Biden solidifies defense of Israel: 'What's the big deal here?'  —  Vice President Joe Biden offered the White House's strongest defense yet of Israeli's actions off the coast of Gaza this week in an interview with Charlie Rose airing tonight on PBS.  —  “I think Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest.

AP Sources: Admin talked jobs with Romanoff  —  WASHINGTON — Administration officials dangled the possibility of a job for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff last year in hopes he would forgo a challenge to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, administration officials said Wednesday …

BP Oil Leak May Last Until Christmas in Worst Case Scenario  —  BP Plc's failure since April to plug a Gulf of Mexico oil leak has prompted forecasts the crude may continue gushing into December in what President Barack Obama has called the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

A Storyteller Loses the Story Line  —  It's not a good narrative arc: The man who walked on water is now ensnared by a crisis under water.  —  One little hole a mile down on the ocean floor, so deep it seems like hell spewing up its sulfurous smoke, has turned the thrilling saga of “The One” into the gurgling horror of “The Abyss.”

Ron Sparks beats Artur Davis to win Democratic Party nod for governor  —  and Thomas Spencer —  The Birmingham News  —  State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won the Democratic Party nomination for governor Tuesday, a victory some power brokers in his party once thought so unlikely …

Specter of Defeat: Slew of Democrats Invited to Obama Speech in PA Decline Due to Prior Committments to Not Ruining Re-Election Bids  —  Democrats up for re-election this year are fully aware of President Obama's campaign record, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Pennsylvania …

NBC runs Palin statement day later  —  NBC's “Today” show on Wednesday read a statement from Sarah Palin intended for the previous day's broadcast after the former Alaska governor's complaint that the program ignored her rebuttal to a critical interview.  —  On Tuesday, the show broadcast …

RAHM EMANUEL (and Valerie Jarrett) SUBPOENAED BY BLAGOJEVICH: ATTORNEY  —  President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was subpoenaed by the defense to testify in Rod Blagojevich's upcoming trial, a Blagojevich attorney told the Chicago Sun-Times.  —  “Yes, he's been subpoenaed by the defense …

As Oil Arrives On MS Beaches, Will Barbour Continue To Praise BP And Mock News Coverage Of The Spill?  —  The Biloxi Sun Herald reports that oil began covering two miles of Mississippi's Petit Bois Island yesterday as a “larger glob crept close to Dauphin Island in Alabama …

Kirk campaign acknowledges another misrepresentation of military service  —  Mark Kirk's Senate campaign has now acknowledged a second misrepresentation of his service record, admitting to me that his Web site falsely claimed that he was “the only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

Brewer tells conflicting stories about dad's war effort  —  Gov. Jan Brewer said in a recent interview that her father died fighting Nazis in Germany.  In fact, the death of Wilford Drinkwine came 10 years after World War II had ended.  —  During the war, Drinkwine worked as a civilian supervisor …

Palin: Oil Spill Proves We Were Right About 'Drill, Baby, Drill  —  The very politician who inspired country songs about drilling for oil is now boasting that her “drill here, drill now” plan for U.S. energy policy would have mitigated or forestalled the oil disaster in the Gulf...if only you redefine what she meant when she said that.

Obama's ‘Chicago Way’ plunders the private sector  —  An interesting thing about Barack Obama is that he chose, on two occasions, to live in Chicago — even though he didn't grow up there, had no family ties there, never went to school there.  —  It was a curious choice.

Ex-Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer arrested  —  Jim Greer, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida who has been under criminal investigation for his financial handling of the organization, was arrested this morning.  —  Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents brought Greer …

Study Finds Blacks Blocked From Southern Juries  —  In late April in a courthouse in Madison County, Ala., a prosecutor was asked to explain why he had struck 11 of 14 black potential jurors in a capital murder case.  —  The district attorney, Robert Broussard, said one had seemed “arrogant” and “pretty vocal.”

Dying, dead marine wildlife paint dark, morbid picture of Gulf Coast following oil spill  —  Here's what President Obama didn't see when he visited the Gulf Coast: a dead dolphin rotting in the shore weeds.  —  “When we found this dolphin it was filled with oil.  Oil was just pouring out of it.