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 …

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 …

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 …

Obama really doesn't like a debate  —  Barack Obama got stung by a challenge from a Las Vegas reporter on his energy policy, and specifically on his efforts to paint John McCain as a lackey of Dick Cheney.  Jon Ralston asked Obama about the contradiction inherent in this strategy …

McCain's Green-Eyed Monster  —  Not since Iago and Othello obsessed on the comely Cassio, not since Richard of Gloucester killed his two nephews, not since Nixon and Johnson glowered at the glittering J.F.K., has there been such an unseemly outpouring of boy envy.

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 …

Bin Laden's Former Driver Found Guilty 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 …

GOP's Pawlenty praises Obama's positive message  —  ARLINGTON, Va. - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said Wednesday GOP candidates would do well to adopt a positive tone like that of McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama.

Tales of Addiction, Anxiety, Ranting  —  Scientist, Counselor Recount Recent Turmoil in Anthrax Suspect's Life  —  Late last fall, Bruce E. Ivins was drinking a liter of vodka some nights, taking large doses of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs, and typing out rambling e-mails …

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.

A Right Wing Man's Plea: Right Wing Women, Please Stop Blogging  —  by John Q. Public I've been thinking about this topic for weeks, but have hesitated to publish it.  It is a controversial subject.  Even my powerful brothers of the far right dare not address it (though they certainly secretly think it).

You Still Can't Write About Muhammad  —  Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad.  Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of courage.

John Kerry, Surrogate In Chief  —  Over the past several weeks there has been perhaps no better surrogate for Barack Obama than Senator John Kerry.  Aides to the Illinois Democrat admit that they are at once surprised and ecstatic with the prosecutorial zeal that the 2004 Democratic nominee has deployed on behalf of his successor.

Is Obama the End of Black Politics?  —  Forty-seven years after he last looked out from behind the bars of a South Carolina jail cell, locked away for leading a march against segregation in Columbia, James Clyburn occupies a coveted suite of offices on the second and third floors of the United States Capitol …

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 …

Who are these Donors the WaPo Found?  —  There's a curious story about John McCain in the Washington Post today I haven't been able to verify though normal FEC databases.  —  Take a look at the lede in this story “Bundler Collects from Unlikely Donors”: … Here's the rub.