GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts

SNL spoofs Clinton campaign's '3 am' tv ad

In a parody of the Clinton campaign's '3 A.M.' television ad, the opening sketch of Saturday Night Live poked fun at Senator Barack Obama.

The sketch portrays a frazzled President Obama calling Hillary Clinton at 3 A.M. to ask for advice on how to deal with Iran, as well as how to fix the White House heating system.

Will Dems' battle end in brokered convention?

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said today he's willing to step in to avoid a brokered convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28 that could hurt the party's chances in November.

"If we have to sit the two candidates down together, or their campaigns down together, and try to figure out how to make peace and have a convention that's going to work, then that's fine," Dean said on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "That is my job, and we'll be happy to do it."

see also: Infighting threatens to divide Democrats

              Lawsuit eyed by Sharpton over Florida

Superdelegates' choice may hinge on electability

Who would the GOP rather face?

McCain's aides say now they don't know which one they'd rather face...

The RNC, meanwhile, will handle the nastier end of things -- making sure that voters have at least some negative associations in their minds with whoever emerges with the Democratic nomination, whenever the race ends. But there, too, strategists seem content for now to let Clinton do their dirty work on Obama, or vice versa; why get in the way when your opponents' aides are calling each other monsters or saying they aren't ready to handle an international crisis?

From the GOP perspective, the race has taken an even weirder turn lately, with Obama lumping McCain and Clinton together in his speech Tuesday night after losing Texas and Ohio, calling them both opponents of his hope for change. Not to be outdone, Clinton implied Thursday that McCain was more qualified to be commander in chief than Obama.

In fact, the Democratic campaign may be providing McCain with a plan for the fall no matter who wins. To the GOP, the lesson of Clinton's comeback is simple: attack, attack, attack. "She went on the attack on about three fronts and got him on the defensive," Black said. "What you're gonna find out now, we're gonna find out how tough Obama is. If he has a glass jaw, she just broke it." Winning in November on a platform built on cheering for an unpopular war will still be hard for John McCain. But it'll be a lot easier if his opponents help him out along the way.

New York Gov. Spitzer is linked to prostitution ring

NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who gained national prominence relentlessly pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation.

The wiretap captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan. The person briefed on the case and the law enforcement official identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat, today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.” He did not address his political future.

THE CANDIDATES:

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

VP stakes high for McCain

John McCain's age and past health problems may be concerns as he chooses his running mate.

... The names most mentioned are energetic, young governors, including Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, and Charlie Crist of Florida.

McCain, in a recent joint appearance with Crist, said, "I think there are many ways for him to serve the country."

On his program "This Week" today, ABC's George Stephanopoulos told Crist it seemed that McCain was hinting that he might be considering putting the Florida governor on his short list for vice president. ..

see also: Calling Condi

McCain sees pork where scientists see success

If you've heard Sen. John McCain's stump speech, you've surely heard him talk about grizzly bears. The federal government, he declares with horror and astonishment, has spent $3 million to study grizzly bear DNA. "I don't know if it was a paternity issue or criminal," he jokes, "but it was a waste of money."

A McCain campaign commercial also tweaks the bear research: "Three million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Unbelievable."

Actually, it was a scientific and logistical triumph, argues Katherine Kendall, 56, mastermind of the Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project.

McCain uses breathing room to focus of coffers

Mr. McCain said last week that he viewed the next couple of months as an opportunity to “get our own house in order,” and that he planned to use the time to travel overseas, roll out new policy proposals and deliver speeches.

His first order of business, though, will be an intense focus on raising money, with some 20 or 30 events a month. His campaign was nearly doomed last summer by overspending and its failure to raise enough money to keep up...

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Andrew Sullivan: The Clintons, a horror film that never ends

The Clintons have always had a touch of the zombies about them: unkillable, they move relentlessly forward, propelled by a bloodlust for Republicans or uppity Democrats who dare to question their supremacy. You can’t escape; you can’t hide; and you can’t win. And these days, in the kinetic pace of the YouTube campaign, they are like the new 28 Days Later zombies. They come at you really quickly, like bats out of hell. Or Ohio, anyway...

... The further away you are from them, the easier it is to think they’re fine. Up close they are an intolerable, endless, soul-sapping soap opera...

Dick Morris to Hillary: It's over

Hillary won’t withdraw. That much is for sure. The tantalizing notion that 800 insiders can offset a season of primaries and caucuses will drive both Clintons to ever-escalating rhetoric. Will their attacks hurt Obama? Likely all they will achieve is to give him needed experience in the cut and thrust of media politics...

see also: It's time to call in the hatchet men against the Clintons

Sniping by her aides hurt Clinton's image as manager

The divisions in her campaign over strategy and communications — and the dislike many of her advisers had for one another — poured out into public as Mrs. Clinton struggled in February to hold off Mr. Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But even as Mrs. Clinton revived her fortunes last week with victories in Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas, the questions lingered about how she managed her campaign, with the internal sniping and second-guessing undermining her well-cultivated image as a steady-at-the-wheel chief executive surrounded by a phalanx of loyal and efficient aides.

Family ties offer boost to Hillary in Pennsylvania

Mrs. Clinton's run in Pennsylvania gets an added boost from her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who spent more than a decade forging steely bonds with the state's political heavyweights, including Gov. Edward G. Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, both Democrats who endorsed her.

... The latest Franklin and Marshall College Poll shows Mrs. Clinton, of New York, ahead by 12 points in Pennsylvania. A Rasmussen Reports survey last week showed her up by 15 points.

Hillary and the invisible women

What saddens boomer women who love Hillary is that their twentysomething daughters don't share their view of her heroic role. Instead they've been swept up by that new Barack magic. It's not their fault, and not Hillary's, either. The very scar tissue that older women see as proof of her determination just embarrasses their daughters, killing off for them all the insouciant elation that ought to come with girl power in the White House...