Now that the Democratic primary is coming to a close, speculation about the possibility of a Dream Ticket has picked up again.

After targeting corporations that pollute the air in Houston on several fronts, Mayor Bill White is now expanding the focus to include the state agency that hands out the permits to those companies in the first place.

President Bush has consistently said he didn't want to see funding for domestic programs attached to the Iraq and Afghanistan war spending bill. In many cases this would have prompted Senate Republicans to fall in line and vote against anything that seemed out of bounds as per what the White House was after. Today was different, in that plenty of Senate Republicans voted in favor of appropriations to aid veterans and the unemployed, as well as several other domestic programs. The measure passed 75-22.

Game on:

Democratic officials say Barack Obama has begun a top-secret search for a running mate.

Democratic officials said Thursday the party's likely nominee has asked former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to begin vetting potential vice presidential picks. Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984.

It isn't quite top secret if the media already knows about it, but hey. Submit your resumes to Jim Johnson directly, because HR takes forever.

Via BOR - our friends over at VoteVets.Org are bringing it to Senator John Cornyn with a little bit of the old media fight. Check out the video here.

I present, for your consideration, this item from ThinkProgress: Karl Rove and Laura Ingraham on Fox News questioning the journalistic ethics of MSNBC.

(Yes, even on national security):

Democrats looked at the polls and found that they were closer than they had been in a long time to Republicans on national security, who have a historical advantage with voters on that topic. Democrats also found that by offering a compelling defense of themselves instead of just trying to change the topic to the economy or some other area where they had an advantage, they were able to, in this case, have some success winning the argument with the public.

Democrats are giving money to candidates hand over fist this year, and the national campaign committees are also far ahead of their Republican counterparts. The RNC, however, is whipping the DNC for dollars

From the monthly tally board:

Obama - $31 million

Clinton - $21 million

McCain - $18 million

In the same week as oil hits $133 per barrel, the House passes a law making it cool to sue OPEC over oil prices. I am not sure how effective this will be — someone has to do something, and at least the attempt is being made, but the overarching problem here is a fundamental one of supply and demand. (Insert comment on fossil fuel dependency here.)