Wonkette

• New poll shows Democrats favored by 2 to 1 among the important independent voters who have soured on Iraq. [WP]

• Black and Latino voters once supportive of GOP turn to Democrats as previous campaign promises go unfulfilled. [LAT]
• President Bush no longer saying “stay the course.” Difference between old course and emerging new course unclear, though might involve setting up progress benchmarks in Iraq. [NYT]
• In a sign he intends to run for president Barack Obama talks about getting high with a room full of magazine editors. [NYT]
• Academics disagree about whether the midterm elections will constitute a Democratic “wave” or a “wavelet.” Larry Sabato sides with the “wave year” camp. [WP]
• Long-shot candidate in California incites rash of corny headlines, may be “washed” into House next month. [WP]
• Dennis Hastert’s top aide testified before the House ethics subcommittee yesterday in a sign that the “Who knew Foley was a perv and when?” investigation may be drawing to a close. [ ]
• Former Enron CEO Jeffery Skilling expresses remorse while maintaining innocence, but the sentence is 24 years and 4 months in Federal “pound me in the ass” prison. [LAT]

A good man and a dear friend’s name has been cleared. Ken Lay, founder of Enron, was posthumously cleared of all charges yesterday after a Houston judge declared him innocent by way of deadness, or something. Lay could not be reached for comment, as he was playing backgammon with Jesus. MORE »

• Under pressure, White House declassifies portions of the National Intelligence Estimate. [NYT, WP, LAT, USAT, W$J]

• What does it say? What does it mean? The big papers are handy with analysis. [NYT, WP, LAT]
• New campaign ads debuted yesterday, fueling “the most toxic midterm campaign environment in memory.” [NYT]
• Government rat and former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow sentenced to only 6 years. [WP]
• Senate Democrats propose bill to reimburse states for cost of using paper ballots in mid-term election. [NYT]
• Local woman who was the “first female graduate of West Point to die in Iraq” given a soldiers funeral yesterday. [WP]
• Jon Stewart serves President Musharraf a twinkie, hilarity ensues. [WP]

Henry Allen, we know you’re a Pulitzer-winning critic, a respected old newspaper veteran, all that jazz. But please — the death of Ken Lay does not call for a rewrite of Hunter S. Thompson’s Nixon obit. Ken Lay was a garden-variety crook, not the near-mythic villain of a generation. You are a Washington Post staff writer, not an iconoclastic, self-destructive legend. Here are some phrases that should not appear in the Washington Post: MORE »

Enron founder Kenneth Lay died this morning in Aspen, Colorado, awaiting sentencing for fraud and conspiracy. Lay, 64, was admitted to the hospital last night after suffering a massive coronary. MORE »

Hot time, summer in the city, editorial cartoonists continuing to churn out cheap barbs at easy targets. And our very own cartoon expert the Comics Curmudgeon is here to cool and refresh you with unparalleled insight into those funny drawings in the back of the A section.

Our magical journey through Today’s Cartoons begins after the jump. Join us for white collar crime in all its guises, talking animals with bizarre agendas, and violence against public figures.

MORE »

The jury in the Enron criminal case has returned with a verdict, and the news is not good for the defendants. MORE »

But if Osama bin Laden had eaten all those grilled cheese sandwiches, while simultaneously cooking the books at Enron… now that might have been something… MORE »