by Evie Stone

Good morning, everyone.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll out this morning has some interesting data. Respondents are almost equally divided over which of the two major candidates they trusted to handle the war (McCain 47%, Obama 45%), but when asked whether they thought each candidate "would be a good commander-in-chief" 72% thought McCain would fit the bill and only 48% thought Obama would.

Meanwhile, Obama is pushing his Iraq policies hard this week after last week's flip-flopping accusations. This morning at 10:45 he'll follow yesterday's New York Times op-ed with what his campaign is billing as a "major policy address" on Iraq and National Security. (N.B. President Bush has scheduled a (rare) news conference on the economy at 10:20...and it's almost certain to overlap with Obama's speech. What's a network to do??) All this as lead-up to Obama's pending trip to Iraq — his first, as the McCain campaign is fond of pointing out, since 2006. McCain, for his part, will swipe at Obama today for pushing policy prescriptions before he sees the facts on the ground.

Opening the door: our own David Welna's piece on the unusual position of Independent-Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman, who still caucuses with the Dems but openly supports John McCain's candidacy. Noteworthy: Lieberman says he doesn't have any intention of leaving the Democratic caucus "before the end of this session of Congress." No word on what he'll do in the 111th.

And after tantalizing us with the possibility of a Senate run, former MN Governor and pro wrestler Jesse Ventura told CNN's Larry King last night that he's not up for another foray into politics...unless he gets a sign from God that compels him to change his mind before the 5pm (CDT) filing deadline. Which would be especially notable since he also told Larry, "God's never spoken to me once, never."

And in the wake of the New Yorker cover blowup, the NYT takes a look at comedy writers' struggles to come up with decent jokes about Obama. Quoth one frustrated writer: "The thing is, he's not buffoonish in any way." How disappointing...