Morning folks...

A quick program note..CNN Presents BLACK IN AMERICA tonight from 9 to 11 pm eastern. The two hour documentary is hosted by Soledad O'Brien. AC360 will be LIVE at 11 pm eastern. We will do a BLACK in AMERICA post-game show...we will look at issues of "colorism" in the black community, solutions to the high drop out rate, issues of many black women choosing to be single, and being biracial and talk about them with Soledad, Roland Fryer, Michael Eric Dyson, and Tara Wall...

We will also cover some other news at 11 pm tonight....Residents on the South Texas/Mexico border are bracing themselves for Hurricane Dolly. Wind and rain can be felt on South Padre Island as I write this morning...Currently a category 1 storm with 85 mph winds, but it is now gaining strength and expected to be a category 2 when it makes landfall in a few hours...Dolly is expected to dump up to 15 inches of rain, cause widespread flooding and possibly spawn tornadoes...So in typical CNN fashion we are flooding the zone. Gary Tuchman is in South Padre Island, Susan Roesgen in Brownsville, Texas and Chad Myers will be at the helm in the CNN Weather Center.... We will have all that the storm leaves behind tonight...

Candy Crowley continues to follow the Barack Obama while he tours the Mideast...Today he held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, and leaders in the Palestinian territories. The visit to the region, part of Obama's first international tour since securing the Democratic ticket, is aimed at boosting the politician's foreign policy credentials as he heads into an election showdown with Republican John McCain. Barack Obama also toured Israel's Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, "Ultimately, this is a place of hope."

BUT what seems to be getting most of the attention from the trip is NOT who he talks to or what he says but the entourage that is following...it would make a pop star envious. ALL three Network News anchors, plus a HUGE press corp, a dozen top foreign policy advisers are either traveling with Obama or doing ground work ahead of his arrival in each country. This group is supplemented by his usual contingent of almost a dozen traveling aides, including chief campaign strategist David Axelrod and communications director Robert Gibbs, and too many advance staff to count. PLUS layers of Secret Service agents with motorcades 20 vehicles deep...

Trying to avoid being portrayed as a whiny spoilsport, Sen. John McCain broke with his advisers Tuesday and told Katie Couric of CBS News that news coverage of the presidential campaign has been fair and even “fun to watch.” But McCain made one of his toughest charges ever against Sen. Barack Obama, saying his opposition to the surge strategy in Iraq meant that he “would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.” Asked whether he believes he’d had unfair media coverage, McCain replied: “I don't think so. I think …it is what it is. I'm a big boy. And I'm enjoying every minute of the campaigning. And I'm certainly not complaining. And, in fact, I think it’s fun to watch." McCain has a town hall meeting today in Pennsylvania today and then heads to Louisiana to meet with Governor Bobby Jindal..let the V.P speculation begin....

AND I could NOT get leave you this morning without a little polygamy news... A Texas grand jury indicted polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs on sexual assault charges late yesterday, and five of his followers also face a variety of charges. Jeffs was charged with sexual assault of a child...a first-degree felony. Jeffs is currently in Mohave County Prison in Kingman, Arizona awaiting charges there... Four of Jeffs' followers were each charged with one count of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 17, and one of those four faces a count of bigamy. A fifth follower is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse...Never a dull moment in the land of Polygamy..

ALL for now... stay dry those in south Texas....