Paris Hilton's family fuming at McCain campaign  —  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that the new McCain ad criticizing Obama for being a celebrity has ruffled some unintended feathers.  I, for one, quite liked the ad, but I hear whispers from the inner campaign staff …

White House Aides Can Be Subpoenaed  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's top advisers cannot ignore subpoenas issued by Congress, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a case that involves the firings of several United States attorneys but has much wider constitutional implications for all three branches of government.

McCain says ‘race card’ charges are fair  —  (CNN) — John McCain told CNN Thursday it is fair for his campaign manager to claim Barack Obama is playing ‘the race card.’  —  “I'm sorry to say that it is.  It's legitimate,” McCain told CNN's John King.  “And there's no place in this campaign for that.

Gallup Daily: Obama 45%, McCain 44%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The race for the presidency has moved back into a statistical tie in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update of national registered voters, with Barack Obama now ahead of John McCain by just one percentage point, 45% to 44%.

EXCLUSIVE: To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them  —  Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held …

Facing questions, Edwards evades reporters  —  It was only three weeks ago that John Edwards was fielding media questions on his chances of filling the Democratic Party's vice presidential slot on Barack Obama's ticket or a potential Cabinet position in an Obama administration.

Inside the New Battleground Poll  —  In the grand cosmos of political polling organizations, Quinnipiac is one of the better ones.  So it's worth taking a look at its new summer snapshot of three battleground states—Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  The poll was conducted over a full week …

51% of Californians back offshore drilling  —  (07-30) 22:28 PDT San Francisco — A majority of Californians favor more oil drilling off the coast, according to a statewide survey released Wednesday, for the first time since oil prices spiked nearly three decades ago.

Rising Oil Prices Swell Profits at Exxon and Shell  —  Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported on Thursday that second-quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever for an American company.  —  Net income of $2.22 a share compared with $10.26 billion …

PFC LaVena Johnson Was Raped, Beaten, Set On Fire And Worse - Army Calls It Suicide  —  Nicole and I have both written posts about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of PFC LaVena Johnson, and Democracy Now! had a heartbreaking interview with her family last week.

McCain camp de-retracts attack  —  I'd missed this yesterday, but the McCain campaign — which yesterday morning walked back the charge that Obama had skipped a visit with troops because he couldn't bring cameras — yesterday evening restated the claim.  —  In the latter item …

Clinton Supporter Angered By ‘Other Women’ Obama VP Talk  —  ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: A longtime friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton said it's “incomprehensible” that Sen. Barack Obama would choose another woman to be his vice-presidential candidate over Sen. Hillary Clinton.