By LIEUT. SEAN WALSH
The passing of the 4,000th service member in Iraq is a tragic milestone and a testament to the cost of this war, but for those of us who live and fight in Iraq, we measure that cost in smaller, but much more personal numbers. For me those numbers are 8, the number of friends and classmates killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 3, the number of soldiers from my unit killed in this deployment. I'm 25, yet I've received more notifications for funerals than invitations to weddings.

No sooner than Bill Richardson endorsed Barack Obama for president than the Clintons loosed their attack dogs on him. “Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” snarled James Carville — the ultimate Clinton attack dog; in doing so, Carville used the week holy to Christians to implicitly compare Hillary Clinton to Jesus Christ, but he is hardly unique among Hillary’s supporters, who seem to view her campaign as a kind of Second Coming.

In the Senate, the votes that need the most aggressive courting are usually on the other side of the aisle. But with Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton locked in a fierce battle for the endorsement of superdelegates, many of them members of Congress, the candidates’ return to the Capitol for votes on the federal budget offered a chance to work the room in the hunt for support from uncommitted fellow Democrats.

Derrick, an intelligent young man from Brooklyn responds to hard pressed questions on Barack Obama.

NYT CLAIMS McCAIN HAD AFFAIR WITH LOBBYIST, HELPED HER CLIENTS; CLINTON ALLIES LAUNCH 527-GROUP IN OHIO; TEAMSTERS ENDORSE OBAMA.
McCAIN.