A round-up of this morning's must-read stories.

2 NEW-STYLE CANDIDATES HIT OLD NOTES ON THE ECONOMY
(Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter, New York Times)
For all the efforts of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama to portray themselves as willing to break with party orthodoxy to get things done, the economic debate that opened their general election campaign this week previews a classic clash. It is a battle between Republican supply-side economics and a Democratic tradition that uses government levers to try to reduce inequality and spur the economy.Mr. McCain, who once opposed the Bush tax cuts in part because they favored the wealthy, has now made extending those cuts a central plank in his economic plan, which is based largely on the Republican credo that tax reductions stimulate the economy. And he is pushing another strain of fiscal conservatism that has not been much in evidence of late: a call for smaller government and a vow to cut pork-barrel spending... Mr. Obama often speaks of the traditional liberal goal of trying to redistribute the tax burden to reduce economic inequality, and at least in his public pronouncements has not emphasized the market-friendly, deficit-reduction aspects of the economic approach credited to former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in the 1990s.

FACTCHECKER: MCCAIN VS. OBAMA ON TAXES
(Michael Dobbs, Washington Post)
The McCain camp is attempting to persuade Americans that their taxes will increase dramatically with Barack Obama as president. The presumptive Republican nominee has repeatedly said that Obama would enact "the largest tax increase since the Second World War." A surrogate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, insists that Obama has not proposed "a single tax cut" and wants to "raise every tax in the book."... [But] the claim that Obama will "enact" the largest tax increase since World War II is... overblown. The Bush tax cuts will expire automatically at the end of 2010, so it is hardly a question of "enacting" a new tax increase... According to Brookings economist Douglas Elmendorf, the Obama plan will eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. "It's very clear that taxes for lower income Americans will decline under Obama," he said. Carly Fiorina is wrong to claim that Obama has proposed no tax cuts and wants to raise "every tax in the book." John McCain is on more solid ground when he claims that Americans from many different backgrounds could be affected by a rise in capital gains taxes, but he has greatly exaggerated the adverse impact.

THE JOHNSON TEST
(John Dickerson, Slate)
This is part of the Washington system, which as a whole Barack Obama is running against and promising to change. It's also part of the Chicago system he comes from. But it's not a factor of political life that Barack Obama talks about very much. He rails against lobbyists at length, but where does he draw the boundaries for himself on these other kinds of relationships? And where should the boundaries be? How does Obama, who says his mistakes with his friend Tony Rezko represent a lapse in judgment, show us he's grown? I'm not suggesting we have to vet every friend. But it would be great if Obama could show us the instructions for how his new kind of politics works on this front. He has a chance now. And he could see this as a political opportunity, too, to outdo McCain, who has sometimes responded to questions about his ties to lobbyists by saying that we should trust that he's never done anything that would harm the public interest. The Johnson business is hardly the national crisis the Republican National Committee claims it is. But it's worse than the brushoff Obama is giving it.

THOSE LOYAL TO THE CLINTONS TAKE NOTE OF WHO WAS NOT
(Mark Leibovich, New York Times)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was gracious in her full-throated endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. But that does not mean all is forgiven by others in the Clinton universe... As the Obama bandwagon has swelled, so have the lists of people Clinton loyalists regard as some variation of “ingrate,” “traitor” or “enemy,” according to the associates and campaign officials, who would speak only on condition of anonymity. Philippe Reines, a spokesman for both Clintons, said neither kept any specific catalog of those believed to have wronged them. “There is no list,” Mr. Reines said. The lists maintained by supporters tend to be less formal documents than spoken diatribes, with offenders’ names spat forth in rants, gripe sessions and post-mortems. Several names and entities are common among various list makers. The lineup invariably begins with A-list members like Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico; Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the House Democratic whip; Gregory B. Craig, Mr. Clinton’s lawyer in his impeachment and trial; David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist; Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri; and several Kennedys. 

