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Some folks are befuddled by who Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is. I know exactly who she is. She's a "Pittsburgh girl." Maybe I better explain. Palin embodies everything feminists have been asking for for years--she really does "have it all."She's a wife, a working mom and the most powerful woman in her state--yet she's got feminine poise (as reflected in a popular Alaskan bumper sticker: "Coldest State. Hottest Governor.") Palin's husband is also what feminists have been asking for for years. He works part-time to support her career and nurture the kids--yet he's masculine, confident and supportive (Alaskans call...

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The smells of basil, Chinese food, fish and baked goods linger in the humid air along Penn Avenue, mixing with the sweat and grime of packed sidewalks and outdoor vendors. Children cling to their parents' hands and young couples stroll leisurely while elderly people zip in and out of stores they have known for generations.

DENVER: When most people think of Joe Biden, they think Senate longevity, confidence, a liberal with a free-wheeling impulse to give you his never-to-be-humble opinion. What they don't think of is a man who could have a great impact in Pennsylvania. The question becomes: Can he make his impact as broad as Hillary Clinton -- another Scranton native -- did in the Pennsylvania primaries? Hillary glowed in Pennsylvania. She made Pennsylvania her second home and it stuck with voters. John Kerry, married to the Heinz ketchup heiress Teresa, did the same thing in his runup to the 2004 election. He...

Professor's Mooning Video Becomes Hit A video posted on YouTube Aug. 2 exposes the ugly side of competitive debate. And the backside of debate coach Bill Shanahan. At the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) quarterfinals last March, the Fort Hays State University assistant professor got into a screaming match with rival coach Shanara Reid-Brinkley from the University of Pittsburgh. The argument devolved into an ugly exchange of profanity and Shanahan pulled down his pants, mooning the audience.

Ridge said he was proud of how McCain has handled the crisis unfolding in Georgia. ...“He has kept a cool head, taken calls from Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili -- and really behaved very presidential in his perspective of this crisis,” said Ridge as McCain shook hands with the crowd that gathered around him. “He has been to Georgia several times,” Ridge added. “He doesn’t need to look for it on a map.”

The Sen. Barack Obama campaign held a conference call this morning on one of the key battleground states in this race: Pennsylvania. Team O, led by Gov. Ed Rendell, stressed the importance of registering and winning over the one-million-plus, un-registered voters spread out over the Keystone State.

It's complicated. Pennsylvania is a "purple" state that must go Democrat blue instead of Republican red for Barack Obama to win the November election. John McCain does not need Pennsylvania to win the White House, but Obama sure does.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― A Pittsburgh music legend had his swan song on local radio today. The "Daddy-O of the Rad-i-o," Porky Chedwick, and his wife are moving to Florida next month. This morning, Chedwick did his last Pittsburgh-based radio broadcast. He was a guest on "The Morning Memories Show" on WKFB. The show was a three-hour tribute to Chedwick and his contributions to pop music over the years.

In Pennsylvania, McCain Tells a New Version of Heroic P.O.W. Story -- Subbing the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Green Bay Packers July 10, 2008 5:37 PMYesterday in Pittsburgh, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., professed his love for the Steelers to KDKA-TV. Watch HERE. Asked what first comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain chuckled, "the Steelers.  I was a mediocre high school athlete but I loved and adored the sports but the Steelers really made a huge impression on me particularly in my early years." And then McCain told a rather moving story about his time as a...

In his first sit-down interview with KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano, U.S. Sen. John McCain recounted how he would recite the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line-up to his North Vietnamese captors. ..."When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup -- defensive line -- of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!"

The storied Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise has been secretly shopped to potential buyers amid continuing divisions among the five sons of the team's founder, Art Rooney Sr. The talks affect not only one of America's iconic sports franchises, but one of its most fabled sports families. Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, who helped build the National Football League and is the oldest of the five sons, wants to consolidate his control by acquiring most of his brothers' shares in the Steelers over 10 years, those briefed on the talks said. In a statement1 Monday afternoon, Dan Rooney confirmed these efforts and...

