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Former Energy Secretary Federico Pena said today that GOP proposals for more offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could feed the fluctuation of oil prices worldwide, as hurricanes drive up prices when they threaten oil rigs.

"There are extra risks when you drill offshore, particularly in the gulf, with the seven to 10 hurricanes that hit the gulf each year," Pena said on a conference call with reporters organized by the Democratic National Committee. "Before they even strike the offshore platforms, world oil prices go up."

Once hurricanes hit oil rigs, Pena said, they disrupt the flow of oil and cause millions of dollars worth of damage to drilling infrastructure.

Pena was criticizing John McCain's energy policies, which include expanded offshore drilling, and pushing Barack Obama's energy platform on the call. Pena served as Energy secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Barack Obama's campaign today launched a new group of supporters comprised of Iraq and Afghanistan vets, dubbed "Next Generation Veterans for Obama."

"Veterans from all generations have expressed their support for Barack Obama because of his commitment to winning the global war on terrorism and his strong record of supporting America

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said pro-life Republicans like himself would not take too kindly to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as a running mate for John McCain.

"Let's be honest with each other. It would be disastrous choice because, first of all, it's going to alienate many people in the Republican Party, particularly the conservative pro-life, pro-family base," said Huckabee, the last active candidate to win a Republican primary against McCain. He made his remarks in an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity.

Huckabee added: "Look, I like Joe Lieberman, and I would join with many others who would say that if John McCain picked him to be secretary of state or secretary of defense or put him in the cabinet, that's fine. But vice president? You know, Republicans want to elect a Republican president, and that means if something happens to the president, they'd still want a Republican on the job. Joe Lieberman would not be somebody that I think most Republicans would jump up and dance up in the aisles over in Minneapolis."

Huckabee said that Barack Obama should pick a running mate that provides a "wow factor."

"He's really not had a good month and he needs to sort of shore up his credentials and a VP pick could do that," Huckabee said. "I don't think Evan Bayh, who again is a safe choice, maybe is the wow factor that he needs. And I'm not sure who it is. Or he could pick [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)], but I don't think that's going to happen."

For those who thought they had heard every possible argument against presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, the Montana Democratic Party introduced a new narrative Monday.

"McCain: Wrong on bears, missing in Montana," the subject of an email from the state party reads.

During Saturday's Saddleback Presidential Forum on Faith, McCain pulled out a familiar line against earmarks for anyone who has seen him on the stump. "My friends, we spent $3 million of your money to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Now I don't know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but the point is it was $3 million of your money," McCain said.

Well, apparently Montana Democrats have taken offense to McCain's bear paternity query.

"Using glib generalizations to try and win votes isn't straight talk, it's misleading and it's political pandering of the worst sort," Montana Democratic Party spokesman Kevin O'Brien shot back. "The good work being done in Montana should save taxpayers money and Senator McCain's total lack of understanding of important issues that folks here care about proves just how out of touch he is."

O'Brien points at that the study McCain sites revealed that a much larger population of Grizzlies reside in the Northern Rocky Mountains than previously thought, enough that the bears may soon be taken off the endangered species, something that would be a big deal in Montana.

A man has pleaded no contest to a charge that he threatened Rep. David Dreier's (R-Calif.) life, reports the Redlands Daily Facts.

Thomas Aaron Brothers will serve time up to a year in jail and live in a mental health facility for up to a year. Brothers faced a felony charge for threatening a government official.

Witnesses said that he called Dreier's district office several times and made death threats toward the California Republican. According to the testimony of one of Dreier's staffers, Brothers left messages with the office saying that the government was trying to take away his right to wear women's underwear.

Brothers, 41, faces two more felony charges, for making a criminal threat and for making a terrorist threat.

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman said Monday that if the Republican convention were not being held in his home state of Minnesota, "I wouldn't be at the convention."

Coleman, who is facing a tough challenge from former comedian Al Franken (D), told Minnesota Public Radio that he too would join a growing number of Republicans who are staying away from their party's convention in St. Paul if he had to travel.

"I think those who come here will have an extraordinary time. But the colleagues who don't come are staying at home only because they have tough races," Coleman said. "If the convention wasn't in St. Paul, I wouldn't be at the convention."

Eight Republican senators have already said they will stay away from the convention including North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Though Coleman will be in attendance, his schedule, and potential speaking slot, is still up in the air.

A fire on Sunday blazed through the North Carolina mill where former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and his father once worked, reports WTVD in Raleigh.

Firefighters from 20 departments responded to the fire at the abandoned Milliken Mill in Robbins. No one was injured. Investigators have yet to announce the cause of the blaze.

Edwards announced his first presidential bid in 2003 from mill. In both of his presidential campaigns, he often talked about growing up as in modest surroundings as the son of a mill worker.

Two weeks ago, he admitted having an extramarital affair and ruled out speaking at the Democratic convention, despite still holding delegates that he won in the Iowa caucuses and early presidential primaries.

Leon Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, says that supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) are having are hard time getting over the New York senator's loss to Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.

"There is a sense of entitlement that almost seems to be inbred," Panetta, who has been tasked by the Obama campain with healing wounds between the two camps, told the British paper The Times. "They are convinced Hillary is the one who should be assuming the mantle and it's tough to crack that."

"It's not something that I would have recommended, but [the Obama campaign is] trying to bend over backwards as far as they can to accommodate her," the longtime Clinton aide say. "I'm a little disturbed that this keeps playing out."

John McCain rekindled the troop surge debate today in an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) National Convention in Orlando, Fla., after the campaign had largely shifted to other issues--such as Russia's invasion of Georgia--in recent weeks.

McCain reiterated his accusation that political selfishness drove Barack Obama to oppose the troop surge in early 2007.

"It was a moment when political self-interest and the national interest parted ways," McCain said. "For my part...I would rather lose an election than lose a war." Read more...

John McCain and Barack Obama are tied in Ohio, according to a Public Policy Polling survey.
Both men receive 45 percent of the support of voters, 10 percent of whom remain undecided. The Democrat had led in PPP Ohio polls in June and July.

While McCain gets the backing of nearly nine in 10 Republican voters, Obama gets the support of only three quarters of Democrats. Obama leads among independents.

Many of the Democrats who aren't supporting Obama "are disproportionately white, female, and middle aged, an indication that it could be former supporters of Hillary Clinton who are holding out," according to the pollster's analysis.

"Ohio is one state, along with Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Barack Obama would probably be well served by some joint appearances with the Clintons," wrote Dean Debnam, PPP's president. "Democrats have a party ID advantage in Ohio but that won