News
- John McCain is going on a ‘No Surrender’ tour, defending the War in Iraq and attempting to revive his campaign. During a conference call with bloggers the Senator called MoveOn.org’s recent ads against General Patraeus ’scurrilous’.

- Yesterday saw a heat-up on the trail as Giuliani attacked Clinton, Romney attacked Obama and the Democratic Party went on the offensive against the Republicans, the administration and military leaders.

- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is once again hinting he will run for president. What will it take? A commitment of $30 million from donors and “whether I think it is possible to run a campaign based on ideas rather than 30-second sound bites” which reads to me as… a commitment to $30 million dollars. A source close to Gingrich says the key timeframe for Newt to move is Oct. 15th when all candidates must pay $500 to be on the ballot in Utah.

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News
- Republican candidate Fred Thompson has revealed he does not attend church “regularly” and on the campaign trail he says he won’t speak out about his personal religious beliefs.

- A record high number of television viewers tuned into the first Spanish language debate. 4.6 million viewers, the highest ratings for democratic debates so far.

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- Today is the anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/01. Many of the candidates will be commemorating that day at public events.

- Though today is a very solemn day it is still a political day and CBS News is asking Who was Rudy Giuliani Before 9/11.

- Meanwhile yesterday the much anticipated report by General Patraeus was given. The candidates mostly lined up with their parties, Republicans supporting the statements, Democrats questioning the motives. I watched a good chunk of the testimony yesterday and like these things often become, it was a bit of a circus and a chance for both sides to give talking points.

News
- Hillary Clinton will return $850,000 in donations raised by Norman Hsu who is under investigation for violating election laws. Originally Clinton and fellow Senator Barack Obama had only planned to give the money directly donated by Hsu to the campaigns but Clinton has taken this a step further and is including all money “bundled” or raised on behalf by Hsu. She will also begin criminal background checks on big donors.

What does it mean? The Clinton campaign has now left the ball in Obama’s corner.

- Two new profile pieces to look at. One that gives insight into Barack Obama’s past and one that gives insight into Hillary Clinton’s future.

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News
- The first ever Democratic primary debate in spanish happened yesterday and from what i’ve read these debates are as interesting in a foreign language as they are in english or on youtube. Meanwhile only John McCain on the republican side has accepted an invitation to debate on Univision.

- The much anticipated report on Iraq from Gen. Patraeus is coming and the candidates did use the Univision debate to pre-emptively attack the report. The democratic party, the liberal blogosphere and liberal pundits seem to be heavily organized on this issue taking out ads, filling the airwaves and keeping the blogosphere filled with attacks on the report, the general, the Republicans and the president (not to mention the democratic party as well!). But with no chance of reaching the votes needed in the Senate and no willingness to cut war funding, what effect will it have?

Democrats are hoping to win the public relations war and for candidates the primary audience. In the Republican party Senator John McCain is arguing that the strategy needs more time while the other Republican candidates are taking a tuff line on islamic terrorism, using the issue to say Democrats are soft on defense and hoping for better news to come from the front lines.

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I am doing away with the daily news part of the blog which brought you a daily listing of just headlines spit from a database in a rather uninteresting way. You can still see the days headlines on the sites primary page and check out individual candidate pages for news links.

The News
- Democratic fundraiser Normal Hsu is in custody after failing to appear at a California court hearing. FBI agents nabbed him in Colorado on charges of unlawful flight. Hsu has been easily recognized as a major contributer to Sen. Hillary Clinton by the media but this weekend it also came out that in addition to giving money directly to Barack Obama’s senate campaign, Hsu also held a fundraiser for Obama’s PAC and brought major donors and further problems for the Democrats at large.

- Another Republican Senate seat wide open? As reported friday Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel will announce his plans future plans monday but according to “sources” close to Hagel he will definitely call it quits.

- Associated Press is reporting Frederico Pena, former Secretary of Energy and Transportation under Bill Clinton, is becoming a co-chairman of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

- Mitt Romney is starting to give more details on his plans for tax cutting if he reaches the White House. The former Massachusetts governor would remove taxes on all interest, dividends and capitol gains for Americans who make less than $200,000 a year. That would bring tax relief to an estimated 95 percent of Americans and Romney hopes would encourage savings.

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