Obama on GOP: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’  —  Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.  —  “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun …

Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U.S.  —  Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia  —  The Bush administration's Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence …

Chris Matthews' Russert Eulogy: Like a Belch in Church  —  Chris Matthews' initial reaction to the death of colleague Tim Russert can be summed like this: Bush lied.  People died.  —  Yes, MSNBC's Chris Matthews found a way to use even the death of a beloved journalist …

Delegate's reversal stuns party  —  Wisconsin Democrat now publicly supports McCain  —  Washington - As an avid supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Debra Bartoshevich is not alone in her frustration over Clinton's defeat.  —  She's not alone in refusing to support Barack Obama.

There's Votes in Them Thar Hills  —  Drill, McCain, drill.  —  For years now, John McCain has warned of the peril to America in sending $400 billion a year to foreign countries in return for oil.  He's been loud and relentless on the subject—and wise.  “It's a national security issue,” …

ASSIGNMENT DESK: BILL RICHARDSON FOR VP?  —  Make Bill Richardson vice president, or he will kill this child.  Yeeearrgghhh!  —  Ryan asks, “Could you do an evaluation of Richardson for VP?  He seems like an obviously good choice, but there hasn't really been any discussion of him as a nominee.

“The Happening”: The Most Morally Abhorrent Film Ever Made (Spoiler Alert)  —  Chris does an admirable (and hilarious) job of tearing apart M. Night Shyamalan's latest crime against cinema, The Happening.  It is incredibly awful, so laughingly bad that at one point during the screening …

Obama's quandary: Wear a helmet, look dumb or be a role model?  —  Sure, there's world wars and toxic pollution and corruption and Social Security reform and a few other things like trillions of dollars in debt to worry about.  —  But before getting to those easy issues …

TIM RUSSERT  —  Our colleague Calvin Trillin once referred to the televised weekend bloviators from Washington as the “Sabbath Gasbags.”  Which was fair up to a point.  Countless cubic feet of hot, polluted air are regularly unleashed into the national atmosphere by politicians and commentators …

“He Was Loving This Election”  —  Back when he was just starting in television — and ever since — but particularly back then, Tim Russert was astounded by the joys of the job.  Early on, he helped arrange an interview with the Pope for the Today Show — and Tim did it up right …

It's not race, it's arugula  —  The Weekly Standard's Noemie Emery disputes the media's facile, predictable racial interpretation of Obama's poor showing in Appalachia.  It's not because of race, but rather reflects a deep national divide between action-oriented Jacksonians versus clerical, paper-pushing Brahmins:

Obama considering world tour ahead of August convention  —  WASHINGTON — Barack Obama may depart this summer from his road-warrior tour of election-battleground states to take a trip around the world, one intended to shore up his credentials on foreign policy.

Afghan official: 870 inmates escaped from prison  —  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.

Ireland delivers stunning blow to EU  —  The long campaign to forge a new dispensation for the European Union descended into panic and uncertainty yesterday when Ireland turned its back on its 26 EU partners and voted down the Lisbon Treaty.  —  EU leaders in Brussels and governments across the union …