Daily Briefing: A "Cheerfully Ruthless" Nominee
•Oil tops $70 a barrel as Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf. Analyst: "The amount of lost production is equal to almost all the spare capacity in the world." [ Bloomberg ]
•Administration officials admit disappointment with Iraq; focus shifts to providing life support for the political process.Bush: "As democracy in Iraq takes root, the enemies of freedom, the terrorists will become more desperate, more despicable and more vicious." [ NYT , WT ]
• Al Sharptonlands in Crawford, callsCindy Sheehan"the conscience" of the country;Martin Sheenalso makes an appearance. [ WP , USAT ]
•States are stepping-up restrictions on abortions, with South Dakota leading the way. [ WP ]
•Scuffle over military-base closings is likely to continue even ifBushand Congress approve the commission's recommendations. [ WSJ ]
•With $1.6m in the stock market,Robertswill have plenty of finanical conflicts. [ USAT , USAT ]
•Documents showRobertswas anal about grammar and spelling: a "cheerfully ruthless copy editor over the years." [ NYT ]
• John Warnerplans to questionRumsfeldat a Congressional hearing about the war: "Our nation has given so much to the Iraqi people, and what are they giving us in return?" [ NYT ]
•Mothers and wives add dimension to the debate over war in Iraq. [ NYT ]
•Stability in the Middle East is dependent on locals, officials and experts concede. [ WP ]
•Conservative groups and business interests begin major lobbying effort to permanently repeal estate taxes. [ USAT ]
•Economic indicators from the Census Bureau are questioned. [ WP ]
•66 journalists have died covering the war in Iraq, surpassing the number killed during two decades of warfare in Vietnam. [ CNN ]