McCain Prepares Rezko Ad; Wright “Now Fair Game”; GOP 527 Attacks  —  Sen. John McCain's campaign is finishing a hard-hitting television ad highlighting Barack Obama 's ties to shady Chicago land dealer Tony Rezko, the one-time Obama patron who was convicted earlier this summer of fraud.

Obama says he's chosen his VP — won't reveal who it is yet  —  Barack Obama told USA TODAY this afternoon that “yes,” he has made up his mind about whom his running mate will be — but he would not reveal the name or just when he will tell the nation about his choice.  —  USA TODAY's Kathy Kiely writes that:

Born in the U.S.A.  —  The truth about Obama's birth certificate.  —  In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen.  But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity.

International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age  —  Tim Reid in Washington, Jeremy Griffin and Jane Macartney in Beijing  —  The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age …

Two McCain Offices Receive Envelopes With White Powder, Threat  —  Two John McCain campaign offices received envelopes supposedly containing unidentified white powder and threatening notes Thursday afternoon, but authorities later determined that there were no hazardous materials invovled and a Colorado inmate appeared responsible.

Video: Volleyball team wins gold, blindsides NBC with shout-out to Bush  —  A palate cleanser by popular request; you'll remember our heroines here from the Butt-Pat That Wasn't.  The official Olympics site has highlights of the match but this snippet had to be rescued from oblivion by Tivo.

Where's Obama's Passion?  —  A few days before Barack Obama was to announce his choice for Vice President, he was asked at a North Carolina town meeting what qualities he wanted in a running mate.  He wandered through a derisive, if desultory, critique of Dick Cheney, then switched gears.

More Americans Question Religion's Role in Politics  —  Some Social Conservative Disillusionment  —  Some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics.  A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep …

Limbaugh: Obama's Nomination “Really goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy.”  —  Audio and more from Media Matters: … Yes, someone should have told this young, uppity negro to STFU and know his place in American society.  You knew he was a baby killer, right?

OBAMA VS. BALDILOCKS  —  A blogger's African dad came here on the same airlift as Obama's dad.  All similarities end there  —  Los Angeles blogger Juliette Ochieng has a lot in common with the man who might be the next president, Barack Obama.  A lot.  —  Both were born to Kenyan fathers …

Protections Set for Antiabortion Health Workers  —  Women's Health Activists Denounce Rule Allowing Federal Officials to Pull Funding  —  The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers …

Ohio Voting Machines Contained Programming Error That Dropped Votes  —  A voting system used in 34 states contains a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped while being electronically transferred from memory cards to a central tallying point, the manufacturer acknowledges.

NOTES ON A SCANDAL  —  A soldier in Iraq decided to write about his experiences.  He never suspected he'd start a war  —  Soldiers at war rarely write magazine stories.  But on July 13, 2007, a 24-year-old army private named Scott Thomas Beauchamp who had been serving in Iraq …

Obama & Being In Touch  —  Several readers have written to say I'm missing the point.  Obama's making the case that McCain is out of touch with the working man.  Others say I'm missing the point because McCain's policies are bad for the working man.  The upshot of a lot of this is that it's okay …