AP - There's something familiar about this stage of the presidential campaign. A candidate running on inevitability. A candidate running on experience. A candidate complaining about a rival's media coverage.

AP - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, nearing the end of a fast-paced international campaign trip, warned Iran on Friday, "don't wait for the next president" to take office before yielding to Western demands to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, ridiculing Barack Obama for "the audacity of hopelessness" in his policies on Iraq, said Friday that the entire Middle East could have plunged into war had U.S. troops been withdrawn as his rival advocated.

AP - An aide to Sen. Barack Obama said Friday the Democratic presidential contender believed he could visit wounded troops at a military hospital in Germany without involving them in a campaign controversy and scrapped his plans after the Pentagon raised concerns.

Politico - As Barack Obama’s overseas tour continues to prompt swoons of European delight — more than 200,000 came out to see him speak in Berlin Thursday — Friday’s stop in France seemed likely to provoke more than simple adoration as it's digested by the French public.

AP - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

AP - A written prayer that Barack Obama left this week in the cracks of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, asks God to guide him and guard his family, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.

AP - Barack Obama's campaign has received roughly 10 times more money from declared U.S. donors living in Germany, France and Britain than his Republican rival, reflecting his popularity in Europe as he makes his first tour of the continent as the presumed Democratic nominee.

AP - Barack Obama wants to sound like the voice of reason on U.S. foreign policy — the guy who would abandon Bush administration policies he sees as shortsighted, self-defeating or just plain wrong. Problem is, George Bush keeps beating him to it.

AP - Barack Obama's speech to a huge Berlin crowd sent a "positive signal" to Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Friday, praising the Democratic presidential candidate's focus on working with U.S. partners.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain slammed Democratic rival Barack Obama on Friday for poor judgment on the Iraq war, laying out in sharp terms his argument the Illinois senator should not be commander in chief.

Reuters - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain urged China on Friday to address human rights concerns and free Tibetan prisoners after he met with the Dalai Lama in Colorado.

AP - Obama says Iran should accept EU nuclear proposal and not wait for next US president ... McCain mocks Obama policy for Iraq as 'audacity of hopelessness' that could have lost the war ... German leader's office praises Obama speech as 'positive signal' to Europe ... Secret Service needs $9.5 million more to protect presidential candidates

Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dropped a plan to visit wounded U.S. troops in Germany on Friday amid concerns the stop would be viewed as a political event.

AP - The man giving John Kerry his first Democratic primary fight since his election to the Senate more than 20 years ago proposed a series of debates Friday.

Bloomberg - July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Political strategists and pollsters are on the hunt for the ``soccer moms'' and ``Nascar dads'' of 2008, the blocs of swing voters with enough clout to turn the tide in the presidential race.

AP - Thomas Nast's political caricatures in the early 1870s so bedeviled New York City's corrupt Boss Tweed that he once bellowed: "Stop them damn pictures! I don't care what the papers write about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see pictures."

AP - It's a political oddity: a TV commercial extolling the public safety record of a sitting mayor, except the spot isn't soliciting votes and the politician's name isn't scheduled to appear on the November ballot.