Why the Press Is Ignoring the Edwards “Love Child” Story  —  A DOUBLE STANDARD IS AT WORK.  —  Everybody had a good laugh last August when Roll Call broke the story about Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, getting arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for playing footsies in a toilet stall.

McCain broadens definition of surge  —  From CNN's Alexander Marquardt, CNN's Tasha Diakides  —  BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania (CNN) - John McCain defended comments he made in an interview on Tuesday when he incorrectly argued that the surge in Iraq gave way to the so-called “Anbar Awakening” …

Source: Novak's Victim Worse Than First Thought  —  The pedestrian who was struck by prominent Washington columnist and commentator Robert Novak is in worse shape than first thought, a hospital source tells ABC 7 News.  —  The victim, a 66-year-old man, appeared somewhat incoherent, said the source who had seen the victim.

Voter Unease With Obama Lingers Despite His Lead  —  Poll Finds Background, Experience Are Advantages for McCain  —  WASHINGTON — Midway through the election year, the presidential campaign looks less like a race between two candidates than a referendum on one of them — Sen. Barack Obama.

Ohio -2  —  Pennsylvania -1 South Carolina +1  —  Texas +4  —  Utah +1  —  TOTAL +8 TOTAL -8  —  Which is to say that, under the new electoral vote distribution, Bush's 286-to-252 electoral vote margin in 2004 becomes 294-to-244.  Bush would have lost in 2004 if Ohio had not gone his way …

Barack Obama heckled as he visits Western Wall  —  Read Barack Obama's comments in the Yad Vashem visitors' book  —  Barack Obama completed his trip to the Middle East with a pre-dawn visit to the holiest place in Judaism where he received a mixed reaction from Orthodox Jews.

Now, RNC ads attack Obama in Paris—Michigan, Missouri and Maine  —  John McCain bin ein Berliner too.  —  As the Associated Press has reported, to commemorate Barack Obama's visit to Berlin, Germany today the Republican National Committee is running a new ad in all three U.S. cities named Berlin …

TREASURY'S THIEVES  —  BAILOUT PICKS YOUR POCKET  —  TREASURY Secretary Henry Paulson's bailout plan for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be titled “The Bondholder Relief Act of 2008”: The taxpayers will be providing the relief to holders of Fannie/Freddie debt, many of whom are foreigners.

Obama Bets $5 Million on Olympic Viewers  —  Senator Barack Obama's campaign will spend $5 million on advertisements during NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympic Games next month, an NBC spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday.  —  The candidate's commercials will appear on both the NBC network …

GOP losing the new-media war  —  Republicans have no lack of would-be George F. Wills.  —  But what they really need are some more Robert D. Novaks.  —  The distinction between the two prominent conservative journalists isn't always obvious, but it's nevertheless important to understand …

Putting Money Where Mouths Are: Media Donations Favor Dems 100-1  —  The New York Times' refusal to publish John McCain's rebuttal to Barack Obama's Iraq op-ed may be the most glaring example of liberal media bias this journalist has ever seen.  But true proof of widespread media bias requires …

Schwarzenegger plans to cut state worker pay to cope with late budget  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to cut pay for more than 200,000 state workers to save money during the budget standoff, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.  —  Brian Baer / bbaer@sacbee.com

McCain Campaign Running Obama-Castro Ad  —  The McCain campaign has a new web ad out placing Barack Obama, for the second time, side-by-side with a foreign dictator.  This time, it's Fidel Castro.  —  A Democrat in south Florida alerted the Huffington Post to the image, which shows Obama and Castro …

Democrats Against Drilling  —  Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other liberal leaders on Capitol Hill are gripped by cold-sweat terror.  If they permit a vote on offshore drilling, they know they will lose when Blue Dogs and oil-patch Democrats defect to the GOP position of increasing domestic energy production.

Obama and German leader discuss war and economics  —  BERLIN - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as climate and energy issues at Germany's chancellery Thursday, part of a tour aimed at lifting …