Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Anchor, Dies at 53  —  Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, has died after a long bout with cancer.  He was 53.

Polls: Obama ahead by eight  —  (CNN) — As the dog days of summer set in and Americans take a break from the daily political band-and-forth, a new CNN analysis of several recent national opinion surveys show Barack Obama with a sizeable lead over John McCain.

Phil Gramm Is Right  —  “In serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus.”  That's the role John McCain joked that former senator Phil Gramm might have in a McCain administration.  Gramm is McCain's most senior economic adviser, the one best qualified to lead the finance team of a McCain presidency.

Feds cite Schumer in collapse of IndyMac  —  An important angle in the IndyMac failure that may get lost in ominous headlines tonight and tomorrow: federal regulators pointedly cited U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., in explaining the bank's failure.  In simple language, federal regulators blamed Schumer for a run on the bank.

Environmentalists Say Yes to Offshore Drilling  —  On the morning of Jan. 28, 1969, a Union Oil drilling site six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., sprang a leak.  The ensuing spill stretched for miles, killed thousands of birds, and gave America the image of wildlife and shorelines covered in black crude.

The Quotas That Won't Die  —  Neither party has the nerve to take on the scandal of preferential set-asides in government contracts.  —  Forty years ago, the Nixon administration (building on the Johnson administration's attempt to transform the Small Business Administration into a weapon …

2 Vetoes Quash U.N. Sanctions on Zimbabwe  —  UNITED NATIONS — An American-led effort to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe failed in the Security Council on Friday, with Russia and China exercising a rare double veto to quash a resolution that they said represented excessive interference in the country's domestic matters.

Obama Won't Commit to Event at Military Base  —  A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country.  But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona …

JOHN CORNYN: TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT ENERGY  —  John Cornyn represents Texas in the United States Senate.  Senator Cornyn has forwarded a post commenting on John Hinderaker's “Democrats sucking wind on energy policy.”  Senator Cornyn writes: … Thanks to Senator Cornyn for the kind words and for his report.

Obama's latest flip-flop: Death penalty for bin Laden!  Update: Double flip-flop with a global test?  —  Just three weeks ago, Barack Obama said that he would not make Osama bin Laden into a martyr if he was captured.  Today, Barack Obama suddenly thinks the death penalty would be keen-o for OBL.