One Nation, Under a New Obama Salute  —  George Bush had his three-fingered W salute that supporters flashed when greeting him at presidential campaign events in 2000.  And now, if a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above.

Hillary, the Convention, and Women's Equality Day  —  I was corresponding yesterday with a person who is quite knowledgeable about doings in the Democratic party, asking what Hillary Clinton will be up to at the convention.  Of course she'll speak.  And guess what?

Cohen on track for decisive victory  —  The bet Steve Cohen campaign made with himself and with the city of Memphis might have seemed naïve.  —  Some critics called it pandering.  —  But Cohen's gut told him to run on his record.  He said his heart told him to embrace the presidential rival …

Georgian army moves to retake South Ossetia  —  TSKHINVALI, Georgia - Georgian troops launched a major military offensive Friday to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, prompting a furious response from Russia — which vowed retaliation and sent a column of tanks into the region.

Know-Nothing Politics  —  So the G.O.P. has found its issue for the 2008 election.  For the next three months the party plans to keep chanting: “Drill here!  Drill now!  Drill here!  Drill now!  Four legs good, two legs bad!”  O.K., I added that last part.

John Edwards love child rumours threaten the Barack Obama presidential campaign  —  Barack Obama's supporters yesterday tried to distance him from a potentially damaging sex scandal.  —  His possible running mate John Edwards faced renewed suggestions that he had a love child.

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. Donors  —  Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.  —  The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual …

The Olympics Are Political  —  Today the 2008 Summer Olympics start in Beijing.  The debate in the lead up to the Games has focused on whether or not this sporting event, representing the pinnacle of thousands of athletes' careers, is also a time to discuss politics.

Lord of the Memes  —  All my life I've been a successful pseudo-intellectual, sprinkling quotations from Kafka, Epictetus and Derrida into my conversations, impressing dates and making my friends feel mentally inferior.  But over the last few years, it's stopped working.  People just look at me blankly.

Bizarre Incident During Obama Visit to Ohio College Is Seen as Unavoidable  —  Officials of the U.S. Secret Service say there is nothing they could have done to avoid an incident yesterday in which Barack Obama was heckled by a strangely behaving man in the press section during an appearance at an Ohio college.

Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows Money Bomb today  —  Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows money bomb  —  Richard Nixon, August 8, 1974, 9:01 p.m. from the Oval Office: … Thirty-four years ago today, Richard Nixon was forced from office as a result of mounting public anger …

Prince George's raid prompts call for probe  —  Berwyn Heights mayor denounces police tactics  —  When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead.  A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back.  His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body …

Obama expected to arrive Friday for Honolulu visit, private fundraiser  —  U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is expected to arrive in Hawai'i on Friday with his family to begin a weeklong vacation before preparations for the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month.

Political Cycles  —  You're in a plane and you're flying over the campaign at a level of about 10,000 feet, and you look down and see: Not much has changed.  Battle lines fixed, topography the same, troops pretty much where they were.  —  But land the plane, walk around and talk to people, and you realize: This thing is moving.

Exxon-Obama  —  Via Jim Geraghty at Campaign Spot, we have this from Jake Tapper at ABC: … Geraghty's post is titled: … Sorry we don't have time to create an entire site, but perhaps this will help...  What's next, we find out that Obama is a puppet of Dick Cheney?