Queens couple's $61,600 donation to McCain questioned  —  WASHINGTON — Alice Rocchio is an office manager at the New York headquarters of the Hess Corp., drives a 1993 Chevy Cavalier and lives in an apartment in Queens, N.Y., with her husband, Pasquale, an Amtrak foreman.

House Republican leader rips Bush  —  A House Republican leader is lambasting President Bush on his decision not to call Congress back into session to deal with the energy crisis.  —  In a legislative update sent to GOP members and staff on Tuesday, Republican House Policy Committee Chairman …

Bundler Collects From Unlikely Donors  —  The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727 …

Hospitals ‘infested with vermin’  —  The cleanliness of most NHS hospitals in England is threatened by frequent invasions of rats, fleas, bedbugs, flies and cockroaches, a report claims.  —  Figures released by the Conservatives show that 70% of NHS Trusts brought in the pest controllers at least 50 times over a two-year period.

25 Reasons You May be a Racist  —  The tendency of Obama supporters to see racist impulses behind every criticism of their candidate has evolved into absurdity.  Now even the first black president feels compelled to declare he's not a racist.  By this measure, nearly every American …

Skimble Closes Blog, Election Doesn't Matter  —  Share This: Digg!  —  Via Avedon at Sideshow, longtime political blogger Skimble is packing it in and closing up shop. … Go read the rest, it's a well-deserved attack on the Dems, Harry and Nancy in particular.

New McCain Ad: “He's The Original Maverick”  —  In this new ad, John McCain tries to achieve separation from George Bush by saying flat out that “we're worse off than we were four years ago.”  At the same time, McCain sidesteps direct criticism of the President and instead blames “Washington”...

AUTOBLOG: Obama: 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015.  —  UPDATE: Dave Ivers is unimpressed: … Actually, I think the grid could easily absorb a million plugin hybrids, since they'd mostly be charging at night when consumption is way off-peak.  But ultimately you've got to have lots …

Iraq's projected $80 billion surplus stirs anger on Hill  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Iraq is raking in more money from oil exports than it is spending, amassing a projected four-year budget surplus of up to $80 billion, U.S. auditors reported Tuesday.  —  Leading members of Congress …