McCain unsure how many houses he owns  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.  —  “I think - I'll have my staff get to you,” McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. “It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you.”

When Daley says shhh, library is quiet on Obama  —  Conservative writer Stanley Kurtz—researching an article for the National Review about connections between Barack Obama and former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers—made a big mistake.  —  The poor man took a wrong turn on the Chicago Way.

U.S., Iraq Are Said to Have Set Withdrawal Timetable  —  BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal of combat troops from the country, according to senior American officials.

Reid shares Senate ideas  —  Democrat values Lieberman's votes  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., defended Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman on Wednesday after the former Democratic vice presidential nominee accepted a speaking slot at next month's Republican convention in Minnesota.

Republicans Plan to Grab Some Denver Limelight  —  John McCain and the Republican Party have their own plans for next week in Denver, including a parade of high-profile surrogates, a Web site touting new attack videos, and a tagline for the Democrats' convention: A Mile High and an Inch Deep.

Obama on His Veep Thinking  —  TIME: Your speeches seem to be getting far tougher.  —  Well, it's getting to be crunch time.  Now is the time where people are going to start paying attention, leading up into the convention, and we've got to make sure that people understand the choices that are at stake.

The joke's on McCain: Late-night comedians lay off Obama  —  A hilarious new study of late-night political jokes, due to be released later today, finds the network comedians clearly avoiding humor about Democratic candidate Barack Obama, while piling the jokes on President Bush and Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

The decay of serious journalism and Rachel Maddow's new show  —  As our political culture, economic security, standing in the world and our media institutions have all degraded beyond recognition after eight years of right-wing rule (much of it cheered on by The New Republic) …

A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading  —  Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses.  —  But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books …

Expertinent: Why Obama Could Use a Big Convention ‘Bump’  —  Right now, much of the political world is obsessing over a series of new polls indicating that the gap between Barack Obama and John McCain is shrinking.A just-released Quinnipiac survey, for example, shows McCain cutting Obama's lead …

MPR poll: Obama leads, but contest is fluid  —  The results of a new Minnesota Public Radio and University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute poll show Democrat Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain in the state by 10 percentage points.  But the poll indicates the race is still very fluid.