Media stars will accompany Obama overseas  —  WASHINGTON: Senator John McCain's trip to Iraq last spring was a low-key affair: With his ordinary retinue of reporters following him abroad, the NBC News anchor Brian Williams reported on his arrival in Baghdad from New York …

Take Your Paws off the Presidency!  —  DOES THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAVE A SECRET SUCCESSION ORDER THAT BYPASSES CONGRESS?  —  Suppose the worst happens, and the next terrorist attack hits Washington hard, taking out the president and the vice president.  What happens next?

Hunter: This conservative activist is backing Obama  —  I'm a lifelong Republican - a supply-side conservative.  I worked in the Reagan White House.  I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years.  In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America.

US plans to station first diplomats in Iran since 1979  —  Washington move signals thaw in relations  —  The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush.

McCain On Afghanistan  —  Yesterday, Josh Marshall wrote: … He's right.  A bit of documentation:  —  December 2006: … July 6, 2008: … December 2007 (in Foreign Affairs): … February 2008: … July 9, 2008: … “Just one week ago”: … Until yesterday, McCain has only advocated sending NATO troops.

Romney not getting his $45m back  —  Says he won't seek gifts to repay campaign loans  —  Some analysts said Senator John McCain, shown with Mitt Romney in Denver in March, might undermine his reform message if he picks Romney, someone who bankrolled so much of his own campaign in the primary.

In Iraq, Mixed Feelings About Obama and His Troop Proposal  —  BAGHDAD — A tough Iraqi general, a former special operations officer with a baritone voice and a barrel chest, melted into smiles when asked about Senator Barack Obama.  —  “Everyone in Iraq likes him,” said the general, Nassir al-Hiti.

Barack Obama's $52-million June  —  Sen. Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in June, his campaign manager said this morning - not quite a record for the high-flying campaign, but close to it.  The campaign had raised $55 million in February, during the Democratic primaries.

Reporters Spar With McCain Press Aides Nicolle Wallace, Brooke Buchanan (VIDEO)  —  Clearly not all reporters are enamored with John McCain's press operation.  —  Early Wednesday, the Fox affiliate in St. Louis posted video of an awkward, testy exchange between several reporters …

Insurance industry forming activist army  —  Ahead of the approaching health care reform storm, the insurance industry is building an ark: a nationwide education campaign aimed at raising an activist army at least 100,000 strong.  —  The unprecedented effort by America's Health Insurance Plans …

Michelle O's stimulus package: $600 earrings  —  Actually, Michelle Obama has a point here: the $600 stimulus package tax rebate is kind of a gimmick.  But she chose a typically Obamesque way of expressing the thought, complete with an implication that taxpayers are wastrels who will just blow their money on luxuries:

Artist's Video Game Challenges Players To Kill President  —  CHICAGO — An artist's video game that is being exhibited at a free-speech exhibit in Chicago challenges players to kill the president.  —  The video game is part of a “confrontational art” exhibit by Chicago-based artist Wafaa Bilal.

The Morris Touch  —  Dick Morris says the race is tied: … It's here, I think:  —  When was the last time Dick Morris got anything right?  He's not as wrong as Karl Rove usually is, but close.

What McCain Economic Policy?  —  “Government is not the solution to our problem,” Ronald Reagan told his fellow Americans in his first inaugural address.  “Government is the problem.”  —  For modern American conservatism, Reagan's words may as well have been inscribed on the tablets handed down at Mount Sinai.