DEMOCRATS STILL STRUGGLING WITH WHOLE 'PARTY UNITY' THING
(Dana Milbank, Washington Post)
It was billed as a post-primary unity event at Democratic National Committee headquarters yesterday. But the unity fell apart before the opening "thank you all for coming." As 18 elected Democrats filed into the party's conference room for the show of force, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, evidently not realizing the microphone was picking up his words, took a swipe at Sen. Chuck Schumer, the loquacious leader of the Senate Democrats' campaign effort. "Wait until Schumer stops talking," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested to Dean. "That'll be a long wait," Dean replied. Then began the meeting. It seems that nothing can stop the Democrats from taking the White House and expanding their congressional majorities in November. But give them time. They're Democrats, after all. The famously fractious party is trying to apply wallpaper to the foundational cracks left by the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton saga. But if yesterday's unity kickoff is any indication, the party is less interested in rallying around its own nominee than in rallying against John McCain. 

THE CHARISMA MACHINE
(Noemie Emery, Weekly Standard)
First it was Chris Matthews getting a thrill up his leg when he thought of Barack Obama; then it was Newsweek giving Obama a free pass on everything; now it is Mark Halperin over at Time warning that the Charisma Machine is going to roll right over McCain in November, with the media's hand on the wheel. How old McCain looks! How decrepit he is! How sick everyone (especially the press) is of everyone but Obama! How stunning he is! How inspiring he is! How "valuable" he makes people feel, telling them THEY are the ones they are waiting for. How "powerful" it will be when he debates John McCain on security issues, and comes out the better. How "forcefully" Obama will "move to the center as a mainstream, optimistic candidate," celebrating both America's greatness, and "change." (And how great will it be when he ducks into the phone booth, and out comes ... never mind.) Anything can happen, in the Belmont Stakes and in politics, and perhaps Halperin is right in saying McCain underestimates Obama's pizzazz, and the desire of the press to promote it. But it is also possible he overestimates both Obama, and the power of journalists, himself among them. Love is blind, or at least short-sighted, and there are some warning signs he has missed.

THE GOP TAKES AIM AT MICHELLE OBAMA
(Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times)
They loved to hate Hillary Rodham Clinton. They loved to hate Teresa Heinz Kerry. And now, it appears, conservative voices are energetically taking on Michelle Obama. "Mrs. Grievance" bellowed the cover of a recent National Review, which featured a photo of a fierce-looking Obama. The magazine's online edition titled an essay about her stump speech "America's Unhappiest Millionaire." Michelle Malkin, the popular conservative blogger, called her "Obama's bitter half." Even the relatively liberal online magazine Slate piled on. In a piece subtitled "Is Michelle Obama responsible for the Jeremiah Wright fiasco?" the contrarian Christopher Hitchens blamed her for her husband's pastor troubles since she was a member of the church first. The would-be first lady does not make pronouncements about policy and has insisted that her priority in the White House would be her two young daughters. But Obama has an earthy sense of humor that sometimes gets her in trouble. And in speeches, she shares her belief that the country's spirit is broken and in need of repair -- by her husband, whom she often describes as "special." 

MR. RIGHT?
(Bruce Bartlett, New Republic)
There have been a few celebrated cases of conservatives endorsing Obama, like the blogger Andrew Sullivan and the legal scholar Douglas Kmiec. But you probably have not have heard of many of the Obamacons--and neither has the Obama campaign. When I checked with it to ask for a list of prominent conservative supporters, the campaign seemed genuinely unaware that such supporters even existed. But those of us on the right who pay attention to think tanks, blogs, and little magazines have watched Obama compile a coterie drawn from the movement's most stalwart and impressive thinkers. It's a group that will no doubt grow even larger in the coming months. 

RIPPLES IN THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL POOL
(John M. Broder, New York Times)
It’s so early in the vice presidential search process that aides to Senator Barack Obama will not even speak of a “list” of names they are working on. But the universe of potential candidates shrank by one name and grew by another on Tuesday. Ted Strickland, the popular Democratic governor of Ohio, was anything but coy about whether he would accept such an invitation. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Strickland said on the NPR program “All Things Considered.” “If drafted I will not run, if nominated I will not accept, and if elected I will not serve,” he said. “So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be.” ... One name that dropped into circulation on Capitol Hill is that of Gen. James L. Jones, a retired former commandant of the Marines and supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a Democrat who met with Mr. Obama’s search team. Some Democrats believe that Mr. Obama could use someone with national security credentials.

