GOP's celeb-Obama message gains traction  —  Barack Obama's critics laid down the foundations of the strategy months ago: The Republican National Committee started the “Audacity Watch” back in April, and Karl Rove later fueled the attack by describing the first-term Illinois senator as “coolly arrogant.”

What's the Word, John?  —  Miscegenation (Latin miscere “to mix” + genus “kind") is the mixing of different racial groups, that is, marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside of one's racially or ethnically defined group.  —  Obama.  Britney.

Is John McCain Stupid?  —  Is John McCain losing it?  —  On Sunday, he said on national television that to solve Social Security “everything's on the table,” which of course means raising payroll taxes.  On July 7 in Denver he said: “Senator Obama will raise your taxes.  I won't.”

Homeward Bound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population  —  Monthly data collected by the Census Bureau through May 2008 shows a significant decline in the number of less-educated, young Hispanic immigrants in the country.

Olmert to step down in September, vows to push for peace first  —  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that he has decided not to contend in the Kadima primary election and would resign as soon as the new party leader was chosen, due to the criminal investigations in which he has been embroiled in recent months.

China to Limit Web Access During Olympic Games  —  BEIJING — The International Olympic Committee failed to press China to allow fully unfettered access to the Internet for the thousands of journalists arriving here to cover the Olympics, despite promising repeatedly that the foreign news media could …

A Baby Daddy For Both Americas  —  The mainstream media really seem to imagine they can prevent Americans from knowing information by refusing to mention it in newspapers or on TV.  —  For those few Americans without an Internet connection and to whom I have not faxed the National Enquirer stories …

HILLARY IN MYSTERY POWWOW  —  IT sure looked like Hillary Rodham Clinton was plotting her political future at a secret ladies-only dinner in Washington the other night.  —  The New York senator was guest of honor at Tuesday's hush-hush powwow that raised speculation about a possible White House run in 2012.

GET THIS MAN A TELEPROMPTER!  —  Barack Obama is a lot like Sean Penn or George Clooney.  If you give him a script, he can deliver it pretty well.  But if he tries to talk without a script that has been written for him by others, he quickly reveals that he is poorly-informed if not downright ignorant.

McCain's True Voice  —  In the dog days of summer, John McCain's political personality has become so fuzzy that even some Republicans are worrying about his viability.  But if you want a reminder of why McCain should be a formidable candidate, take another look at his remarkable 1999 autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers.”

McCain Should Pick Romney, And Soon  —  As John McCain mulls his veep pick, I'd offer some thoughts on what he should do.  As the title indicates, I think Mitt Romney is quite possibly the best choice, and McCain should pick him soon.  —  Analysts have given multiple reasons for picking Romney …

A Hidden Toll on Employment: Cut to Part Time  —  The number of Americans who have seen their full-time jobs chopped to part time because of weak business has swelled to more than 3.7 million — the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago.