Iraqi officials hopes for US troop pullout by 2010  —  BAGHDAD - Iraq's government spokesman is hopeful that U.S. combat forces could be out of the country by 2010.  —  Ali al-Dabbagh made the comments following a meeting in Baghdad on Monday between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki …

Obama roars with $25M one-day haul  —  After locking up his party's presidential nomination, Barack Obama's fundraising operation came roaring back to life in June, generating more than a million dollars on five days, including a whopping $25 million that came in on the last day of the month.

Their Fair Share  —  Washington is teeing up “the rich” for a big tax hike next year, as a way to make them “pay their fair share.”  Well, the latest IRS data have arrived on who paid what share of income taxes in 2006, and it's going to be hard for the rich to pay any more than they already do.

WHY LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES SHOULDN'T FUND SCHOOLS.  —  Because some people, who don't have kids in public schools and who aren't particularly civic-minded, will inevitably resent paying them and do everything they can to avoid doing so.  Case in point: Sun belt retirees living in “adult” …

After 2000, McCain Learned to Work Levers of Power  —  Senator John McCain was all but a sworn enemy of Senator Trent Lott, the former Republican leader.  —  Mr. Lott had quashed Mr. McCain's most cherished legislative goals.  And, worse, Mr. McCain believed that in the 2000 Republican primaries …

No Substitute for Victory  —  I'll go out on a limb and say that Barack Obama will be well received when he speaks in Berlin on July 24.  —  O.K., it's not exactly a limb.  A recent poll shows that the German public prefers Obama to John McCain by 67 percent to 6 percent.  —  But there is angst in Germany.

Dobson Leans Toward Endorsing McCain  —  There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it's one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain's uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right.  —  Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain.

Belief Growing That Reporters are Trying to Help Obama Win  —  The belief that reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the fall campaign has grown by five percentage points over the past month.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters …

The Bin Ladens of the Balkans, Part I  —  Around a thousand mujahideen, veteran Arabic fighters from the anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, showed up in Bosnia in the mid-1990s to fight a jihad against Serbian Orthodox Christians.  They thought they would be welcomed, and they were right.

In satirical payback, Obama camp denies New Yorker writer plane seat  —  There's probably no connection whatsoever.  —  But the New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, whose long, long article on Barack Obama's early political days in Chicago's ward politics (available here) was the reason …

TRAIN-ING DAY FOR JIHADISTS  —  MUSLIM SUBWAY ADS HAVE TERROR TIE-IN  —  Allah board!  —  An Islamic group plans to blitz 1,000 subway cars with advertisements this September in a campaign being promoted by a Brooklyn imam whom federal officials have linked to a plot to blow up city landmarks.

One simple way to predict a victor  —  One cannot help but be struck by the current disconnection in US presidential politics between, on one hand, the excitement and enthusiasm that attend Barack Obama's candidacy and, on the other, the tightness of the race according to recent polls.

Influx of Voters Expected to Test New Technology  —  With millions of new voters heading to the polls this November and many states introducing new voting technologies, election officials and voting monitors say they fear the combination is likely to create long lines, stressed-out poll workers and late tallies on Election Day.