Obama's Greatest Admirer  —  Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.  He figures it would be a nice backdrop.  The supporting cast — a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins — would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

DID HE REALLY JUST DO THAT?  —  This is the lead on a story just out over the Reuters wire ...  The Reuters piece hints at it.  But if Obama is going to be in Iraq this weekend, this is a major breach on McCain's part.  As a knowledgeable insider notes ...

Obama and the captains of American industry  —  Sen. Barack Obama has been meeting secretly with heavy industry CEOs in Washington to discuss issues that he would face as president.  —  On the campaign trail, Obama has been highly critical of corporate executives and promised them nothing but tougher regulation and higher taxes.

Statement by the Press Secretary on Iraq  —  President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki spoke yesterday in their regularly scheduled secure video conference, about a range of matters including the improving security situation and the performance of Iraqi Security Forces across Iraq, from Basra, to Maysan, Baghdad and Sadr City, and Mosul.

McCain POW bud: Muslims ‘going to kill us’  —  One of John McCain's fellow POW's in Vietnam defended the war in Iraq, saying, “The Muslims have said either we kneel or they're going to kill us.”  —  In a phone call with reporters arranged by Republican Party of Florida, Colonel Bud Day added …

New Yorker Cover Cartoon NOT a Satire?  —  It is being reported today that Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has in his possession a tape recording of an interview he once had with Barack Obama that may be very damaging to the latter's campaign for the presidency.

Listen Now  —  Angelica Hernandez (left) and her mother, Gloria Nunez, struggle to make ends meet on a very limited budget.  —  Nunez Family Economic Snapshot  —  Want to read more information on the Nunezes household budget and learn about budget cuts they've made?  Click here.

The Coming Activist Age  —  We're entering an era of epic legislation.  There are at least five large problems that will compel the federal government to act in gigantic ways over the next few years.  —  First, there is the erosion of the social contract.

Prop. 8 facing a fight  —  POLL SHOWS MAJORITY OPPOSES GAY MARRIAGE BAN  —  In a finding that could foreshadow a difficult political battle for a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage, a new Field Poll says more California voters oppose Proposition 8 than favor it.

GENERATION CELL....Are telephone surveys that don't include cell phones accurate?  Apparently so, even as the number of cell phone users continues to grow.  Here's the latest from Pew, which just conducted a survey of both cell and landline users: … Here's what this boils down to.

EXCLUSIVE: GOP CYBERSECURITY EXPERT SUGGESTS DIEBOLD TAMPERED WITH 2002 ELECTION IN GEORGIA  —  A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.

Gore Likely to Host Obama Fundraiser In Nashville  —  Those Obama supporters out there feeling left behind by Barack Obama's lack attention to Tennessee may be in for some excitement relatively soon.  Post Politics has learned that a conference call took place this morning to make arrangements …

‘Time’ Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece  —  NEW YORK—Hailed by media critics as the fluffiest, most toothless, and softest-hitting coverage of the presidential candidate to date, a story in this week's Time magazine is being called the definitive Barack Obama puff piece.

Obama disinvited ‘lobbyist’ Cleland  —  Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland was an icon of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 campaign, a badly wounded war hero who lost his seat, Kerry deplored, after a television advertising campaign questioned his commitment to national security.

Obama Ignorance Watch  —  Barack Obama delivered a speech in West Lafeyette, IN on Wednesday and once again mangled some well known historical facts: … Aaah yes - “the bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor.”  Who can forget that?  It was the big one, the one that took out all those boats.

Once Bitter Rivals, McCain and Romney Make Up  —  It was not so long ago that the idea that Senator John McCain would even entertain tapping Mitt Romney, his bitterest primary rival, as his running mate would have seemed preposterous.  On the strange-bedfellows scale, it would have ranked …