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      <title>Roll Call - Opinion</title>
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      <copyright>Copyright 2008 Roll Call. All rights Reserved.</copyright>
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      <pubDate>Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:33:02 EDT</pubDate>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Mavericks for McCain]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_27/rjmatson/27987-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Hurricane Vetting]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_26/rjmatson/27921-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Convention Sellout]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_25/rjmatson/27845-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Of Gusts and Lusts]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from Mike Mikula.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_25/mikula/27844-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Is Congress Really a Juicy Target for John McCain?]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Some Republicans are downright giddy these days about Congress' unpopularity. ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_24/rothenberg/27797-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Nobama Bounce]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_24/rjmatson/27777-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Not an End but a Beginning]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_23/rjmatson/27709-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Despite Accounts, Democrats All on the Same Page in Denver]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Even a few journalists have started to wonder whether the dominant narrative of the first days of the Democratic National Convention is entirely accurate.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_23/rothenberg/27686-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Message Discipline]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_22/rjmatson/27640-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Obama's Narrow Lead Harkens Back to 1980 Election]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Why isn't Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) doing better in the polls? As the convention opened, that question continued to grip political analysts and observers of all stripes. ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_22/ornstein/27633-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Biden in Action: In Romania, He Mixed Intuition and Smarts]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) as his running mate understandably is being analyzed in excruciating detail for its political impacts: Will it unite the Democratic Party? Will he help the ticket in the election? Will his prior disagreements with Obama, for example, on the war in Iraq, help or hurt Obama's campaign? ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_22/guest/27604-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[National Celebrity Doesn't Equal Victory in House Elections]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[It isn't difficult to find Democratic Congressional candidates who have a chance of knocking off a GOP incumbent or winning a Republican open seat. Democrats should net at least 10 Congressional seats this November, possibly many more. It is going to be a very good Democratic year at the Congressional level.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_22/rothenberg/27600-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[A Denver Nugget]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from Mike Mikula.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_21/mikula/27572-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Barack Usain Bolt Obama]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_21/rjmatson/27571-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Senator Straitjacket Is a Symptom of A Bigger Problem ]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Are you among those on Capitol Hill who are frustrated, and not a little embarrassed, by the single-minded dedication of just one minority Senator, Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), to successfully stop the legislative progress? Then you are standing in a long line, increasing in length on both sides of the aisle.  ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_21/guest/27559-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[2008 oPod and oPhone]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_20/rjmatson/27499-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Should Democrats Be Feeling Any Kind of Buyer's Remorse?]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[As Democrats kick off their national convention to nominate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as their nominee for president, there is little or no evidence that activists or insiders are having second thoughts about the party's standard-bearer.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_20/rothenberg/27484-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[With Vast Agenda, Obama Must Name His Priorities]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[At a time of raging federal budget deficits, one big question emerging from Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) expansive agenda is: What are his priorities?]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/news/27478-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Summer Staycation]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_19/rjmatson/27382-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[When It Comes to Election 2008, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[America's long national nightmare — the 2008 election — is coming to an end. But don't worry. We still have another painful, gut-wrenching three months of campaigning, TV ads, direct-mail pieces and political telephone calls that will fill up our answering machines, jam our mailboxes and disrupt our family dinners.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_19/rothenberg/27359-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[McCain Is Right to 'Go Negative' — But Needs Positive]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Contrary to all the flak he's taking for it, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) has every right to "go negative" on Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) — but he'd better firm up his positive message, too.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_19/kondracke/27342-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Fixing Congress: Oil Companies Out, Voters In]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The indictment and arraignment two weeks ago of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska) are yet more signs that Congress should move next year to decisively clean up its own house, rather than continuing to allow big business to furnish its house for it. Record lows in Congress' approval rating indicate that the public is weary of the pay-to-play culture on Capitol Hill. Sorely needed campaign finance changes are the next frontier now that new ethics laws are being implemented.  ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_19/guest/27339-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Do Democrats Want Obama to Be Another 'War President'?]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) clearly did not get a "bump" — or a "dump" — from his overseas trip. What his supporters may not have focused on is that he means to be, like George Bush, another American wartime president.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_18/kondracke/27267-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Loose Ends...]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from Mike Mikula.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_18/mikula/27263-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Oil Laocoon]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_18/rjmatson/27262-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Obama's Choices for Veep Are Far Better Than McCain's Are]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain hasn't had a bad couple of weeks. First, the presumptive White House nominee turns the conventional wisdom on its head and outpoints Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on the Democratic hopeful's trip to Europe. Instead of Obama using his photo opportunities with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to convince American voters that he's ready to run this country, his trip nets him surprisingly little beyond criticism about his self-image.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_18/rothenberg/27261-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Time to Shift Jurisdiction Over Mass Transit]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Thomas Jefferson was not one who thought constitutions and other governmental arrangements should remain unchanged over time. ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_16/guest/27196-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Karl Rove's Medal of Contempt]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_16/rjmatson/27195-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Pakistan's Democracy Deserves Full Support, Not Double Messages]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[After lavishing praise, political support and military aid on Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf for seven years, the Bush administration is curiously ambiguous in its attitude toward the country's four-month-old democratic government.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_16/kondracke/27179-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[DCCC Money Could Tip the Balance in Races at the Wire]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[With House Republicans still reeling over the party's brand problems, President Bush's unpopularity and the Democrats' advantage on every domestic issue, money remains a major headache for the National Republican Congressional Committee.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_16/rothenberg/27178-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Bridge to No Delivery]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_15/rjmatson/27139-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Editorial: No Confidence]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[It ought to be a matter of grave concern to Members of Congress of both parties — and a subject of reflection over the August break — that the Gallup Poll not only shows that Congress' approval rating is at 14 percent, a record low, but that only 16 percent of Americans have confidence in Congress, the lowest for any institution in America.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_15/editorial/27124-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Out-of-Step Brothers]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_14/rjmatson/27087-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[McCain Vs. O'Obama]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from Mike Mikula.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_14/mikula/27083-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Redistricting Must Be Fixed Before Census]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Partisan abuse of redistricting is one of Congress' dirtiest little secrets. The outrage over partisan gerrymanders fades well before the next census rolls around, and this travesty of our democracy never gets addressed.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_14/guest/27072-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Double Dare]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_13/rjmatson/27050-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

