Beetle in a Box  —  So John McCain said the surge led to the Anbar Awakening even though the Awakening, in fact, happened before the surge began.  So he's ignorant.  Or maybe dishonest.  But now we learn he's also rather stubborn: … Shawn Brimley tries to bring common sense to bear on this …

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.

Crossing Paths  —  Jay Solomon reports on Barack Obama's trip.  —  Reporters flying to Berlin with Barack Obama were confused upon arrival to see an honor guard in front of another plane.  —  Some thought the German government had made a mistake.  But then the national emblem …

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.

Obama gains on McCain in Arizona fundraising  —  Barack Obama quietly raised more money in Arizona last month for his presidential campaign than John McCain did, and the Illinois Democrat dominates the overall fundraising map in 43 states and Washington, D.C., records show.

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 …

Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told  —  Don't ask, don't tell.  And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military.  —  The House Armed Services personnel subcommittee made just such a miscalculation yesterday.

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 …

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 …

Obama Team Begins Work On Presidential Transition  —  With less than six months to go before he would be sworn in as the nation's 44th president, Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning for the transition.  —  “Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational …

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 …

U.S. jobless claims rose by more than expected  —  The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped 34,000 last week, government data on Thursday showed, reflecting seasonal volatility typical at this time of year.  —  Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose …

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.

Obama On Tonight's Berlin Speech: “A Crapshoot”  —  How does one prepare to speak to a million screaming Germans?  —  I asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, this question as he boarded O Force One and came back to the reporters' veal pen before the plane took off from Tel Aviv, Israel to Berlin, Germany.

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.