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<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry promised Wednesday he would cut the federal budget deficit before it becomes a "fiscal cancer" that undermines the U.S. economy.</p> <p>Kerry said he would raise taxes on the richest Americans, restrain spending, crack down on tax loopholes for companies that move jobs overseas and eliminate corporate welfare to cut the deficit -- now expected to run about $480 billion this year -- in half in four years.</p>

<p>"When we see a gathering threat we must deal with it before it materializes," Bush said. "We looked at intelligence in Iraq and saw a threat.</p> <p>"I had a decision to make about whether to trust a madman or remember the lessons of Sept. 11 and defend America. Given that choice, I'll defend America every time."</p>

<p>President Bush is expected to discuss job training and the economy during a visit to El Dorado, Ark., today.</p> <p>Bush is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. in the South Arkansas Community College Gym.</p> <p>Mark Smith, an El Dorado businessman and former state representative who is working with the Bush advance team, said the president's visit is the talk of this city of 21,500.</p>

LAKE GUATAVITA, Colombia (Reuters) - Covered in gold dust, the Indian king leapt from the ceremonial raft into the sacred lake as masked shamans sprinkled the waters with gold and emerald offerings to their gods. The ancient ritual of the Golden Man -- "El Dorado" in Spanish -- disappeared long before the arrival of the Spanish in South America, but the legend lured droves of conquistadors and looters to this small lake in the Colombian Andes. A gold-covered man, they reasoned, must be from a city of gold. Although the golden city was never found, the search for El Dorado...

Explorer: Legendary El Dorado Pinpointed By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News normalize font   |   increase font Aug. 9 — The fabled treasure of El Dorado may lie in tunnels and caves at the bottom of a lake in the Peruvian Amazon, according to a Polish-Italian explorer who has returned from a three-week reconnaissance trip in search of the legendary city. Called Paititi by the Incas and El Dorado by the Spaniards, the mythical city is thought to have been the last place of refuge for the Incas when they fled with their treasures ahead of the advancing Spanish...

"El Dorado" discovered in Peruvian Amazon, explorers claim Story Filed: Saturday, July 27, 2002 5:02 PM EST Lima, Jul 27, 2002 (EFE via COMTEX) -- An international team of explorers claims to have found the legendary Inca city of gold that the Spanish knew as "El Dorado," deep in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. The quest began on June 30, when more than two dozen researchers began combing the wild and unexplored jungle region along the basin of the Madre de Dios River. El Dorado, called "Paititi" by the region's Indian population, is known as the last bastion...

 Old West vs. Big Retail as Horses Invade Wal-Mart April 11, 2002 8:55 am EST LITTLE ROCK (Reuters) - The Old West clashed with the world's largest retailer when two horsemen rode their mounts through a Wal-Mart in the southern Arkansas town of El Dorado, police say. The horses left a pile of droppings and a wake of startled shoppers but did no other damage despite getting well into the food section. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, is based in the northern Arkansas town of Bentonville. "We get some weird stuff down here," Lt. Terry Ward of...