Hillary: Why do I continue to run  —  This past Friday, during a meeting with a newspaper editorial board, I was asked about whether I was going to continue in the presidential race.  —  I made clear that I was - and that I thought the urgency to end the 2008 primary process was unprecedented.

Media hype: How small stories become big news  —  The signature defect of modern political journalism is that it has shredded the ideal of proportionality.  —  Important stories, sometimes the product of months of serious reporting, that in an earlier era would have captured the attention …

Trouble brewing in N.Y. for Clinton  —  Black leaders say that if Hillary Rodham Clinton returns as senator, she'll need to heal racial wounds her campaign has inflicted.  —  Even as she continues her longshot presidential bid, Hillary Rodham Clinton faces a political rift in New York …

Stephanopoulos Does What Fox News Refuses To Do, Identifies Rove As An Informal McCain Adviser  —  On ABC's This Week today, host George Stephanopoulos introduced Karl Rove as “President Bush's former deputy chief of staff and political strategist, an informal adviser to John McCain's campaign.”

Obama's Lobbyist Connection  —  When Illinois utility Commonwealth Edison wanted state lawmakers to back a hefty rate hike two years ago, it took a creative lobbying approach, concocting a new outfit that seemed devoted to the public interest: Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity, or CORE.

Sex swap approved for girl, 12  —  A JUDGE has allowed a 12-year-old Victorian girl to start a taxpayer-funded sex swap, despite objections from the child's father.  —  The girl has begun court-approved hormone treatment in the first step toward a complete gender switch.

Obama Asks Wesleyan Students to Serve Their Country  —  Barack Obama, standing in for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as commencement speaker at Wesleyan University, invoked the Kennedy family's legacy of public service and challenged students to look beyond material gains and work for our “collective salvation.”

Toughest Summer Job This Year Is Finding One  —  TULSA, Okla. — School is out, and Aaron Stallings, his junior year of high school behind him, wanders the air-conditioned cocoon of the Woodland Hills Mall in search of a job.  —  Mr. Stallings, 18, says he has been looking for three months …

Conservatism's Safety Net  —  FDL's Thers is piling on the “has conservatism run out of ideas” bandwagon and inadvertently helped demonstrate why conservatism will never die.  —  The piece is entitled “The Autumn of Wingnuttia” and doesn't disappoint.  He dismisses “a belief in free markets …

Hubris  —  If the article I post about below is an indication of the attitude that now permeates in the Barack Obama campaign, he may be headed for a hard fall.  The Obama camp seem to underestimate the divide in the Party and the strong feelings of the millions and millions of Hillary Clinton supporters.

McCain Campaign Lies About The Polls  —  The NY Times today quotes a McCain campaign adviser defending the campaign's performance because even though “the Republican Party brand is very, very badly damaged, ... Senator McCain is running even or ahead of Senator Obama in most national polls.”