- I’ve posted a takedown of Mark Halperin’s charge that the housing flap actually hurts Obama at Comments From Left Field. Don’t miss it.

- “A noun, a verb, and POW“. When your candidate’s greatest and most tragic life story starts to sound let a get out of jail free card it’s bad. When the media starts calling them on it? Worse.

- Nobody knows who McCain plans to pick for his VP but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. The latest guess? Colin Powell.

- Apparently the grammar nazi’s have decided they literally don’t like Biden’s VP speech.

- If an anti-war protest goes off without a hitch and nobody pays attention does it do anything but make the protesters feel better? Probably not.

- Expect to see more of this in the coming days: “A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show.”

- “It’s always darkest just before the dawn”. The Politico has a piece titled “Political exile strengthens Democrats”. Go read it.

- Nobody ever said that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was a smart guy.