Top Items:
Zogby:
Reuters/Zogby Poll: McCain Makes a Move, Takes 5-Point Lead Over Obama — Obama loses ground among Dems, women, Catholics & even younger voters — UTICA, New York - As Russian tanks rolled into the Republic of Georgia and the presidential candidates met over the weekend in the first joint issues forum …
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John Whitesides / Reuters:
Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Ross Douthat, TalkLeft, www.redstate.com, TigerHawk, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Vox Popoli, Don Surber, Washington Post and Real Clear Politics
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Obama's Ads in Key States Go on Attack — WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama has started a sustained and hard-hitting advertising campaign against Senator John McCain in states that will be vital this fall, painting Mr. McCain in a series of commercials as disconnected from the economic struggles of the middle class.
Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Obama and McCain in a statistical tie
Obama and McCain in a statistical tie
Discussion:
Deadline USA, Commentary, Electoral-vote.com, American Spectator, Outside The Beltway, Christian Science Monitor, NewsBusters.org, Gallup, Real Clear Politics, Daily Kos, BAGnewsNotes, JammieWearingFool, CNN, Hot Air, Truthdig, Weekly Standard Blog, www.redstate.com, Oliver Willis, The Other McCain, Boston Globe, The Swamp, The Strata-Sphere and Wake up America
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Two Against The One — In the dead of night in a small hideaway office in the deserted Capitol, a clandestine meeting takes place between two senators with one goal. — They grin at each other as they lift their celebratory shots of brutally cold Stolichnaya.
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Borys Krawczeniuk / The Times-Tribune:
Local Clinton backers, McCain adviser meet — A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Michael Moore:
“Caroline: Pull a Cheney!” An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore — We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet.
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John F. Harris / The Politico:
Nader predicts Obama to pick Clinton
Nader predicts Obama to pick Clinton
Discussion:
Commentary, The Corner, Buck Naked Politics, Hot Air, CBS News, The Moderate Voice, Tribble Ad Agency and The Reaction
Sergey Lavrov / Wall Street Journal:
America Must Choose Between Georgia and Russia — In some Western nations an utterly one-sided picture has been painted of the recent crisis in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict. The statements of American officials would lead one to conclude that the crisis began when Russia sent in its troops to support its peacekeepers there.
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Mikhail Gorbachev / New York Times:
Russia Never Wanted a War — THE acute phase of the crisis provoked by the Georgian forces' assault on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, is now behind us. But how can one erase from memory the horrifying scenes of the nighttime rocket attack on a peaceful town, the razing of entire city blocks …
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
What Did We Expect? — If the conflict in Georgia were an Olympic event, the gold medal for brutish stupidity would go to the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin. The silver medal for bone-headed recklessness would go to Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and the bronze medal …
Marc Ambinder:
Your VP, Senator. What Will “He” Be Like? — Sen. Barack Obama usually describes his vice presidential nominee with two pronouns joined by a conjunction... “he or she.” Tonight, in North Carolina, according to CBS News's Maria Gavrilovic, Obama was gender specific.
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Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:
Biden on Obama's VP Pick: 'I'm Not The Guy'
Biden on Obama's VP Pick: 'I'm Not The Guy'
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, CBS News, Washington Post, Open Left, The Other McCain, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake and TalkLeft
Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Just call me, ‘Political Animal’ — Now that my friend Kevin Drum has made the announcement, I can pass along the big news. — Starting this Friday, Aug. 22, Kevin will be leaving the Washington Monthly, heading over to a new blog at Mother Jones. He'll be replaced at Political Animal by ... me.
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Bill Carter / TV Decoder:
Rachel Maddow to Replace Dan Abrams on MSNBC — Rachel Maddow, shown filling in for Keith Olbermann on “Countdown” last month. Ms. Maddow will host the 9 p.m. hour beginning Sept. 8. (Ress Greenberg/ New York Times) — Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election …
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Keith Olbermann / Daily Kos:
Rachel Gets Her Own MSNBC Show
Rachel Gets Her Own MSNBC Show
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, American Prospect, Salon, MyDD, TV Decoder, The Seminal, Think Progress, pandagon.net, Political Machine, ATTACKERMAN, Majikthise, TVNewser and The Nation
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Talk of McCain's No. 2 Concerns Conservatives — LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Senator John McCain is facing increasing scrutiny about his selection of a running mate as some social conservatives expressed alarm on Tuesday that Mr. McCain might ask a candidate who favors abortion rights to join him on the ticket.
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David Freddoso / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Played by Chicago Rules — Democrats don't like it when you say that Barack Obama won his first election in 1996 by throwing all of his opponents off the ballot on technicalities. — By clearing out the incumbent and the others in his first Democratic primary for state Senate …
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
McCain scores a bump from Saddleback — He clashed with their leaders in his 2000 campaign. He struggled to gain their votes during the 2008 primaries. And he still doesn't spend much time talking about the issues they consider most important. — But after Saturday night's televised forum …
Discussion:
QandO
Tim Montgomerie / America in the World's …:
A World Without The American Soldier — The first World Without America video. — A background briefing on the contribution of the US military to the world today. — Please sign our global declaration against anti-Americanism.
CBN.com:
Obama Campaign to Brody File: Infanticide Suggestion “Offensive and Insulting” — As you know, we here at The Brody File pride ourselves on laying out both sides of an argument and letting you, the readers come to your own conclusions. Hence, let's delve into the aftermath …
Discussion:
Associated Press, jillstanek.com, Hot Air, www.redstate.com, National Review and The Corner
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
PowerPAC: ‘What Matters’ — The first general election spot from PowerPAC — basically the only independent Democratic player doing media at this point — casts Obama as a success story immigrants can identify with — “A new kind of leader, just like you.” — The ad is running in New Mexico, and starts airing tomorrow.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
National Enquirer:
JOHN EDWARDS BLOCKBUSTER NEW EXPOSE! — The NATIONAL ENQUIRER's exclusive ongoing investigation uncovers shocking new revelations about The John Edwards Scandal! — The day prior to Edwards bombshell admission to an affair on ABC's Nightline, Rielle Hunter and her 6 month old daughter …
Juanita Cousins / Associated Press:
Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit — ATLANTA (AP) - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it …
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