Politics News

HELENA, Mont. - Only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried Montana since 1948. Barack Obama is betting he can do it in November.

FARGO, N.D. - Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.

MEXICO CITY - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday that a shake-up in the leadership of his campaign was part of a "natural evolution" as the organization becomes more national in scope.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will spend some time this July 4th at the home of the man who virtually wrote the Declaration of Independence. Bush plans to visit Thomas Jefferson's hilltop home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va. He'll taking part in Monticello's annual naturalization ceremony, addressing 76 new American citizens.

WASHINGTON - The White House said Thursday that dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay could end up walking Main Street U.S.A. as a result of last month's Supreme Court ruling about detainees' legal rights. Federal appeals courts, however, have indicated they have no intention of letting that happen.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said Thursday. The announcement quashed any talk of a presidential boycott over China's violent crackdown after anti-government riots and protests in Tibet.

ATLANTA - Barack Obama's presidential campaign distanced itself Thursday from a mailer by Georgia Democratic Senate hopeful Vernon Jones that shows them together under Obama's signature slogan: "Yes we can."

WASHINGTON - An influential Republican senator suggested Thursday that Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit to save gasoline and possibly ease fuel prices.

WASHINGTON - With an election-year corruption investigation looming, Rep. Don Young has tapped his campaign war chest to pay not only his own million-dollar legal tab but also to hire lawyers for his campaign manager, who is also under FBI scrutiny.

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Osama bin Laden's former driver asked a civilian judge Thursday to delay his military trial.

WASHINGTON - The 32nd president stares resolutely from his wheelchair, cast in the kind of immortal bronze reserved for the leaders we remember as distant paragons of national virtue. Yet something seems ... amiss.

WASHINGTON - The government said Wednesday it is calling off a recently announced moratorium on applications to build solar plants on public lands.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union and Russia have started talks on a new cooperation deal on political and economic ties the EU hopes will redefine the way it imports much of its oil and gas from its key supplier.

SEOUL, South Korea - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon told his fellow South Koreans on Friday to trust and support the country's leaders following weeks of protests against U.S. beef imports that have rocked the government.

TOKYO (Reuters) - G8 leaders aim to present a united front against global inflation, driven by soaring oil and food prices, at a summit in Japan next week, but solving the problem requires more than just a strong message from rich nations.

WASHINGTON - The White House said Thursday that dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay could end up walking Main Street U.S.A. as a result of last month's Supreme Court ruling about detainees' legal rights. Federal appeals courts, however, have indicated they have no intention of letting that happen.

INDIANAPOLIS - Republican John McCain said Tuesday that his Democratic rival's Supreme Court nominees would produce more decisions like the child rapist ruling that both presidential candidates have criticized.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The next president of the United States may be able to appoint several Supreme Court justices -- the powerful judges whose rulings affect the daily lives of Americans -- yet the issue is underplayed on the presidential campaign trail.

FARGO, N.D. - Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Lapan confirmed Thursday.

The question bounced around the Internet and tumbled from the lips of Washington insiders: Why would Barack Obama choose Caroline Kennedy, a reluctant public figure with little affection for modern politics, to vet the next Democratic vice presidential candidate?