Top Items:
Mikki Halpin / Glamocracy:
Barack Obama tells Glamour: “Debate me, not Michelle” — On Wednesday Senator Barack Obama talked to Glamour's editor-in-chief Cindi Leive and answered questions from our readers about his policies and about women's issues. (Thanks to the many of you who submitted those queries!)
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Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
3 Anchors to Follow Obama's Trek Abroad — The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza. — Lured by an offer of interviews …
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Barack Obama's $52 million June — Sen. Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in June, his campaign manager said Thursday 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.
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
Obama raised $52 million in June, still trails McCain and GOP — WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama raised $52 million last month for his presidential campaign, more than twice as much as Republican rival John McCain in a significant boost to his financial cache for the fall contest.
Jaime Sneider / Weekly Standard Blog:
The Obama Campaign's Out of Control Spending
The Obama Campaign's Out of Control Spending
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama's $52 million — The Obama campaign rolls out its June …
Obama's $52 million — The Obama campaign rolls out its June …
Discussion:
Reason Magazine
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Raises $52 Million in June
Obama Raises $52 Million in June
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Democratic Strategist, Prairie Weather, Real Clear Politics and TalkLeft
John Santucci / Political Radar:
Obama Hits the Gym, With Multiple Repetitions — ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: While Obama spent 91 minutes at a campaign event yesterday, the Illinois Senator spent a total of 188 minutes in the gym yesterday - making three separate stops to Chicago gyms over the course of one day.
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Associated Press:
Political Play of the Day: Obama becomes a gym rat — CHICAGO (AP) - Sometimes it's hard to tell if Barack Obama is running for president of the United States or Mr. Universe. — The Democratic presidential contender exercises regularly, but over a 24-hour span this week, he took it to a new extreme.
Larry Hunter / NY Daily News:
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.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Are the media airbrushing Obama's speeches? Update: Wouldn't ICE qualify? — World Net Daily does not have a great reputation for accuracy in its reporting, but Bob Unruh has pretty solid evidence for his report on a disappearing section of a speech given by Barack Obama.
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Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
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.
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David Stout / New York Times:
Gore Calls for U.S. to Use Renewable Energy by 2018 — WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing …
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Ben Smith / The Politico:
McCain's humor often backfires — Ever hear that joke about waterboarding? How about the one about killing Iranians? And why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? — If you aren't familiar with those witty japes, then you've missed out on John McCain's lighter side.
Discussion:
The Hill, Think Progress, Taylor Marsh, First Draft, pandagon.net, TPM Election Central and Political Punch
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Old Flame — Why I still kinda like John McCain. — The presidential election has an oddly placid feel to it. Four years ago, the notion that George W. Bush would get another four years in office, actually ratified by a plurality of the voters, was more than any liberal could bear …
US News:
Taxpayers and Private Groups Pay for Congress's Globe-trotting Over Memorial Day — One of the benefits of being a member of Congress is lavish trips, sometimes on the taxpayers' dime — While many Americans watched their wallets, several dozen members of Congress used the Memorial …
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Administration Wanted Loyalist As Justice Dept. Legal Adviser — Top Officials Sought to Defend Interrogation Practices — Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft offered the White House a list of five candidates to lead the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel in early 2003 …
New York Times:
Talking Sense on Iraq — It has been obvious from the start of the 2008 campaign that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the biggest foreign policy challenges awaiting the next president. But there has been precious little detailed discussion of them on the campaign trail.
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org
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Susan Estrich / Real Clear Politics:
It Should Be a Democratic Year — July polls don't tell you who's going to win in November. Just ask President Dukakis or President Gore, both of whom were well ahead in July and went on to lose in the fall (although Mr. Gore still doesn't quite see it that way).
Ashley Seager / Guardian:
America fails on ‘human index’ — Despite spending $230m (£115m) an hour on healthcare, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country. And while it has the second-highest income per head in the world, the United States ranks 42nd in terms of life expectancy.
Discussion:
Big Brass Blog