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         <title><![CDATA[High Gas Prices Produce More Games Than Gains]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The political equivalent of an internal-combustion engine's chain reaction is this: High gas prices ignite consumer anger, which powers accelerated PR efforts geared toward diverting blame and alleviating pain (at the pump). ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_13/procedural_politics/27024-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

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         <title><![CDATA[How Long Are the House Democrats' Really Long Shots?]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Everyone knows about the 40 to 50 GOP House seats at risk this cycle. But what about those lower-tier contests that some consultants and bloggers are pushing?]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_13/rothenberg/27023-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Paulson Pan]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_12/rjmatson/26977-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Obama Makes Gains Among Workers Hurt By Bush Economics]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[A new book designed to show Republicans how to win the working-class vote actually makes a strong case that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will carry it.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_12/kondracke/26965-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Remembering Friend, Protector John Gibson]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[My daughter jokes that he was tougher on her than I was. But in the case of Capitol Police Detective John Gibson, his influence on my family was not born of the years we were together, the thousands of hours, hundreds of meals and dozens of holidays we celebrated together. It was the man.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_12/guest/26952-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Can Obama Close the Deal? McCain May Yet Have a Say]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The next 15 weeks in the 2008 presidential race will be primarily about whether American voters are comfortable with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the Oval Office. But that doesn't let presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) off the hook completely. His message and positioning will help determine whether he will remain a credible alternative to Obama.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_12/rothenberg/26947-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Too Big to Fail]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_11/rjmatson/26912-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Rangel Case Would Be Perfect for New Ethics Commission]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[I return today to an area where Congress has fallen woefully short of its responsibilities: ethics. I know that to regular readers, I sound like a broken record on this subject (well, at least for older readers, who know what a record is). But the reason I keep coming back to it is that Congress makes me, by failing to address the issue adequately or at all.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_11/ornstein/26901-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Glitches Ahead]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Eight years after the 2000 election fiasco in Florida, four years after horrendous voting delays in Ohio — and after Congress has dispensed $3 billion to the states to get the election process right — guess what? It's still not right.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_11/editorial/26900-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
      </item>

      <item>
         <title><![CDATA[Rotundarama: Nuke Novice]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from Mike Mikula.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_10/mikula/26873-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[No Dummy]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_10/rjmatson/26865-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Oil and Water]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[The latest cartoon from R.J. Matson.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_9/rjmatson/26835-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[What, Not Where Should Govern Internet Postings]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[On June 24, Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Mass.) sent a letter to House Administration Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.) urging the committee to update its guidelines governing Member Web sites. While Capuano's proposal improved the status quo, it ignores the current practice by House Members.]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_9/guest/26820-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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         <title><![CDATA[Are Members Allowed to Use Campaign Funds for Legal Fees?]]></title>
         <description><![CDATA[Q: As the treasurer of the campaign committee of a current House Member, I oversee all of the campaign's finances. One of the recurring issues I face is distinguishing between campaign expenses, for which we may use campaign funds, and the Member's personal expenses, for which we may not. I heard recently that Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has sought permission from the Federal Election Commission to use campaign funds for legal fees related to the "D.C. Madam" legal proceedings. I presume that the FEC will refuse Vitter's request, as these appear to be personal expenses. Or, are we permitted to use campaign funds for Members' legal fees? ]]></description>
         <link>http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_9/davidson/26817-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS</link>
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