbered  —  I have a simple request.  As we celebrate the birth of the American Republic, can we all stop predicting its death?  It's getting depressing.  —  The last time I strolled through the local Barnes & Noble, there were so many books announcing the end of American power …

Panel Questions State Dept. Role in Iraq Oil Deal  —  Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq's central government, a Congressional committee has concluded.

A short but sweet gathering  —  Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee are toying with a convention scheduling change that has been broached before in theory but never seriously considered: cutting the party's conclave in Denver short by one day to give Obama an extra …

Manson, Murder and Mercy  —  Justice or mercy?  That is the pressing question in what seems to be a coda in the story of the 1969 Manson family murders.  At issue is the request by Susan Atkins, now 60, for compassionate release from prison on the grounds of terminal illness.