Thompson Still Waiting For Right Moment to Announce

"Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics," Biden's anecdote-filled treatise on his life in American politics, appears in bookstores July 31.

No stranger to the Sunday talk show circuit, Biden is scheduled to broaden his horizons on the tour -- giving him a chance to talk more about his personal biography and less about substantive policy. Expect to see and hear him on the "Today Show," Diane Rehm's radio program and "The Daily Show," a Random House publicist said.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

Schiavo's Brother Joins Brownback

As Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) campaigns in Iowa this weekend, he is hoping to evoke the memory of Terry Schiavo, whose comatose condition sparked a battle between her husband and her parents over whether she should be allowed to die.

Brownback, who is staunchly antiabortion, will be traveling with Schiavo's brother Bobby Schindler, who helped turn his sister's plight into a national cause for conservatives and antiabortion members of Congress. Courts eventually sided with Schiavo's husband and ordered her feeding tube removed.

-- Michael D. Shear

Democrats to Debate GLBT Issues

With three debates under their belts and another dozen or so to go, Democrats have added one more gathering to the crowded presidential primary calendar: a debate sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign on Aug. 9.

The one-hour debate, to be held in Los Angeles, will address "issues of importance to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community," the HRC statement announcing the event said. It "marks the first time in history the major presidential candidates will address a live GLBT television audience," the statement said, noting that Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have agreed to participate. All of the Democratic contenders, in fact, are expected to attend -- not so the Republican candidates, who were also invited.

-- Anne E. Kornblut