"Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland was an icon of Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 campaign, a badly wounded war hero who lost his seat, Kerry deplored, after a television advertising campaign questioned his commitment to national security.

But to the Obama campaign, Cleland has another qualification: Registered lobbyist."

“After Sen. John McCain publicly repudiated his close friend and adviser Phil Gramm's comments about a ‘nation of whiners’ and a ‘mental recession,’ the two old political comrades patched up their relationship. Gramm apologized to McCain for his remarks … McCain told Gramm not to worry about the expected pitfalls of a campaign surrogate. Gramm will continue as an adviser and surrogate.”

"Senator John McCain's trip to Iraq last spring was a low-key affair: With his ordinary retinue of reporters following him abroad, the NBC News anchor Brian Williams reported on his arrival in Baghdad from New York, with just two sentences tacked onto the "in other political news" portion of his newscast.

But when Obama heads for Iraq and other locations overseas this summer, Williams is planning to catch up with him in person, as are the other two evening news anchors, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, who, like Williams, are far along in discussions to interview Obama on successive nights."

Update:  I just completed a conference call with Rep. Marsha Blackburn and McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb.  I asked them whether or not the media circus surrounding Obama's trip was an example of media bias -- or if it was warranted.  Goldfarb responded that it was warranted.  Essentially, he argued it was newsworthy because Obama has so little foreign policy experience -- and had traveled so little in the past.  This is my take, as well.  It will be interesting, however, to see if the McCain campaign tries to make the argument that there is, in fact, media bias involved ...

"The Obama campaign and the DNC ended June with a combined total of nearly $72 million in the bank. It's a healthy number. But McCain and the RNC together still have a huge cash advantage, and we need your help to close the gap.

As I mentioned in my video message to you earlier in the week, we're facing a Republican machine with unprecedented resources at its disposal. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee finished June with nearly $100 million in the bank."

"In total, the Democrats have some $92 million on hand, to the combined Republican total of $95 million."

(The Obama email said they only had $72 million -- now we find out they have $92 million).

Of course, the cynical observation is that Obama's campaign wanted to fire-up their supporters by pretending as if they were losing the money game to the GOP.  Remember, Hillary's donors didn't come to her rescue until they knew she really needed it (when she invested $5 million of her own money.)  The point is that political donors are more likely to become emotionally involved if they believe they are needed -- and that their candidate is in danger of being beaten -- so there was an incentive for Obama to play-up the disparity.

But a less sinister -- and more charitable -- analysis is that their math was off by $20 million.  Of couse, this would be a gross error for such a polished political operation to commit.

Update:  I'm told Obama's team sent out a correction email to reporters, but not to their supporters.

July 31, 2008 would have been Milton Friedman's 96th birthday. To celebrate, join Young America's Foundation and Townhall by participating in a live online chat featuring Young America's Foundation's Milton Friedman Lecturer John Stossel.

The chat is scheduled to take place from 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on July 31.

We're already accepting quesitons.  Click here to submit your questions for John Stossel.

"By contrast, in Iraq, the Reaganite stratagem of supportive subtlety (let our friends fight our enemies) was rejected in favor a grander strategy (let us fight our enemies directly). The U.S. went into Iraq as we did in Vietnam, with flags flying and lots of boots on the ground. And, as in Vietnam four decades ago, the experience in Iraq has proved much more difficult than most experts anticipated. Also as with Vietnam, opinions on the wisdom of the war vary widely, as do opinions on what to do now. But this much seems clear: If at all possible, the Reagan idea — letting locals do the fighting, backstopped by Uncle Sam — is superior to the idea of having Uncle Sam himself climb into the ring."

"Hundreds of Denver's homeless could be cooling their heels in a movie theater or museum while the Democratic National Convention is in town next month.

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other culural facilities for the people it helps."

... "It just sounds like another way to get rid of them," said Kayne Coy, 17, who volunteers feeding the homeless twice a week at Civic Center Park through the Food Not Bombs organization."

"In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae's chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case's D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health-care companies and more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."