WEBB'S REBEL ROOTS
(David Mark, Politico)
Barack Obama’s vice presidential vetting team will undoubtedly run across some quirky and potentially troublesome issues as it goes about the business of scouring the backgrounds of possible running mates. But it’s unlikely they’ll find one so curious as Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb’s affinity for the cause of the Confederacy. Webb is no mere student of the Civil War era. He’s an author, too, and he’s left a trail of writings and statements about one of the rawest and most sensitive topics in American history. He has suggested many times that while the Confederacy is a symbol to many of the racist legacy of slavery and segregation, for others it simply reflects Southern pride. In a June 1990 speech in front of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, posted on his personal website, he lauded the rebels’ “gallantry,” which he said “is still misunderstood by most Americans.” ... There’s nothing scandalous in the paper trail, nothing that on its face would disqualify Webb from consideration for national office. Yet it veers into perilous waters since the slightest sign of support or statement of understanding of the Confederate cause has the potential to alienate African-Americans who are acutely sensitive to the topic.

OBAMA STARTS AS THE FAVORITE IN IOWA
(Mike Glover, Associated Press)
A political infrastructure that pushed Barack Obama to victory in the Iowa caucuses and an increase in Democratic voter registration make him the favorite in the state in November, but an intense catch-up effort could put Republican John McCain back in the game, veteran political strategists in both parties say. "John McCain's problem in Iowa is Obama already has an infrastructure here and McCain doesn't. He pulled his staff out, he pulled his people out," said Iowa House Minority Leader Chris Rants, a Republican. "He has to decide if Iowa is part of his strategy, is Iowa going to be a battleground or not."

DEMS SEND AID INTO TRADITIONALLY GOP 'EXURBS'
(Philip Elliott, RealClear Politics)
Nationwide, exurban areas — far-flung residential areas out beyond the traditional suburbs — grew about 31 percent during the 1990s, according to a Brookings Institution analysis. That's twice the rate of their respective urban centers. Delaware County grew by two-thirds in that decade, according to the Census Bureau. Between 2000 and 2006, the county increased 43 percent. Developers in Delaware County have bought farm fields and built compact neighborhoods of similarly designed homes on tiny lots, separated from other developments by more farmland. Mom-and-pop retailers struggle to keep up with chain stores, such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy, that pop up in the sprawling fields. Democrats see a spread from nearby Columbus as a key to their success, as state employees roll down Interstate 71 to work during the day and return to sleep in residences on cul-de-sacs and in farmhouses at night.

ONLINE OBAMA OUTPACES MCCAIN BY MILES
(Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post)
Less than five months before The Big Day -- Nov. 4, 2008 -- national polls show John McCain and Barack Obama locked in a dead heat. The latest CNN poll has Obama at 49 and McCain at 46; the most recent Gallup poll shows Obama at 46 and McCain just a point away. But on the Web, there's simply no contest: Obama easily trumps McCain. Obama leads McCain on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, as measured by sites such as TechPresident.com, a favorite of online political operatives, and the less-known but also valuable Compete.com. On MySpace, Obama leads McCain more than seven-fold; Obama lists 390,279 friends to McCain's 53,259. The gap is almost similar on Facebook. Obama supporters number at 928,905 while McCain's clock in at 139,749. And on YouTube, it's almost as if Obama and McCain operate in two separate layers of the atmosphere. McCain's channel, which has posted 219 videos, has been viewed a little over 4 million times. Obama's channel, which has posted 1,102 videos, has been viewed 51.1 million times. The Web is like a busy, massive, maze-like grocery store, and Obama has been more effective than McCain in ensuring that he's on various aisle, trying to attract specific demographic groups.