Today's Details

-Rep. Christopher Shays, who is locked in a tough re-election fight against an anti-war challenger, says the U.S. should consider setting a timeline for troop withdrawals from Iraq. DETAILS

-The number of people who consider the Republican Party friendly to religion has dipped below half in the last year, with declines among white evangelicals and white Catholics. DETAILS

-Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt is fast, capable of running a marathon in 3 hours, 19 minutes, 6 seconds. At least that's what a photo on the Ohio congresswoman's Web site shows.No way, says a rival who contends that the picture from the 1993 Columbus Marathon is doctored and complained to state election officials. A four-member commission panel ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence to look into the complaint. On her Web site, Schmidt, who is 54, said she has completed 59 marathons. In April, she received a public reprimand from the Ohio Elections Commission for claiming on her Web site that she had two college degrees when she had only one. (**yawn** Another day, another Republican lie, cheat or steal story. You remember Rep Schmidt - or "Mean Jean" as she is called. She's the congresswoman who called Murtha a coward from the floor while wearing that hideous dress made out of a flag. Talk about flag desecration!) DETAILS

- The government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats. (So, THIS is what the Republicans mean when they say they are for less government.....less oversight of their business buddies business dealings!) DETAILS

-In a lengthy interview with Florida Baptist Witness, struggling U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris aka "Cruella De Vil" asserts, among other things, that the separation of church and state is a fallacy. "We have to have the faithful in government and over time," the Witness quotes Harris as saying, "that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers." (So either her party disagrees with God's choices since they have been meddling in election outcomes OR they believe God whisper's in their ear and tells them to win by whatever means necessary - both options contrary to my understanding of God.) DETAILS