Free Republic

Montana's tightness concerns Democrats Over the past two days, Gov. Brian Schweitzer has convened conference calls with several groups of Democrats, including a handful of prominent liberal bloggers. His message is that Jon Tester's (D) margin over Conrad Burns (R) has shrunk to about five points in internal Democratic tracking, and that if Tester isn't ahead of Burns by three points on election day, the state's natural conservative swing could shove Tester off the precipice of victory. Democratic donors have also been asked to contribute. Democrats worry about the GOP's formidable 72 Hour Program in the state, long touted as...

THE BIG YAWN: NETWORKS IN RATINGS FREE-FALL AT CONVENTION, OPENING NIGHT: ABCNEWS JENNINGS WITH 3.5 RATING/5 SHARE [DOWN FROM 4.5/8 IN 2000]; NBCNEWS BROKAW 3.3/5 [2000:4.8/9]; CBS DAN RATHER 3.2/5 [2000:3.8/7... TRAIL ALL OTHER PRIME-TIME PROGRAMMING [CBS:MIAMI RERUN ON CBS PULLS 8.6 RATING/13 SHARE]... DEVELOPING...

BAGHDAD, July 21 (UPI) -- Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday. The official daily al-Sabah quoted the sources as saying the missiles were discovered in trenches near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "The three missiles were discovered by chance when the Iraqi security forces captured former Baath party official Khoder al-Douri who revealed during interrogation the location of the missiles saying they carried nuclear heads," the sources said. They pointed out that the missiles were actually discovered in...

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Gov. Jeb Bush asked the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to help ensure that the widespread voting problems that plagued last week's primaries in South Florida are not repeated on Election Day. Most of the problems in Florida's Sept. 10 primaries occurred in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Florida's top election official, Secretary of State Jim Smith, told Attorney General John Ashcroft the state wants the Justice Department to help review what went wrong last week and help run the Nov. 5 vote in the two counties. Polls opened late and closed early, and uncounted ballots were discovered...