Michelle Malkin has this terrific update on the candidacy of retired US Army Colonel John Russells candidacy to defeat Pennsylvanis Congressman John Murtha. Murtha infamously slured US Marines as having “killed civilians in cold blood,” in Haditha, Iraq.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards admits that he did indeed have an affair with an operative. But he denies that he is the father of her daughter.

The announcement of the story on a Friday is an old Clinton technique. Spin masters know the least amount of coverage and media eagerness occurs from Friday at noon through Sunday noon. Fridays are the days the Clintons were famous for their document dumps.

From Gateway Pundit.

From Rick Moran:

With the press eager to jump on every sign of disunity, with a former candidate whose supporters think she deserves her moment in the sun, with a former president probably secretly wishing that he loses in November, and with his poll numbers stagnating or dropping, Barack Obama faces the greatest challenge to his leadership of the party and his chances for victory in November in Denver three weeks from now.

How he handles these problems will no doubt affect the decision of the American people when they go to the polls in November.

From Matt Lewis at Townhall blog.

Cool.

Michelle demonstrates why she’s hated so much by the left this morning. But the Speaker is standing in the way of both the health of the American economy and its security. Here’s some of her take:

With congressional approval ratings at an all-time low and the Democratic Congress under fire for taking a five-week vacation instead of working on energy policy, perhaps this wasn’t the best time to send Nancy Pelosi jetting from coast to coast to tell our daughters how to save the planet, manage our households and run our government.

A poster at City-Data asked when would the following be released by the Obama campaign:

1. Occidental College records — Not released
2. Columbia College records — Not released
3. Columbia Thesis paper — “not available”
4. Harvard College records — Not released
5. Selective Service Registration — Not released
6. Medical records — Not released
7. Illinois State Senate schedule — “not available”
8. Law practice client list — Not released
9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate — Not released
10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth — Not released
11. Harvard Law Review articles published — None
12. University of Chicago scholarly articles — None

H/T Sara at JOM

Larry Kudlow’s column today does a good job of summarizing the politics and the polls with respect to the debate of the expansion of drilling. He goes as far to say that it could affect the fall elections in a way that will benefit the GOP.

As Sen. John McCain and the GOP leadership nationalize the drill, drill, drill message, the Republican party might conceivably be riding a summer political rally. The question of offshore drilling, along with expanded domestic energy production, has suddenly become the biggest political and economic wedge issue of this election. Is there a Republican tsunami in the making?

According to the major polls, Sen. McCain has overcome a big deficit to pull even with Obama. Meanwhile, according to a Rasmussen survey, Democratic party identification has slumped.

Changes in polling dynamics have been striking. Kudlow says that Democrats havent caught on yet.

Polls suggest that two-thirds to three-quarters of the nation wants to drill. To wit, while a just-released Obama campaign ad attacks McCain as a tool of big oil, McCain has taken his first-ever lead in a Rasmussen tracking poll.

There is a voter revolt going on, and it reminds me of the anti-tax rebellion that lifted Ronald Reagan into office twenty-eight years ago. Is the conventional wisdom about to be swept away? As Republicans press home the drill, drill, drill message, might they pick up seats in Congress this year? And might the national clamor for a more realistic and balanced energy policy — one that includes more oil, natural gas, clean coal, nuclear, and the alternatives of wind, solar, and cellulosic — carry John McCain to a convincing victory over Obama?

Carol Platt Liebau points out how big the shift as been.

-Among voters aged 18-29, Obama lost 16 percent and McCain gained 20. Obama still leads, 49-38;

-Among women, McCain gained 10 percentage points. Obama now leads 43-38;

-Among independents, Obama lost an 11 point lead. They’re now tied;

-Among Democrats, Obama’s support dropped from 83 percent to 74 percent;

-Among Catholics, Obama lost the 11 point lead he had in July and now trails McCain by 15.

Its often difficult just saying why John McCain is a better choice to lead than Barack Obama. Perhaps its best to draw comparissons to the last Democrat Senator who ran for president, John Kerry. Heres what my friend Sara says:

While Kerry and one of his co-conspirators, Fonda, were practicing their diplomatic skills with the enemy, John McCain and his compatriots were being beaten, starved, tortured and the emboldened North Vietnamese were given new life and the war was prolonged.

While Kerry was sipping French wine while negotiating illegally with the enemy, John McCain was in the most disgusting cell, drinking in filth.

While Kerry was proclaiming that our troops and their officers were committing horrible atrocities, John McCain and the other prisoners with him were suffering horrible atrocities.

Thanks, Sara….and thanks also to all my friends at Just One Minute