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.

“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.

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 …

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 …

Barack Obama's ‘lost’ brother found in Kenya  —  Senator Barack Obama's long lost brother has been tracked down for the first time living in a shanty town in Kenya, reports claimed.  —  The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut …

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.

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's 2003 Stand on Abortion Draws New Criticism in 2008  —  Abortion, a familiar issue in elections past, has again emerged in recent days as a focus of controversy.  Senator Barack Obama is coming under intense fire from anti-abortion groups because of the position he took …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Head-Faker-in-Chief?  —  Biden: 'I'm Not The Guy'  —  As Sen. Joe Biden was leaving his house in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday afternoon (with a set of golf clubs in tow), he slowed down and said to the gathered news reporters outside his home: “Hey guys: I'm not the guy.  See ya,” reports ABC's Z. Byron Wolf.

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 …