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Phoenix, Arizona, August 1, 2008. In Arizona, the contest for President of the United States between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain could prove to be a dilly and is most likely to be decided by which candidate carries Maricopa county where nearly six out of ten Arizona voters reside and which is generally conceded to be the heartland of Republican strength in the state. Yet here in Senator McCain’s back yard, his lead which was a comfortable 15 to 17 points for most of last and this year, has shrunk significantly. In late July, a survey of 401...

The latest Quinnipiac Swing State Polls are out: Florida: Obama leads McCain, 46% to 44% Ohio: Obama leads McCain, 46% to 44% Pennsylvania: Obama leads McCain, 49% to 42%

A new Research 2000 national poll finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain, 51% to 39%, with Bob Barr getting 3% and Ralph Nader getting 2%.

A lobbyist with close ties to the White House is offering access to key figures in George W Bush’s administration in return for six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency. Stephen Payne, who claims to have raised more than $1m for the president’s Republican party in recent years, said he would arrange meetings with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and other senior officials in return for a payment of $250,000 (£126,000) towards the library in Texas. Payne, who has accompanied Bush and Cheney on several foreign trips, also said...

With the defending Republicans facing twists and turns confirming that truth can be stranger than fiction, the Democrats now appear to hold a solid edge in the battle for the seat New York Republican Rep. Vito J. Fossella left open — after the married father of three admitted in May that he has a daughter from an ongoing extramarital relationship. The Republicans’ lack of a consensus replacement candidate less than two weeks before the July 10 candidate filing deadline, with no top-tier prospects at hand for the party’s Sept. 9 primary, has prompted CQ Politics to change its rating on...

In an election today in Indiana, Barack Obama takes 48% of the vote, John McCain 47% of the vote -- a statistical tie -- according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WHAS-TV Louisville and WCPO-TV Cincinnati. Obama's 1-point lead is within the survey's 4 percentage point margin of sampling error, and these results should be reported as a tie. Among men, McCain leads by 5; among women, Obama leads by 7 -- a 12-point gender gap. Among voters age 18 to 49, Obama leads by 5; among voters 50+, McCain leads by 3. Obama leads by 22 points...

BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Edward Kennedy is pulling out of the commencement address at Wesleyan University after being diagnosed with brain cancer, and Barack Obama will stand in for him. A spokeswoman for Kennedy said he had planned to speak at the Sunday ceremony in Middletown, Conn., where his stepdaughter will be among the graduates. The commencement exercises also coincide with 25th reunion festivities for his son Edward Kennedy Jr. Kennedy was diagnosed this week with a malignant brain tumor, which was discovered after he had a seizure last Saturday. He was released Wednesday from Massachusetts General Hospital and has...

After losing their third special election loss in recent weeks, Mike Allen says there are "whispers among some House Republicans" about trying to replace Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) with Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), "who was NRCC chairman from 1998 to 2002." In addition, Allen says House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) "also has to watch his back" since House conservatives are "especially restive." Cole, as Marc Ambinder notes, pushed the panic button last night "warning his incumbents and challengers: change or die."

Travis Childers, elected U.S. House, District 1, Mississippi. [Note: This is an AP bulletin - nothing follows]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuRHRRYHKIY

Dramatic video released by the French defense ministry this week shows French helicopters pursuing Somali pirates through the desert as they tried to escape following a weeklong hijacking. The military managed to apprehend six of the 10 pirates, who now sit aboard a French military vessel awaiting word on their fate. The hostages, 30 crew members of a luxury French yacht, are back in France where they are recovering from their ordeal.

Total Funds: $55 million Primary Funds: More than $54 million Contributors: 727,972 First Time Contributors: 385,101 Total Contributors – Campaign to Date: 1,069,333 Online Fundraising: More than $45 million raised online in February More than 90% of online donations were $100 or less More than 50% of online donations were $25 or less More than 75% of online donors in February were first-time online donors

Maybe they should've called it " Hawaii 10-0," as Sen. Barack Obama now has ten straight wins after besting Sen. Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's Hawaii caucuses. Neither Obama nor Clinton campaigned in person for Hawaii's 20 delegate votes, but both recently had surrogates in the 50th state -- Clinton employed daughter Chelsea and Obama had half-sister Maya Soetero-Ng appear on his behalf. Obama, who was born and spent part of his youth on Hawaii, ran radio ads in recent weeks stressing his "native son" credentials. On Tuesday night, in an e-mail to his supporters before the Hawaii victory was announced,...

Earthquake

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chairman Mao Zedong made what Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States. "You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office. "We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands." A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A senior al Qaeda terrorist active in operational planning and training has been killed, a Western official said Thursday. He identified the terrorist as Abu Laith al-Libbi. The official said al-Libbi is "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" -- Osama bin Laden and Ayman al -Zawahiri.

Democratic and Republican sources say that Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut and fierce supporter of the war in Iraq, will formally endorse Sen. John McCain tomorrow in New Hampshire. A McCain spokesperson declined to comment. A source familiar with the endorsement said that the two will appear of NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning and at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. The endorsement could help McCain with independents in the state. Combine that with news that Rudy Giuliani is scaling back his advertising buy there, that the Boston Globe endorsed McCain, and that McCain's rivals are...

TRENTON, Dec. 10 — The New Jersey Senate voted Monday to make the state the first in the country to repeal the death penalty since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court set guidelines for the nation’s current system of capital punishment. Approval in the Senate was seen as the biggest obstacle to the repeal, and in the end, it passed 21 to 16, receiving the bare minimum number of votes required in the 40-seat chamber. Three senators did not vote.Legislators on both sides of the debate said they expected the measure to pass easily on Thursday in the General...

WASHINGTON: Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Monday. That finding is a change from two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Iran was determined to develop a nuclear capability and was continuing its weapons development program. It suggests that Iran is susceptible to diplomatic pressure, the official said. "Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear...

AUSTIN, Tex., Nov. 29 (AP) — The state’s director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who said she had given the appearance of criticizing the teaching of intelligent design. The Texas Education Agency put the director, Chris Comer, on 30 days’ paid administrative leave in late October, resulting in what Ms. Comer called a forced resignation. The move came shortly after she forwarded an e-mail message announcing a presentation by Barbara Forrest, an author of “Creationism’s Trojan Horse.” The book argues that creationist politics are behind the movement to get intelligent design theory taught...