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DUBUQUE, Iowa - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton says she's "driven by my passions" to get things done and suggests her image as a calculating politician comes from her pragmatic focus on results. "It's a passion that I carry with me every single day," Clinton said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. "I also know that I live in the real world and I have to figure out how we're going to get these changes done." The price she pays for pragmatism is to sometimes be viewed as calculating, the New York senator said. "I see it as harnessing...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that a healthcare overhaul would not be derailed by "Mickey Mouse"-type concerns about covering illegal immigrants. He also compared California's Republican Party to an obese person in denial, and predicted that Rudolph W. Giuliani would be his party's nominee for president. The comments came in an eclectic discussion with The Times' editorial board in which the governor championed his $9-billion plan to expand water storage efforts and promoted his proposal to require everyone in the state to have health insurance. --snip-- Earlier in the day, the governor -- embodying the "post-partisan" approach he has been...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea convinced GOP leaders to swiftly signal to the Idaho Republican that he should resign, the party's Senate campaign chairman said Sunday. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the plea to disorderly conduct in an airport men's room separated Craig's case from Sen. David Vitter's involvement with an escort service. Republicans have not sought Vitter's resignation. The Louisiana Republican has acknowledged his Washington telephone number was found among those called several years ago by the escort service. Prosecutors say the service was a prostitution ring and have accused the woman who headed it of racketeering....

KEENE, N.H. - Presidential hopeful John Edwards said Monday that Americans should speak out against the war in Iraq this Memorial Day weekend, renewing an anti-war call that has been criticized by the leader of the American Legion. Edwards also said all young people should serve their country, "not just poor kids who get sent to war." The former U.S. senator from North Carolina and 2004 vice presidential nominee said the most patriotic position now is to end the war, and the best way to honor veterans this Memorial Day weekend is to bring the troops home from Iraq. "There's...

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted Wednesday that California's leadership is making environmentalism hip, sexy and mainstream, no longer just a guilt-driven movement for "tree-huggers" and "fanatics." "Environmentalists were no fun. They were like prohibitionists at the fraternity party," the moderate Republican governor told a student audience at Georgetown University, part of an East Coast swing to promote his increasingly enthusiastic embrace of the environment. "Successful movements are built on passion. They aren't built on guilt," he said, predicting that environmentalism was reaching a "tipping point" where it will move into the mainstream. "I don't know when the tipping point...

YUMA, Ariz. - President Bush visited the U.S.-Mexico border Monday to tout a guest worker program for immigrants, pursuing a key domestic policy goal despite chilly relations with Congress. The trip, a bookend to the visit that Bush made to the same southwest desert city last May, comes as tension rises over a new immigration proposal tied to the White House. Bush's team is privately working hard to rally votes for what Bush calls comprehensive reform — a mix of get-tough security with promises of fair treatment for undocumented residents. Upon arriving in Yuma, Bush met Homeland Security Secretary Michael...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Pressed to defend her Iraq war vote, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday there are no "do-overs in life" and Democrats need a presidential nominee who inspires confidence on national security. In her first campaign swing through this early nominating state, the New York senator told party activists that Democrats in 2008 will face "someone on the other side who will be very tough and strong, even bellicose perhaps." That likely was a reference to Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), who has taken a hard line in supporting more U.S. troops to Iraq, as...

FREMONT - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a meeting of Silicon Valley business leaders today that he believes his health care reform plan will make the state's businesses more competitive. Speaking at a gathering at a conference room at Seagate Technology in Fremont, Schwarzenegger said, "Our health care system is broken." His method of fixing it is to force businesses with 10 or more employees to either offer insurance or pay 4 percent of their payroll into a fund for the uninsured. Schwarzenegger said his plan, which he announced last week, would levy new taxes on doctors and hospital to help...

NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. Joe Biden wants you to know he is running for president. Definitely. Unequivocally. Absolutely. "I'm the only guy who will tell you honestly what I'm doing. The others won't tell you, but I will," Biden said, wrapping up a fundraising trip to New York before heading to New Hampshire, his ninth visit in just over a year. He's also campaigned extensively through other early voting states, spending 17 days in Iowa, nine in South Carolina, and four in Nevada. In a potentially crowded Democratic field dominated by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois...

LONDON — On the last day of his first overseas trip, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday told Britain's Labor Party leaders about efforts to turn Los Angeles into "the greenest and cleanest city in America." --snip-- Speaking at the Manchester conference at the invitation of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who visited Los Angeles last month, Villaraigosa pledged to "honor the spirit of Kyoto" and drastically reduce city pollution. --snip-- London Mayor Ken Livingstone lauded Villaraigosa for the city's "breathtaking innovative technologies" that have led to a significant rate of recycling. "What Antonio has done and achieved in Los Angeles, we...

BAGHDAD, May 18, 2006 – More than 80 percent of operations in Iraq currently are being performed either solely by Iraqi security forces or in concert with coalition troops, officials here said today. In 446 operations during the week ending May 12, Iraqi and coalition forces cooperated in 223, new coalition spokesman Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said in his first press briefing. Iraqi army or police forces handled almost a third -- or 139 operations -- on their own. Coalition forces performed 84 operations -- 19 percent -- alone during the week. Even Iraqi forces operating alone still need...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, May 12, 2006 – As the Iraqi army takes over more and more battle space, there will be less need for American combat power in the country, U.S. officials said. Iraq's second armored brigade will assume battle space here soon and the Iraqi 9th Division, the country's only tank division, will assume the battle space in this area north of Baghdad in June. American military transition teams are working with the Iraqis to build and sustain the division. Army Col. John Hort is the senior Military Transition Team chief for the Iraqi division. He leads a group...

CEO COP: Ex-Internet honcho Steven Kirsch is pulling out the stops to bust up global money-laundering operations. Photo: AP Steven Kirsch, who founded search engine Infoseek and sold it to Disney in 1998 for about $200 million, has transformed his annoyance with receiving a penny-stock touting fax into a pivotal role in last week's indictment of an international tax-fraud ring......the US Attorney's office in the Western District of North Carolina indicted four people for running the ring, including Samuel Currin, a former federal prosecutor and state judge in North Carolina. The ring, masterminded by husband-and-wife team, Howell and Vernice...

"Best Mascara Ever!" You've probably heard it before, but here goes again: the best mascara in the world is Maybelline Great Lash. I don't know what they put in it, or why no one else can seem to come close to matching the quality of this product, but it really, really works. I feel awful posting this, because I just signed a contract to be a spokesperson for Cover Girl's new anti-clumping mascara. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's GREAT!!! How about you, sucias? Do you have a favorite mascara? As for why it matters to me?...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – The provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan have been pivotal in the resurgence of society there, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe said here Oct. 20. Jones, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command, spoke about the PRTs and the key role they are playing. NATO will take over the security mission in Afghanistan sometime in the future. "If I could take off these stars and do anything in life, I think I'd want to be a PRT commander," Jones said. The United States created the first PRT in Gardez in 2002. The team,...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - As a giant faucet spewed red-colored water in the background, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touted his plan Wednesday to eliminate the state's red ink and said he wasn't worried about a poll showing his popularity dropping. "Don't be so negative," he told a reporter who asked about a new Field Poll that found 54 percent of Californians approve of his job performance, down from a near-record high of 65 percent in September. "I am very happy with my numbers. As you can see, I am smiling." Schwarzenegger staged the campaign-style event at the state fairgrounds to promote his...

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a stop in San Diego today to push his plans to reform California's $171 billion pension system. Flanked by two armored cars along San Diego Bay, Schwarzenegger said California's retirement plan is "bleeding our state dry." The governor proposed revamping the California Public Employees Retirement System in his State of the State address last month. He wants to change from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan for new employees – a switch that must be approved by the state Legislature. Under that plan, state workers would contribute to an investment account...

Kerry touts his economic plan in North Carolina GROMER JEFFERS JR. Knight Ridder Tribune News Service Posted on Sat, Aug. 21, 2004 CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Peter Offnick, a former Vietnam veteran who says his job was outsourced to Mexico, is the kind of voter John Kerry hopes to attract. "I was quite disappointed," said the 60-year-old factory worker from Charlotte, who lost his job after 30 years. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do." Offnick was one of several laid-off workers who met with Kerry on Friday in Charlotte. The Massachusetts senator has made employment, heath care and...

TAMPA, Fla. - President Bush, brushing aside concerns about the unprecedented budget deficit, renewed his demand that Congress extend his tax cuts, and charged Monday that Democrats would hike taxes. Sen. John Kerry, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, said he agreed with Bush on keeping in place two tax cuts mentioned by Bush. But Kerry said Bush's overall economic policies had failed to create jobs. "President Bush's failed economic policies have resulted in the loss of 3 million jobs and the biggest surpluses in history turned into the biggest deficits," Kerry said.

AUBURN, N.H. - Democrat Wesley Clark (news - web sites) touted his executive experience as a military commander Saturday, saying it makes him better suited than Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) to be president. "My experience is the experience of leadership, of setting goals and organizing teams, of bringing people together, motivating and inspiring and making tough decisions," Clark said. At one of the retired general's trademark pancake breakfasts, a woman asked Clark what she should tell friends who are trying to decide between him and the Massachusetts senator, now leading the polls in New Hampshire. Clark called...