The House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating whether certain public corruption probes were politically motivated, has subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents related to the prosecutions of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the committee chairman, sent a letter Friday to Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

DURAGI, Afghanistan -- Early morning, and 14 U.S. soldiers stand in a semi-circle for a mission briefing. Four Humvees, engines running, rumble beside them. "We're going to Warshallah today," Army Capt. Sam Karr, 28, of Manhattan, Kan., tells his platoon. "I guess it has, like, 200 bad guys in it. That's nothing, dudes -- we've got 14, so we're good."

By all accounts, Barack Obama should win this election. He and his brand control the image, the message and, to a large extent, the media of this election cycle. Yes, the media. He has enough money to buy ads every day from now to election day, glossy magazines cannot wait to put his image on their covers, Hollywood types are so smitten that they wear his image on their clothing and YouTube is bursting at the seams with homages to him. It is definitely his to win -- or to lose. It all hinges on two things: likability and character.

Protestors rallied Downtown yesterday to as part of the United Nations' International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The organization Pittsburgh Against Torture held a silent procession through Downtown to raise awareness of the on-going incarceration and torture of prisoners.

Sen. Barack Obama joined a disparate panel of business, labor and education officials here today in a wide-ranging conversation on the roles of energy innovation, education and infrastructure improvements as foundations of prosperity. "If we remain dependent on oil from dictators, we'll endanger our security, imperil our planet, pay more at the pump, and sit on the sidelines while the jobs of the future are created abroad," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said as he opened the event before an invited audience in the Carnegie Mellon University gymnasium. "If we can't give every child in America the chance to get...

Sen. Barack Obama began a panel discussion at Carnegie Mellon University this morning with a bunch of really smart panelists from MIT, General Motors, AOL and the SEIU. Today marks Obama's first visit to the Steel City since April 21, the eve of the Pennsylvania primary; Obama won the city of Pittsburgh proper in the spring primary, but not the state.

Obama ends swing state tour in the 'Burgh Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama will conclude his three week swing-state-road trip in Pittsburgh Thursday by holding an "America's competitiveness in the global economy" summit at Carnegie Mellon University. An "A" list of attendees will participate in the summit, some of these brainiacs include: Richard Wagoner, chairman of General Motors, AOL founder Steve case, MIT president Susan Hockfield and Andy Stern president of SEIU, whose union committed to dropping over $85 million to be parsed out in states like Pennsylvania for the November election. While...

Hey, swing state Florida, I will not offshore drill The Sen. Barack Obama press machine issued this statement that Obama will deliver at his media avail this afternoon, in which he pledges (where have we heard that word before?) to keep the federal moratorium against offshore drilling in place: "When I am president, I will keep the moratorium in place and prevent oil companies from drilling off Florida's coasts," the statement reads. "That's how we can protect our coasts and still make the investments that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices for good."

Bill and Jill Bill Burton, communications director extraordinaire for the Obama campaign reached out and touched someone today on the McCain campaign: his counterpart, Jill Hazelbaker. Here is the content of the email he sent out to reporters before the McCain conference call: “Jill – hope you’re well. We’d like to add our campaign counsel, Bob Bauer to your conference call with Trevor Potter so that we can arbitrate some of the disagreements that the two of them have over the meeting they recently had. If you can please shoot me the dial-in, Bob is available to join for the...

Congressman Altmire hearts McCain PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Rep. Jason Altmire, whose congressional district went overwhelmingly for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the six-week primary that was Pennsylvania, kind of likes Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain’s proposal to invest in nuclear energy and clean coal. Here is the statement that he released today on McCain’s proposal to construct 45 nuclear reactors by 2030 and spend $2 billion a year in federal funding on clean coal. “I have always been a strong supporter of nuclear energy and clean coal technology, and I welcome Senator McCain’s announcement today that he is...

PITTSBURGH - A stiff drink comes with a stiff tax in Pittsburgh and surrounding towns these days, and that has made the county executive public enemy No. 1 in some quarters, reviled by name in song and on bar bills. Even comedians have gotten into the act, complaining that rising drink tabs meant fewer people coming to see them perform and pouring wine and liquor into a river in a mock restaging of the Boston Tea Party. The 10 percent drink tax, in effect since January, was pushed along by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato to subsidize public transit. The...

iGate isn't only 'villain' hiring foreign high-tech workers By Mark Houser TRIBUNE-REVIEW A local high-tech company has put a Pittsburgh face on a national debate about hiring foreign workers. Computer consulting firm iGate Corp. of Findlay paid the Justice Department $45,000 in April to settle charges it discriminated against U.S. workers by posting online job ads seeking foreigners with special visas. The fine for favoring holders of H-1B visas, which go primarily to computer and engineering specialists, is the highest yet, said Justice Department spokeswoman Jamie Hais. Critics say cases such as iGate's are not the only problem with the...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Dwight White, part of the Steel Curtain defense that led the team to four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s, has died following surgery at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was 58.The team announced White's death Friday.Team president Art Rooney II is calling White "an important member of the Steelers family."Chairman Dan Rooney praised White's "relentlessness" on the field and his caring nature off it. Rooney notes White scored the team's first ever Super Bowl points in Super Bowl IX with a safety against Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton.

Edwards: number 2, not so much PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito The AP is reporting that John Edwards said while traveling in Spain that a run for vice president for him won't be happening: "I already had the privilege of running for vice president in 2004, and I won't do it again," Edwards was quoted by Spanish newspaper El Mundo, as saying. Other leading daily newspapers carried similar comments. Edwards, a former presidential candidate himself in both 2004 and 2008, ran for vice president under Sen. John Kerry four years ago. Edwards threw his support behind Sen. Barack Obama late...

Hillary to suspend campaign in DC Saturday By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, June 5, 2008 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will announce the suspension of her campaign and her endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee, Saturday, in Washington D.C according to a statement issued Wednesday evening. The statement did not officially confirm her decision but said Clinton would be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. According to the statement, the event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters...

Obama: Actually, I can quit you Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito WASHINGTON -- After the second Academy Award-winning performance by a pastor at his family's church, Trinity United in Chicago, Sen. Barack Obama quit his parish. Robert Gibbs, Obama's campaign communications director said Obama had resigned from the church "over the last few days."

What about Al? There is a rumor among those close to the Obama camp that this weekend will bring a big endorsement for the Illinois Senator. We can scratch John Edwards off that list, he is yesterday's news. Probably the only thing 'bigger' than Edwards would be former Vice-President Al Gore -- who will be in Pittsburgh this Sunday (May 18) to give the commencement speech at Carnegie Mellon University. Gore, after his unsuccessful run for president in 2000, took an environmental path, rather than political, and has become a cult-like figure among the left and environmentally correct.

Dems score a hat trick with specials TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Democrats scored a hat trick with their third special-election win in GOP-held House seats by winning tonight in Mississippi’s 1st District. This win follows Democratic victories in special elections in Illinois' 14th District in March and in Louisiana's 6th District 10 days ago.

PITTSBURGH -- The mayor of Braddock, John Fetterman, is on a mission to end violence in his town. Fetterman has a unique way to remember every victim who’s died; the dates of their death are tattooed on his arms. “On my right arm is a much more somber set. It's the souls we've lost in our community since I've been mayor through violent means," explained Fetterman. “There are certainly saints and sinners on that list and we need to keep it as short as it already is," he said. Fetterman is from York, Pa., and has lived all over. But...

A Knoxville man shot and killed a Pittsburgh police dog Tuesday before the canine's handler returned fire, killing the man in what city police Chief Nate Harper called "an unfortunate" but justifiable action. The shooting outraged and angered the family of the 19-year-old man, Justin Jackson. He was pronounced dead by a passing paramedic almost immediately after the shooting that occurred at 6:53 p.m. in front of the UPMC facility on Arlington Avenue on the border of Knoxville and Mt. Oliver. Harper said the dog's handler ordered the canine -- a 6-year-old German shepherd named Aulf -- to attack after...

Montgomery County results explain Clinton's win TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito By all accounts, Pennsylvania's Montgomery County should have been Sen. Barack Obama's low-hanging fruit. From Norristown with its abundant black vote to the Main Line with its affluent well-off latte liberals, "Montco" was tailor-made for the Illinois senator. "I was shocked," said Karen Matthews, wife of GOP Montgomery County chairman Jim Matthews. Karen, who made her own news by switching to Democrat so she could vote for Obama, fully expected a big Obama win. "My only explanation is that people say one thing, and then do another," she said. Karen...

Clinton 'shocked' to get Trib's endorsement TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Hillary Clinton began a phone interview with me Sunday by saying she was in a "state of shock" over the Trib's endorsement of her in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary. "If somebody would have asked me a month ago whether it was more likely that that would happen or hell would freeze over," Clinton said she would have gone with the latter.

Vice President, Environmental Leader to Address Carnegie Mellon Grads Former U.S. Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will address Carnegie Mellon's 2008 graduates at the university's 111th commencement ceremony this May. "We are very pleased that Al Gore, the nation's leading advocate for the environment, will speak to our graduates at commencement," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon. "He is an inspiring and committed leader, whose beliefs fit well with our university, an institution committed to sustainable, green practices. His impassioned campaigns have led him to some of the world's greatest honors. And we are...

There's no debate: Pens trump politics tribune-review by salena zito Politics stops at the water's edge -- even if that water's frozen, apparently. About 57,000 more households in the Pittsburgh region tuned in to watch the Penguins beat up on the Ottawa Senators than tuned in to see two senators (Obama and Clinton) beat up on each other in the Democratic presidential debate, according to Nielsen Media Research. The hockey game played in 175,000 – or 23 percent – of all households in the Pittsburgh metro market, while the blame game played in 118,000 households – or 14 percent of...

Bitter: the gift that keeps on giving TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito John Brabender, a D.C.-based media strategist, put up the first "bitter" ad to be used in a congressional race -- for a Republican. "Barack Obama's statement about the small towns of Pennsylvania and the entire middle America for this cycle is the gift that you can use all year long," Brabender said. He said that you could say it is the gift that keeps on giving. Brabender's client Matt Shaner is in a tight Republican primary race to succeed retiring John Peterson in the biggest piece of congressional geography...

Obama considers Cheney 'wise' TRIBUNE-REVIEW By-Salena Zito When asked how he would work with the former presidents if he were elected, Sen. Barack Obama said that he would be more apt to seek the council of President George H W. Bush than his son, President George W. Bush. Obama said he considers the elder Bush's foreign policy "wise." Interesting. Wasn’t it Dick Cheney who served as the secretary of defense from March 1989 to January 1993 under President George H.W. Bush? And didn’t Cheney direct the United States' invasion of Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East?

McCain says he is the candidate of hope TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Full text of interview with Sen. John McCain and reporter Salena Zito: You have been around a lot of small towns in Pennsylvania and the country, Sen. Barack Obama's remarks seem to have had an effect in Western Pennsylvania. What are your thoughts about the regular folk that Sen. Obama referred to in his remarks? I cannot understand why Sen. Obama would have ever believed that the small towns in Pennsylvania and across America are anything but patriotic, dedicated, hard working people whose fundamental values have nothing to...

The stuff Pennsylvanians are made of TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Obama's statements have also put Pennsylvanians under the microscope of the country. No state's diverse population can be placed into one category, but a good insight as to what is important to most Pennsylvanians was found in our own newspaper today. ...If you want an insight into the stuff Pennsylvanians are made of, read ‘Fishmas Eve.'

