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 …

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Bye Bye Barry (Guest Voice)  —  This is another Guest Voice by Joel S. Hirschhorn, who is highly critical of both major political parties and who advocates a constitutional convention.  Should we save this post for use on election day?  Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers.

Talk About Audacity!  —  Speaking before the Veterans of Foreign Wars this morning, Barack Obama delivered an amazing show of chutzpah.  John McCain had addressed the VFW yesterday, and as the Associated Press reports, he was predictably critical of Obama: … Here is Obama's reply: