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 ...

McCain: 'I don't know' if Obama is socialist  —  WARREN, Michigan (CNN) - John McCain on Thursday described Barack Obama's Senate record as “more to the left” than Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — an independent who caucuses with Democrats but has described himself as an “independent Democratic socialist.”

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

GAY MARRIAGE IN CALIFORNIA....Here's the latest Field Poll on Proposition 8, the initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California.  There are still four months to go before the election, but initiatives have a hard time passing in California these days just generally …

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.

McCain Campaign's Parting Gift To Obama Traveling Press Corps  —  It's a 17-page briefing book on Obama's Iraq and Afghanistan policy complete with Obama's one-event-only presidential seal.  Download it here.

Elizabeth Edwards on The Colbert Report  —  Download |  Play Download |  Elizabeth Edwards faces Stephen Colbert to stump for on behalf of the group Health Care for America Now! trying to raise the awareness of the campaign to bring affordable health care to all Americans.

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.

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.