Republican centrists warn Reid's tough tactics could backfire  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has deployed unusually tough tactics to pressure Republicans to back Wall Street reform — a move that could shore up his liberal base, but one that GOP centrists say is counterproductive.

Palin: Obama pushing racial ‘myth’  —  Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday night declared that there is “no ability or opportunity” for the new Arizona immigration law to encourage racial profiling, and blamed Barack Obama for “perpetuating this myth.”

Laura Bush Opens Up About Fatal Crash  —  Laura Bush has finally opened up publicly about the mysterious car accident she had when she was 17, a crash that claimed the life of a high school friend on a dark country road in Midland, Tex.  —  In her new book, “Spoken from the Heart,” …

Why reporters are down on Obama  —  One of the enduring story lines of Barack Obama's presidency, dating back to the earliest days of his candidacy, is that the press loves him.  —  “Most of you covered me.  All of you voted for me,” Obama joked last year at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

Poll finds Americans in an anti-incumbent mood as midterm elections near  —  Members of Congress face the most anti-incumbent electorate since 1994, with less than a third of all voters saying they are inclined to support their representatives in November, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Obama is a Bully: Kneale  —  Will someone please rein in our relentlessly hectoring President?  Barrack Hussein Obama has taken his gift for inspirational oratory—one of the traits that got him elected—and turned it into something darker and more insidious.  —  Bam is a bully.

Spain's Debt Rating Cut, Heightening Concerns Over Europe  —  The ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the debt rating of Spain on Wednesday, its third downgrade of a European country in two days.  —  The downgrade came one day after the S.& P. cut the ratings of Greek and Portuguese debt …

Brown's bad apology  —  In a campaign mishap that's driving the U.K. election news today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was caught on tape insulting a disabled widow from whom he'd taken questions on crime and immigration — “She's just a sort of bigoted woman that said she used to be Labour” …

Texas gov. shoots, kills ‘wily’ coyote during jog  —  AUSTIN, Texas — Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don't mess with my dog.  —  Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries …

Police state: How Mexico treats illegal aliens  —  This is what a “police state” looks like  —  My syndicated column today responds to Mexican President Felipe Calderon's demagoguery on Arizona's immigration enforcement law.  Calderon has a long history of bashing the U.S. …

Democrats Take New Tack to Rally Base  —  Concerned About Possible Midterm Losses, Party Will Step Up Minority Outreach and Warn of GOP Vote Suppression  —  Increasingly concerned about a demoralized base, Democratic Party leaders are accusing opponents of trying to delegitimize President Barack Obama …

Huckleberry Hounds Senate: Graham Threatens to Filibuster Everything He Claims to Care About  —  Sen. Graham (R-SC) cares this much.  (photo: Michael Wuertenberg WEF)  —  I noticed with alarm that some of my friends on the left evinced a certain amount of sympathy for Lindsey Graham.

'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war:' US generals given baffling PowerPoint presentation to try to explain Afghanistan mess  —  Its coloured charts, graphs and bullet-points are supposed to make the most incomprehensible data crystal clear.

Suntanned women to be arrested under Islamic dress code  —  Iran has warned suntanned women and girls who looked like “walking mannequins” will be arrested as part of a new drive to enforce the Islamic dress code.  —  Brig Hossien Sajedinia, Tehran's police chief, said a national crackdown …

City workers banned from official travel to Arizona  —  San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today a moratorium on official city travel to Arizona after the state enacted a controversial new immigration law that directs local police to arrest those suspected of being in the country illegally.

Fisher Opens Big Lead In Ohio Dem Senate Primary, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dem Voters See Him As More Likely To Win In November  —  Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher has a commanding 41 - 24 percent lead over Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in the race for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination …

George Will On Hispanics  —  We've seen, repeatedly, that Fred Hiatt thinks it's not a problem if George Will wants to use his Washington Post column to mislead people about facts.  But Will's decided to enter a new kind of loathesomeness with this characterization of where one might meet a Hispanic: