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NBC's Andrea Mitchell Floats Idea McCain Cheated — Think John McCain did pretty well in last evening's Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency hosted by the Rev. Rick Warren? You're not the only one. The Obama campaign thinks he did well too — so good, in fact, that they think he might have cheated.
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MCCAIN'S BACK IN THE SADDLEBACK — From NBC's Chuck Todd — Normally, on a night like tonight, we here at First Read would have been liveblogging every moment of Rick Warren's presidential forum. But with the Olympics and the fact this is THE Saturday Michael Phelps will be making history, we kept our liveblogging in check.

The candidates define ‘rich’ — At last night's forum at Saddleback Church, the Rev. Rick Warren asked a nearly identical set of questions to Barack Obama and John McCain, but one of the more memorable inquiries was just two words: “Define rich.” — Obama started with a joke at Warren's expense …


Barack Obama, John McCain discuss faith, issues at Saddleback Church forum
Discussion:
Guardian, Political Punch, The Democratic Daily, Electoral-vote.com, Fox News, Don Surber and Top of the Ticket

Obama, McCain appear before religious voters
Discussion:
NO QUARTER, The New Republic, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Guardian, Riehl World View and The Other McCain

GEORGIA UPDATE....The latest on the ceasefire: … Well, we'll see. I guess this all depends on whether the Russians have blown up enough Georgian infrastructure by then to satisfy their promise of leaving only after implementing those mysterious “extra security measures” they insisted on inserting into the ceasefire text.
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79 Days — Obama wouldn't have nominated Thomas — Prime time last night: Faith, Phelps and Favre - whatacountry ... At Rick Warren forum, McCain is blunt and sometimes electric, Obama is calm and reassuring ... McCain quips “$5 million” when asked his definition of rich, then immediately …


EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Barack Obama — Attention Brody File readers. — I was just granted an exclusive one on one interview with Barack Obama here at the Saddleback Civil Forum. CBN News was the only media outlet to go behind the scenes and conduct an interview.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, The Campaign Spot, Hot Air, www.redstate.com, The Caucus, Ben Smith's Blogs, TownHall Blog, Macsmind and TIME.com
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McCain As Good As Obama Was Bad — I don't want to get to overheated about what occurred tonight, but I do think McCain had a clear and decisive victory over Obama. It all comes down to something that Phil Bredesen, the Democratic governor of Tennessee recently said about Obama …
Discussion:
Deadline USA, JustOneMinute, Big Brass Blog, American Power, INSTAPUTZ and New York Times
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Obama says pointed abortion query “above his pay grade” — DALLAS - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama side-stepped a pointed query about abortion on Saturday by “mega-pastor” Rick Warren during a televised forum. — Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama …
Discussion:
Buck Naked Politics, Althouse, Pajamas Media, GetReligion, QandO, Commentary, Macsmind and Ross Douthat


Ukraine Baits the Bear While Condi and Dubya Do Nothing — This is the stuff that makes me want to claw my eyes out: … Repeat after me “this is a treaty violation and the Russians can use it as a pretext to break the treaty acknowledging Sevastopol as yours. Are you sure you can win a war with Russia?
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Jindal stumped when asked to name new ‘big ideas’ that McCain is proposing. — This morning on NBC's Meet the Press, host David Gregory asserted that the Republican Party “used to be the party of big ideas.” Gregory then asked his guest Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), “What's the big idea Senator McCain is campaigning on?”
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars


Despite Request, McCain Resorted to Stock Answers at Faith Forum — From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro: — (LAKE FOREST, CA.) - There was one rule evangelical pastor Rick Warren wanted to make clear about his questions to both candidates during his forum on Saturday night, and he said it more than once.


Bill Kristol's weekly moment of shame “...if countries don't have confidence in our ability to help them, it's going to be a much more dangerous world.” — By: John Amato @ 10:00 AM - PDT — (video and post sent in by PublEuS via email)

Deployments Are a Factor in Army's Deficit of Majors — Service's Plan for Growth Also Contributes to a Gap That Could Take Five Years to Close — The Army's growth plans and the demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are contributing to a shortfall of thousands of majors …
Discussion:
Firedoglake

What Does Michael Phelps Do For An Encore? — What will Michael Phelps do after winning eight gold medals in Beijing? He plans on going to London - in 2012. And why not? He won six gold medals at age nineteen, another eight at age twenty-three, and there is no reason …
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Phelps's Epic Journey Ends in Perfection
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice