Poll: Trouble Signs in Obama's Lead  —  After two weeks of sharpened attacks between the campaigns, Barack Obama is maintaining a narrow 5% lead over John McCain in the race for the White House, a new TIME poll shows.  Overall, the poll shows Obama leading McCain 46% to 41% when undecided voters …

THE PHOTOS EVERYONE'S BEEN WAITING FOR!  —  The NATIONAL ENQUIRER is releasing the photograph that the world has been waiting for - the first-ever picture of John Edwards and his love child!  —  The stunning “spy photo” shows the former presidential contender holding his infant daughter Frances Quinn Hunter …

Sen. Hillary Clinton Seeks Democratic Convention Voice  —  Sen. Hillary Clinton Not Ruling Out Having Name Put Up for Vote in Denver  —  Sen. Hillary Clinton told a gathering of supporters last week that she's looking for a “strategy” for her delegates to have their voices heard and …

Ross Responds to “Vital Questions” About Anthrax Report  —  The ongoing anthrax case appears to be over, as more information is revealed following the suicide of the leading suspect, Army scientist Bruce Ivins.  —  But with the end of the case comes a small but vocal group who still …

WRONG. . .WRONG. . .WRONG: Obama Lets Muslim Advisor Resign  —  Will anyone notice?  Barack Obama's team just threw its key Muslim advisor under the bus.  —  Barack Obama needs to make a statement loudly, clearly, and with passion that he embraces Muslims as much as any other Americans of Christian …

Obama in Knots over Cheney  —  Barack Obama's criticism of Vice President Cheney is as incoherent as his energy policy.  On the stump yesterday, Obama reportedly “emphasized the key role of Cheney, the unpopular vice president, in President Bush's energy policy.”

WaPo Blows A1 McCain Story  —  Hours after blogging about the problems in Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk's A1 story, this correction was posted online: … That means these people Mosk alleged had been somehow forced to make campaign contributions to McCain through a third-party bundler NEVER DONATED MONEY TO MCCAIN.

Justice Department Subpoenas Its Former Lawyers In Civil Rights Probe  —  A federal grand jury has subpoenaed several former senior Justice Department attorneys for an investigation into the politicization of the Department's own Civil Rights Division, according to sources close to the investigation.

For Whom the Times Polls  —  Back in the days when I was writing political advertising—in the pre-Internet, pre-War Room era—the single most coveted piece of information we tried to ascertain was the polling research done by our opponents.  —  Not the answers so much, but the questions.

Obama Fatigue - 48% Hearing Too Much About Him  —  McCain's Ads Seen As Negative, Obama's as Positive  —  As he has since January, this week, Barack Obama enjoyed much more visibility as far as the public was concerned than did John McCain.  By a margin of 76% to 11% respondents …

Dear Reader  —  I don't care if you're left, right, up, down or in between, isn't this what's known as an act of war?  If not, maybe what we get on page two is? … I'm just wondering how many times our bloodthirsty, hegemonic, imperial military has made incursions across the border into Mexico.

Nasty Attack Ad Hits Jewish Dem Congressman For Visiting “Our Churches”  —  This brutal new attack ad from House candidate Nikki Tinker, who is challenging liberal Tennessee Rep. Steven Cohen in tomorrow's Democratic primary, just might be the nastiest, most race-baiting (and Jew-baiting) ad of the entire cycle:

Bin Laden's Former Driver Is Convicted in Split Verdict  —  GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A panel of six military officers convicted a former driver for Osama bin Laden of one war crime Wednesday but acquitted him of another, completing the first military commission trial here and the first conducted …

Gore Hits the Waves with a Massive New Houseboat  —  The environment guru has a big house, flies in big planes... and now captains a big boat.  —  Former Vice President Al Gore, the Nobel-winning self-proclaimed global prophet of green, has made a lot of money from the so-called “crisis” of global warming.

Milbank's Move  —  Yesterday, I wrote on Dana Milbank's abrupt departure from “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” which at first seemed to directly follow a disagreement over the Washington Post columnist's July 30 column calling Obama “presumptuous.”  —  However, Milbank's dissatisfaction …

Those Damn Kids!  —  On Tuesday night, TNA writer Lonnie Affrime spotted the Straight Talk Express in the parking lot of an Embassy Suites in Boca Raton, FL.  He noticed an unusual decal on the back of Sen. John McCain's whip and, as any good American would do, took a few pictures.

Greyhound scraps ‘bus rage’ ads after bus beheading  —  TORONTO - Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.  —  The ad's tag line was “There's a reason you've never heard of ‘bus rage.’”