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.

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.

McCain's attacks get more reckless, less responsible  —  In the modern political era, voters have come to expect presidential candidates to be, well, presidential.  There's an expectation of respect and decorum.  Candidates are going to go on the attack on occasion, but Americans …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

HRC Campaign Aides Buy 2012 Website  —  A company associated with Hillary Clinton's top presidential campaign advance staff has purchased a website domain that hints of a 2012 presidential bid for the vanquished senator from New York.  —  HRC2012.com was bought by the Markham Group on June 8, according to whois.com

‘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's ‘Judgment’  —  Barack Obama departs for Iraq as early as this weekend, with a media entourage as large as some of his rallies.  He'll no doubt learn a lot, in addition to getting a good photo op.  What we'll be waiting to hear is whether the would-be Commander in Chief absorbs enough …