Running While Black  —  Gee, I wonder why, if you have a black man running for high public office — say, Barack Obama or Harold Ford — the opposition feels compelled to run low-life political ads featuring tacky, sexually provocative white women who have no connection whatsoever to the black male candidates.

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 …

Anthrax Suspect's Death Is Dark End for a Family Man  —  FREDERICK, Md. — Bruce E. Ivins arrived last month for a group counseling session at a psychiatric center here in his hometown with a startling announcement: Facing the prospect of murder charges, he had bought a bulletproof vest …

Obama opposes reparations for slavery  —  SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders.  —  The man with a serious chance to become the nation's …

A Big IE7 Problem on the Web  —  I've confirmed that there's some kind of problem on the Internet, that only seems to affect users of the Internet Explorer 7 web browser.  Attempting to browse to many sites results in an ‘Operation Aborted’ error.  No information about the problem elsewhere yet ... stay tuned.

Barack Obama's Lost Years  —  The senator's tenure as a state legislator reveals him to be an old-fashioned, big government, race-conscious liberal.  —  Barack Obama's neighborhood newspaper, the Hyde Park Herald, has a longstanding tradition of opening its pages to elected officials …

Blue America Welcomes Annette Taddeo  —  Annette Taddeo is the newest progressive candidate to be endorsed by Blue America.  She's running against a right-wing Bush rubber stamp in Miami-Dade, in a district looking less and less red by the day.  She'll be living blogging over at Firedoglake from 2-4pm, EST.

Pakistani Taliban deny Zawahri death report  —  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani Taliban spokesman denied on Saturday a U.S. media report that al Qaeda number two, Ayman al Zawahri, might have been killed or wounded in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's border region last Monday.

On the Offense  —  I have no idea what the general reception of McCain's “The One” ad about Barack Obama will be; but I thought it was clever and effective.  Humor is one of the best and most under-utilized assets in a presidential campaign; when a clever and/or humorous charge embodies …

Pak help for Afghan “militants” is old news  —  Rich is right that the New York Times story which reports that a senior CIA official, who was willing to be named, went to Islamabad to offer proof that Pakistan's very powerful spy agency, called Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) …

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.