AP - Is Barack Obama close to being shadowed by giant flip-flops and, worse, having the image stick with people all the way to the voting booth?

AP - It was a family Fourth of July for Democrat Barack Obama as his wife, daughters, sister and other relatives helped him make an Independence Day play for this reliably conservative state.

AP - Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

AP - Only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried Montana since 1948. Barack Obama is betting he can do it in November.

Politico - It’s an axiom in presidential politics to ignore the early polls. Perhaps that’s one piece of conventional wisdom that’s better ignored.