Obama's strong response to negative book carries risks
It makes sense for Barack Obama to slug it out with Jerome Corsi, whose new book paints the presumptive Democratic nominee as a dangerous radical, analysts said Friday.

But Obama's strategy also carries some risks.

"The old saying is that when you get in the gutter, everybody gets dirty," said Kevin Wagner, an assistant professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University, particularly with information flying across the Internet.

Corsi's book, "Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," is number one on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. The Obama camp responded Thursday with a 41-page, point-by-point refutation of the key charges.

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McCain Declines to Condemn Corsi Book
Just before a private meeting in Aspen, Colo. with oilman-turned-wind energy advocate T. Boone Pickens -- who was, ironically, a principal financier of the "Swift Boat" attacks on Sen. John Kerry -- Sen. John McCain received a question from a reporter about his response to the new book from author Jerome Corsi smearing Sen. Barack Obama. Corsi also co-authored  "Unfit For Command" in 2004,  which attacked Kerry's military service in Vietnam. From CBS News:

A reporter tried to ask McCain about a new anti-Obama book, to which McCain responded cryptically "gotta keep your sense of humor."

McCain staffer Brooke Buchanan then stretched her arms in front of her boss, saying “we’re not doing that,” and escorted reporters to the door.

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Dems' Deal: Hillary Gets Convention Vote
A deal has been brokered between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that will allow Clinton's name to be placed in nomination at next week's Democratic nominating convention.

The former rivals announced the agreement today in a joint statement, shedding light on a hushed negotiation between the Clinton and Obama camps over how to recognize Clinton and her supporters without overshadowing or detracting from a convention designed to nominate Obama as the party's presidential candidate.

Obama and Clinton "are both committed to winning back the White House and to ensuring that the voices of all 35 million people who participated in this historic primary election are respected and heard in Denver," the statement read in part. "To honor and celebrate these voices and votes, both Sen. Obama's and Sen. Clinton's names will be placed in nomination."

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