Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word  —  When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills.  When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying.  It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill …

McCain: I 'Don't See How It Matters' That I Don't Know The Price Of Gas  —  In a telephone interview with the Orange County Register earlier this week, John McCain acknowledged he was unaware of the price of gas.  The OC Register's Martin Wicksol reports:

PREPARING THE BATTLEFIELD  —  The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.  —  L ate last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources.

'It's Over, Lady!'  —  UNITY, N.H.  —  Unity was spared the banality of unanimity.  —  Carmella Lewis, with her Hillary T-shirt and Hillary placard, came all the way from Denver to make sure there would be plenty of ambiguity, duality and ferocity in Unity.

A Win by McCain Could Push a Split Court to Right  —  For much of its term, the Supreme Court muted last year's noisy dissents, warmed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s vision of narrow, incremental decisions and continued a slow but hardly steady move to the right.

Anxious in America  —  Just a few months ago, the consensus view was that Barack Obama would need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience and that John McCain would need a running mate who was young and sprightly to compensate for his age.

Crisis grows in Iraq over U.S. raid that killed Maliki relative  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq — Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki …

McCain's unorthodox campaign  —  Such seemingly contrary tactics as focusing on national security and foreign affairs when voters are most concerned about the domestic economy have provoked consternation among fellow Republicans.  —  This week, when Barack Obama campaigns in Ohio and Colorado …

Obama Supporters Take His Middle Name as Their Own  —  Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge.  But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.

A New Political Geography  —  Role Reversals in Virginias Reflect National Shifts  —  When Sen. Barack Obama chose the Nissan Pavilion in the outer suburbs of Northern Virginia to kick off his general-election campaign, one of the 10,000 supporters there was David Bruzas …