Exclusive: Al Qaeda No. 2 Injured?  —  Unverified Letter Obtained By CBS News Urgently Requests Doctor To Treat Ayman al Zawahiri  —  (CBS) Ayman al Zawahiri - the second most powerful leader in al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden's No. 2 - may be critically wounded and possibly dead …

Race Card Charges and Campaign Discord Mark Dog Days of Summer  —  Who let the dogs out?  —  Was it Barack Obama, who not so subtly pointed to John McCain and seemingly accused him of trying to scare voters by drawing attention to the fact that Obama doesn't look like (read: he is African American) all the other presidents?

Obama would consider off-shore drilling as part of comprehensive energy plan  —  ST. PETERSBURG — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said today he would be willing to open Florida's coast for more oil drilling if it meant winning approval for broad energy changes.  —  “My interest is in making sure we've got …

Obama camp responds: ‘sad...juvenile antics’  —  Barack Obama's campaign responded sharply to a new McCain webad depicting Obama as a parody of a biblical prophet.  —  “It's downright sad that on a day when we learned that 51,000 Americans lost their jobs, a candidate for the presidency …

Bush Family on Rush  —  The Bush family called in to the Rush Limbaugh show this morning.  Listen Here!  —  RUSH: What are...? (interruption) Interrupting for what?  —  THE PRESIDENT: Hello!  —  RUSH: Oh, jeez.  The president?  —  THE PRESIDENT: Rush Limbaugh?  —  RUSH: Yes, sir, Mr. President.

Anthrax Suspect Kills Self - How Conveeeeeeeenient...  Bruce Ivins, a bioweapons scientist at Ft. Detrick, Md. reportedly killed himself via overdose earlier this week.  He was about to be indicted in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks (remember those?).

Obama's Netroots Supporters Continue “Blog Burning”  —  Let's Party Like It's 1933.  —  Tell me once more how progressives love free speech. … Online activists thought to be loyal to Barack Obama are once against using Google's software tools to target rival political blogs for elimination as spam blogs.

The Guerilla Congress  —  I just got back a short while ago from the press gallery at the House of Representatives where, as Ramesh mentioned, the Republicans are keeping up the fight on creating new domestic energy and lowering gas prices.  —  You can read more details about what happened here …

McCain's Ad Formula Employs Lowest Common Denominator  —  In a celebrity-driven culture that has left little space for John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate has decided to go tabloid.  —  By featuring Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in an attack ad against Barack Obama …

Plouffe: McCain attacks ‘helped our campaign,’ moneywise  —  In a video sent to donors, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says the campaign received 100,000 contributions yesterday, a third of them from first-time donors.  —  “I think John McCain has harmed himself in the last week …

1. Tall, dark and handsome  —  Political party: Democrat.  —  Dating status: Married to wife, Beth.  —  Women of all ages and political persuasions swoon when Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) comes near.  During a recent elevator ride in the Rayburn House Office Building …

The nonpuzzle of the close election polls  —  The economy is going badly, Bush is unpopular, so why is Obama up only slightly in the polls?  This is the question that is (currently) puzzling the political world.  A quick answer: the economy isn't going so badly by historical standards …

Obama explains ‘dollar bill’ line  —  In an interview with Florida outlets, Obama explains his remark about how his opponents would play his appearance which — while clearly not intended to start a racially charged exchange — gave McCain a hook for his response: