McCain and Obama on the spot at Warren's forum  —  LAKE FOREST, California (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that the country's — and his — greatest moral failure has been selfishness.  —  “We still don't abide by that basic precept of Matthew — whatever you do to the least of my brothers ... you do to me,” Obama said.

Live-Blogging Saddleback - McCain  —  9.57 pm.  McCain's evolution into a candidate who knows how to stroke the Christianist base is somewhat impressive.  It was a little canned at times, but it will work with evangelicals.  All in all, this struck me as pretty much a draw.

Memo From a Poison Penn  —  Say you find yourself seated on the train behind two white supremacists who are beside themselves over the possibility that Barack Obama could become America's first black president.  —  They are so fired up, they fail to notice you.

Obama to General Wesley Clark: Your Services Not Needed  —  (General Wesley Clark speaking at Yearly Kos Convention in Chicago, 2007)  —  General Wesley Clark is not attending the Democratic National Convention.  —  He was informed by Barack Obama's people that there was “no reason to come.”

Obama nearly doubles McCain haul  —  Barack Obama raised $51 million in July, nearly twice as much as John McCain.  —  McCain revealed Friday that he raised $27 million last month, his best month of the campaign.  —  The summer surge pushed Obama over the $400 million mark for what he's raised …

Howard Dean Accidentally Calls the Republican Party the “White” Party  —  In an interview with National Public Radio on Friday, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, referred to the Republican Party as the white party, seemingly accidental.

Kobe Bryant Schools Liberal NBC Announcer On Patriotism  —  It's pretty moving to watch a pampered professional jock show more patriotism than the Democratic candidate for president, more pride in his country than the democratic candidate's wife, and more awareness of this country's opportunities than a liberal NBC announcer.

Allies Ask Obama to Make ‘Hope’ More Specific  —  As Senator Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next week, party leaders in battleground states say the fight ahead against Senator John McCain looks tougher than they imagined, with Mr. Obama vulnerable …

Cold Friends, Wrapped in Mink and Medals  —  Writing in The Financial Times last week, Chrystia Freeland recalled Francis Fukuyama's 1989 essay “The End of History?,” which trumpeted the definitive triumph of liberal democracy.  The great nightmare tyrannies of last century — the Evil Empire …

Colorado turns purple in polls  —  Electorate's great divide is by age and geography  —  A political battle for the ages may become a battle of the ages.  —  Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are neck-and-neck in Colorado, solidifying the state as a key …

Response to 9/11 Offers Outline of a McCain Doctrine  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain arrived late at his Senate office on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.  “This is war,” he murmured to his aides.  The sound of scrambling fighter planes rattled …