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Barack Obama’s favorability ratings among white women have significantly depreciated in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, posing an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party’s base. According to a new report by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, half of white women now have a negative perception of Obama. Forty-nine percent of white women view Obama unfavorably, while only 43 percent hold a favorable opinion. In February, 36 percent of these women viewed Obama unfavorably while 56 percent had a positive perception of the likely Democratic...

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama admitted he was wrong to say his uncle helped liberate the Nazis' Auschwitz concentration camp after Republicans said Soviet troops freed the camp. Senator Obama's campaign said the candidate meant to say that his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, had helped liberate a part of the Buchenwald camp, not Auschwitz. "Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton. Mr Burton said in the statement that Obama's great uncle served in the 89th Infantry Division that entered Germany in...

DID someone say road trip? Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain has offered to take his likely Democractic counterpart Barack Obama to Iraq to "educate him" on the real situation there. Senator McCain has said Senator Obama has not been to Iraq in more than two years, since before the so-called troops surge announced by President George W. Bush at the start of 2007. He has said the country has been transformed since then and Senator Obama cannot have a credible policy on Iraq unless he returns there to see the improvements in security. "Look at what happened in the last...

The last couple of months have been springtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible seasons. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endless battle to destroy each other -- a process that does not appear to enhance the chance that the eventual nominee will win in November. A recent Gallup poll shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it's easy...

DEMOCRATIC White House hopeful Barack Obama said today he could declare victory over Hillary Clinton on May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon may put him over the top in terms of elected delegates. "If at that point we have the majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we have got the most runs and it's the ninth inning and we have won," he told NBC television, referring to the final inning of a baseball game. "But, you know, I think it is also important for us to, if we...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama's march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates Wednesday, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton - even as their primary marathon staggered on. She added two superdelegates herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish. There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory. Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates - the party elders and other "superdelegates" - have yet to be claimed, and...

BARACK Obama has conceded defeat to Hillary Clinton in today's Democratic White House primary in Indiana but, on the back of a win in North Carolina, offered himself up as the only candidate who could truly unite American voters. "I want to start by congratulating Senator Clinton on what appears to be her victory in the great state of Indiana," Senator Obama told a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina - even amid uncertainty over who had actually won. CBS News called Indiana for Senator Clinton, but others were more hesitant and, several hours after polls closed, NBC News and Fox...

WHITE House hopeful Hillary Clinton has claimed victory in the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, saying it is "full speed on to the White House". With 85 per cent of the precincts reporting, US networks said Senator Clinton was leading rival Barack Obama by 52 per cent to 48 per cent, but had not yet called the race in the midwestern state. Senator Clinton said Senator Obama had recently predicted that Indiana would be the tiebreaker in their battle for the Democratic Party's nomination. "Well, tonight we've come from behind. We've broken the tie, and thanks to you, it's full...

IGNORING the crowds who flocked to a giant picnic with Barack Obama in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the White House hopeful's six-year-old daughter took the stand to urge them to "vote for daddy". Senator Obama has been campaigning hard across Indiana this weekend, ahead of a crunch Democratic primary in the state tomorrow, and has been flanked by his wife Michelle and their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6. It is the first time the girls have accompanied their father as he campaigns for his party's presidential nod since the contest in Iowa back in January.

HILLARY Clinton, buoyed by her win in the Pennsylvania primary, has piled pressure on top Democratic Party officials who hold the key to her gripping White House feud with Barack Obama. The "superdelegates" who can vote how they like at the party's August convention came under a glaring spotlight after Senator Clinton defied Senator Obama's latest bid to bundle her out of the contest with a 10-point triumph in yesterday's vote. Though Senator Clinton trails Senator Obama by every metric in the race, the result gave the former first lady more time to raise doubts among party members that her...

DEMOCRATIC hopeful Barack Obama said that as president he would do his utmost to help Israel defend itself from any regional threat, as he criticized ex-president Jimmy Carter for seeking to meet with Hamas. "As president, I will do everything that I can to help (Israel) protect itself ... We will make sure that it can defend itself from any attack, whether it comes from as close as Gaza or as far as Tehran," Senator Obama told a synagogue in Philadelphia, according to his campaign aides. He said US-Israeli cooperation, although successful, "can be deepened and strengthened". Senator Obama, who...

US PRESIDENTIAL contender Barack Obama has wiped out his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's yawning lead in Indiana and trails by just five points in Pennsylvania, according to a new poll. Ahead of the crunch Pennsylvania primary next Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll suggested that Senator Obama has not suffered overly from his description of working-class voters as "bitter". The poll gave the former first lady a lead over Senator Obama of 46 per cent to 41 in Pennsylvania, down from double-digit margins in earlier polls, and also had her losing in both Indiana and North Carolina, which both vote...

Here's a clip taken by somebody at the San Francisco event; it's the passage just before the lines everyone is now focused on, in which he talks about the skepticism he encounters: Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered...

WASHINGTON — Buoyed by recent polls favoring John McCain to win the White House, Republicans are sharpening their knives while wondering which Democrat would be easier to beat in November. For months, Republican strategists have delighted over the prospect of facing off with Hillary Clinton, believing that she would be easier to beat than her Democratic rival, Barack Obama. But things have changed since the Obama campaign was engulfed in controversy over embarrassing statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, whose fiery sermons have been called anti-American. The former first lady and New York senator is one of the most...

Breaking her silence on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s long-time pastor, Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she would have left the congregation if her pastor behaved like Obama’s. “He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton told reporters at a press conference in Greensburg, Pa. “You know, we don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend,” she said. “Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters … I think the choice would be clear for me.”...

ANGELINA Jolie and Brad Pitt could be split on which Democrat to vote for in the US Presidential race - with researchers finding they are each distant relatives of a candidate. Barack Obama is apparently Pitt's distant cousin, while Hillary Clinton is related to Jolie, Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Meanwhile Republican John McCain is said to be a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush. Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society made the connections, the Associated Press reports today. Senator Obama can also call six US presidents, including George W Bush, his cousins, according to the...

This report, from January 2007, is worth reading as we learn more and more of what Jeremiah Wright is all about. It fawns over the principals (Wright, for example, is described as "a straight-talking pragmatist"), but it's illuminating about the regard Obama has for Wright and his views. Did you know, for example, that the Reverand is the inspiration for Obama's memoir The Audacity of Hope — the title is evidently taken from a Wright sermon called "Audacity to Hope." (I didn't until I heard Rush mention it a few minutes ago.) Some excerpts: Wright, 65, is a straight-talking pragmatist...

Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who is stepping down from Hillary Clinton’s finance team after telling a California newspaper that Barack Obama has been aided politically by his race, said Wednesday evening that the remarks were nothing more than a “statement of fact.” Ferraro told FOX News she’s leaving her unpaid post on the Clinton finance committee because she doesn’t want the flap to become a campaign distraction, but blamed the fallout on Obama’s operatives. “Somebody must have seen this (article) and said, ‘Wow, this is really something — we go after Ferraro, we go after Clinton,” Ferraro said...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for saying that Barack Obama "would not be in this position" if he were white instead of black. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said she regretted Ferraro's remarks. The Obama campaign has called on the New York senator to denounce the comments and remove Ferraro from her unpaid position with the campaign. Last week, Ferraro told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be...

Watchdog groups are questioning why it took Sen. Barack Obama more than a year to disclose additional details of his dealings with indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. While Rezko was known to be under federal investigation, Obama toured a Chicago-area home with him to get his opinion of the property, Obama's campaign revealed to Bloomberg News for a story published Monday. The politician later bought the home, with Rezko's help, who bought the adjoining lot in what was effectively a package deal. Until then, Obama has professed trouble recalling such details during interviews with reporters. Responding to questions about Rezko...