"Something has methodologically gone awry when polls are swinging about this wildly," writes David Price, about presidential campaign polling.

Congressional investigators with the Government Accountability Office concluded that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate any laws by hiring the PR firm OneWorld Communications. The unusual $90,000 contract for the "Forests with a Future" campaign promoted new policies increasing logging in California's Sierra Nevada forests.

The environment is "the sleeper issue of Australia's October 9 election," and Prime Minister John Howard, "once regarded as the nemesis of conservationists - [is] vigorously courting the green vote." Howard pledged Aus$2 billion for "the country's ailing river systems, prompting Labor leader Mark Latham to respond with a billion-dollar package of his own." At the same time, Howard's Deputy Prime Minister attacked the Green Party, saying