In the Headlines

"Obama Arrives in Baghdad" (Liz Sly, Chicago Tribune) - Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Baghdad Monday for a first -hand look at conditions on the ground on Iraq as part of a tour of the Middle East and Europe designed to burnish his foreign-policy credentials.

"McCain and Obama Agree to Attend Megachurch Forum" (Jim Rutenberg, New York Times) - The Rev. Rick Warren has persuaded the candidates to attend a forum at his Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., on Aug. 16. In an interview, Mr. Warren said over the weekend that the presidential candidates would appear together for a moment but that he would interview them in succession at his megachurch.

"McCain in a race to raise and spend money by Labor Day" (Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times) - Wall Street, gambling and energy interests have contributed generously to presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and the GOP as they amass money for the fall campaign, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.

"Lieberman would address RNC" (Victoria McGrane, The Politico) - "I want to help him. I'm not going to attack Obama. I am going to explain why I, as an independent democrat, support McCain, hoping that I can convince other independents and Democrats to join me in choosing the man who is clearly more ready to be the president America needs today," Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday."

On the Morning Shows

Today - John McCain: "I'm glad that Senator Obama's going to get a chance for the first time to sit down with General Petraeus and understand what the surge was all about, why it succeeded, and why we are winning the war. He used his opposition to the surge as a way of gaining the nomination of his party. You can't choose to lose a war in Iraq in order to win in Afghanistan. And as we succeed in Iraq there will be troops available to go to Afghanistan. This is a great success but could be reversed very easily, we would have been out last March if we had done what Senator Obama originally called for. He was wrong on the surge, he is wrong today when he says it wouldn't succeed, and obviously we have challenges in Afghanistan but we can win. If we had done what he wanted we would be facing enormous challenges and probably the risk of a much wider war. That's the real difference."

(Greg Bobrinskoy contributed to the Morning Report.)