Thursday's reads

'Democratic hopefuls snub moderate group' - Associated Press - MSNBC.

Not a single one of the eight presidential candidates plans to attend the Democratic Leadership Council’s summer meeting, a snub that says less about the centrist DLC than it does about a nomination process that rewards candidates who pander to their parties’ hardened cores while ignoring everybody else.

'No, Really: Giuliani and Romney are Winning' - Steve Kornacki - The New York Observer.

Where only a month or two ago the Republican race featured four co-equal front-runners, there are now two. And while this pecking order could easily shift among the existing candidates (and while there remains a theoretical vacuum for a yet-unnamed white knight to swoop into the race and steal the nomination at the last minute), Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Romney have passed some key early tests of their front-running status.

'The Governors Stay on the Fence' - David S. Broder - The Washington Post.

The governors of both parties are hanging back from making endorsements this cycle. Less than a quarter of the 50 governors have come out of hiding, and the ones that have are keeping pretty quiet about their preferences.