Midday Open Thread

• Swing State Project has been gathering 2Q fundraising reports as they come out.
• Florida Governor Charlie Crist is engaged. For the fifth time. (He was married once, for 6 months.) Obviously it's not like this could have anything at all to do with his vice-presidential aspirations.
• Matthew Yglesias explains how Cindy McCain's designer suits equip the McCains to understand the struggles of ordinary Americans. Jed Report's Google Earth tour of the McCains' 10 or so houses is another valuable reminder of how absolutely non-elitist they are.
• Al Giordano unravels the links between a McCain visit and a major hostage  release in Colombia.
• Ezra points to an article on Utah moving to a four-day work week due to energy use concerns.
• For most congressional candidates, the Fourth of July is a big day to gain visibility in local celebrations. For obvious reasons, Darcy Burner won't have that chance this year. We can't give her back the Fourth, but we can buy her some respite on the 20th and 21st and all the days until then by relieving her of the necessity to fundraise.
• The Bush administration extended the tours of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan fighting in the bloody Helmand province because there are no troops available to send as reinforcements. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the JCIS, said on Wednesday that more troops are necessary but "I don't have troops I can reach for...to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq." - smintheus