Burden of proof -- Clinton counts on delegate math By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 13, 2008 Every other story written by journalists across the country gives a spreadsheet of reasons why Hillary Clinton should step out of the Democrats' campaign. Yet in the public's eye, there she stands as though she has not a care in the world. One reason may be that the party's super-delegates who remain uncommitted have an unspoken burden of proof to determine whether this race goes on or not. So far, they have not exercised their superpowers.

God, guns and Obama TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito On Friday it was reveled that Sen. Barack Obama told wealthy San Franciscans last Sunday that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners "cling to guns or religion" because they are "bitter" about their economic status. By today in Muncie, Ind., Obama acknowledged that he "didn't say it as well as I should have."

Hillary Clinton has added three superdelegates... One... is Sophie Masloff, the former mayor of Pittsburgh. The other two, are Rep. Jackie Speier of California...Bill Burga of Ohio, an AFL-CIO poobah.

Clinton scores a Hat Trick TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY: Salena Zito When it rains it pours, and Thursday it rained superdelegates for Hillary Clinton. Clinton scored a Hat Trick Thursday by picking up former Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff, former president of the Ohio chapter of the AFL-CIO Bill Burga and Jackie Speier, who took over the late Tom Santo's seat in Congress this week.

Man says Clinton supporters less educated TRIBUNE REVIEW By Salena Zito Nearly 800 students and supporters of Hillary Clinton packed the Hopewell Area High School auditorium yesterday to hear the former first lady's proposals to strengthen the U.S. military. With the exception of one man, all seemed to be enthusiastic supporters. Chuck Grawley, 51, an instructor at two local colleges, held his 8-month-old daughter Emily while waiting for the event to begin. Grawley was not there to see Clinton. He was there to see the crowd. "Statistically and empirically, the people in this room are less educated and less informed...

Steely McBeam's reputation is now a bit tarnished. One of the men hired by the Steelers to play the mascot has been fired. Kenneth Hahey, 24, of Mt. Washington was charged with drunken driving after he was stopped in the South Side in January, according to Pittsburgh municipal court records. His blood alcohol level was .166, according to a police affidavit. Steelers spokesman David Lockett said Hahey has been "released from his duties."

Obama advance: 'Get me more white people' POLITICO Ben Smith From the account in Carnegie Mellon's paper, the Tartan, of a Michelle Obama event in Pittsburgh: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.” “I didn’t know they...

Uncommitted Altmire keeps focus on fall By David M. Brown and Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, April 8, 2008 U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire is walking a political tightrope. The freshman Democrat, who faces a potentially bruising rematch this fall with Republican Melissa Hart, has so far resisted the courtships of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Altmire is one of Pennsylvania's few remaining uncommitted superdelegates, whose votes could sway the outcome of the Democratic presidential nomination and, perhaps, the presidency. All but six of the state's 27 superdelegates have taken sides. "He is in a sort of difficult situation," said Joseph...

High-profile Democrats stump in state By Mike Wereschagin and Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW To hear Sen. Dick Durbin tell it, Nebraska -- a state that gave nearly 66 percent of its vote to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2004 -- will become a swing state in November if Illinois Sen. Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

An error of judgment: Penn is out TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY: Salena Zito Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and pollster Mark Penn has made like Elvis and left the building, a little more than two weeks before the Pennsylvania April 22nd primary.

Rendell-Casey, Round 2 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 6, 2008 To win Pennsylvania, Barack Obama must pull off a "Missouri" -- that is, do what he did in the Show Me State: win a handful of heavily populated, liberal-centric counties and call it a day. Ironically, that is what Ed Rendell (a Hillary Clinton supporter) did to Bob Casey (an Obama supporter) in Pennsylvania's 2002 Democrat gubernatorial primary.