McCain Reverses Himself on Affirmative Action  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis and Kevin Kilbane Report: During a “This Week” interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos John McCain reversed himself on affirmative action and endorsed for the first time a proposed state ballot measure which would end race …

Gallup Daily: Obama 49%, McCain 40%  —  Third day with Obama holding a significant lead over McCain  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama now leads John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted July 24-26.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)  —  MR. TOM BROKAW: And we are here with Senator Obama late Saturday afternoon in London, the last stop of his nine-day overseas trip.  —  You head back to the United States in a few hours.  For purposes of this program, we'll say good morning.

New battles erupt over gun laws  —  From airports to Disney World, the fight to limit firearms continues in the courts  —  ATLANTA—Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a ban on handguns, gun opponents are fighting to preserve or expand gun-free zones …

Barack Obama's brother pushes Chinese imports on US  —  BARACK Obama's half-brother has been helping to promote cheap Chinese exports in a low-profile business career while the Democratic senator has been winning worldwide fame in his race for the White House.

Listening to the Dalai Lama in Aspen  —  ASPEN — My late husband, Hunter S. Thompson, said that he was a teenage girl trapped in the body of an elderly dope fiend.  I realized something as I watched the highest ranking monk of Tibetan Buddhism: His Holiness is a teenage girl trapped in the body of a Dalai Lama!

Officer: Part of anti-Obama e-mail was wrong  —  An Army officer's negative e-mail account of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's visit with the troops in Afghanistan that set the blogosphere ablaze prompted Army officials to correct aspects of the e-mail and resulted in a statement …

Impractical Scheme of the Day  —  The health policy reform world has, in my view, a tragic if understandable tendency to get bogged down in the swamps of the politically viable so I'm always glad when someone puts something obviously unpassable on the table.  Here's Robert Waldman:

Obama at UNITY convention in Chicago  —  In his first U.S. appearance after a nine-day foreign tour, Sen. Barack Obama told a convention of minority journalists in Chicago today that he believes affirmative action will still be needed, even if the nation elects its first black president.

Reader Submissions, Take 4  —  A fresh round of reader submissions are here from: Jessica Haeussler, John Stewart, Michael Edwards, Amitav Misra, Ken Goldsholl, and Steve Bartin.  As always, we welcome any and all thoughts; if you're interested in participating, please send them to conorjclarke - at - gmail.com.

Blackwater keeps O! rollin'  —  At US News & World Report, Paul Bedard whispers that Blackwater handled Barack Obama's security during his trip to Afghanistan and helped in Iraq: … From whom did Blackwater get a bad rap?  From the politician who said they run amok and erode the core …

Too Big to Fail, or to Survive  —  CRITICS of the Congressional housing package complain that we are now committing taxpayers to huge new outlays to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  That view is wrong: Congressional inaction over the past 15 years had already committed taxpayers to the bailout.

In study, evidence of liberal-bias bias  —  Cable talking heads accuse broadcast networks of liberal bias — but a think tank finds that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain in recent weeks.  —  Haters of the mainstream media reheated a bit of conventional wisdom last week.

OBAMA'S SECRET RESCUE MISSION  —  SEEKS TO FREE US MOM'S KIDS FROM PALESTINIAN ‘CAPTIVITY’  —  Barack Obama carried out a secret assignment during his global tour last week.  —  While talking about the Middle East peace process in the West Bank Wednesday, the presumptive Democratic nominee slipped …