*The <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/09/west_wing_actors_confirm_accou.html">        highly credible reports</a> coming out now that McCain did not vote for Bush in 2000 should be used to attack his integrity, character and credibility--the very strengths he asserts as the basis for his candidacy.  The issue isn't whether he did or didn't vote for Bush.  It's the questions these reports raise about his honesty.  He should be challenged by the Democrats to say whether he did or did not vote for Bush in 2000.  He's in trouble either way on that one.  If he says no, his basic honesty needs to be discredited.  If he says yes, his current embrace of Bush makes him a phony, a hypocrite and anything but the Straight Talk Express he makes himself out to be.  Rather, he's just another ambitious pol who's willing to say or do anything to get elected.

*I nominate as a must-read campaign season book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Political-Brain-Emotion-Deciding-Nation/dp/1586485733/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210347030&sr=1-2">
The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation</a>, by Drew Westen.  Just about all of us, I think, would benefit from going to school on what's in that book and apply its lessons in our role as surrogates during the GE campaign.

*This has nothing to do with the presidential election, but I wonder if Al Gore believes in retrospect that NAFTA was a mistake?  After all, in his debate with Ross Perot he played a key role in getting it passed.  He's been powerfully right on so many of the big issues of the day since Bush took office.  What are his views on trade policy today?