Senator John McCain does have one indisputable lead in his race with Senator Barack Obama for the White House. It's just not a lead that he's going advertise, nor one I imagine we'll hear much about from his cheerleading corps in the media. John McCain is the most absent Senator in the 110th Congress, having missed 61.8% of the votes so far. To put that in perspective, Senator Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), who took several months off to recover from a brain hemorrhage, has voted more often than John McCain.

Earlier today, Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy, one of the biggest players in the exploration and production of natural gas in the Barnett Shale here in North Texas, announced the launch of an online video channel, www.shale.tv. Shale.TV is scheduled to go live this Fall and Chesapeake also announced today that veteran Dallas/Fort Worth news anchor Tracy Rowlett has signed on to anchor the digital channel and serve as managing editor.

A real asset on the trail, who understands the real problems facing American families and workers:

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices...

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

McCain recently unveiled a new plan to balance the budget by 2013, and it includes a statement so bizarre that it makes the gas tax holiday seem like effective, substantial policy. His big plan for eliminating the national deficit is....

Former EPA official Jason Burnett accused Dick Cheney's office of attempting to supress important findings on climate change. Burnett said that the vice president's office sought to remove information on the health effects of climate change from congressional testimony by the head of the CDC.

Frivolous lawsuits? Check. Judicial activism? Check. In Tarrant County, State Senator Kim Brimer is hard at work on the non-campaign trail once more.

Democratic candidate Wendy Davis spoke to supporters yesterday on the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth after filing a response to State Senator Kim Brimer's lawsuit contesting her eligibility to run against him. Her speech included this hard-hitting quote:

"He thinks this lawsuit will hide his 20 years of failed leadership," Davis said. "To the contrary, it has highlighted it."

CNN is reporting that Virginia Senator Jim Webb has officially removed himself from VP consideration. With former Senator John Edwards committed to debating Karl Rove at least once in late September and Senator Webb removing himself from consideration, do you think that this increases the likelihood we will see an Obama-Clinton ticket?

Fearful that John McCain will attempt to insert some sanity into the Republican party line on issues like global warming, immigration, and stem cell research, right-wing activists are getting ready for a fight at the convention.

Charlie Black, McCain's number one adviser, is of late best known as the guy who said that another terrorist attack woould be a booster for McCain.

He's been given a hard time for saying so. But maybe he's not such a bad guy after all. His candid acknowledgment of fear-based politics aside, Black actually had nice things to say about the Democratic nominee today.

On September 26th former White House adviser and campaign strategist Karl Rove will debate former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards at the University of Buffalo.

I'm not going to mince words, folks. I'm already ten times more excited about hearing these two joust as I am about any debates between Obama and McCain and their Vice Presidential candidates.