Politics News

JUNEAU, Alaska - In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.

ST. PAUL - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama begins airing an ad Saturday that responds to rival John McCain's selection of a running mate, carefully avoiding any direct criticism of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor whom McCain chose for the GOP ticket.

WASHINGTON - If Democrats hoped to paint Republican John McCain a pawn of Big Oil, their task has become a bit more complicated with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

WASHINGTON - There's no room at the Xcel Energy Center for maverick Ron Paul, so his acolytes have packed their cars, hitched rides on "Ronvoys" and will pitch tents at Ronstock '08 in Minneapolis in defiance of next week's GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.

The campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday released an ad echoing the line from his acceptance speech that John "McCain doesn’t get it.”

WASHINGTON - The Democrats had the awkwardness of the Clintons at their convention. Republicans now have their version of a precarious guest: President Bush.

WASHINGTON - President Bush witnessed cannons firing, guns flinging and heavy marching at a Marines parade Friday night while visiting their barracks.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge overseeing cases against dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees said Wednesday that he fears the public — and the detainees themselves — will be locked out of the courtroom when evidence in the case is scrutinized for the first time.

CRAWFORD, Texas - In an escalating war of words, President Bush on Tuesday urged Russia to reconsider its "irresponsible decision" to shower independent status on two breakaway Georgian provinces.

CLEVELAND - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be among the speakers at a memorial service Saturday for the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of the Cleveland area.

DAYTON, Ohio - Republican John McCain introduced first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate Friday, a stunning selection of a little-known conservative newcomer who relishes fighting the establishment.

DAYTON, Ohio (AFP) - John McCain tossed a huge but risky surprise into the US race for the White House Friday when he unveiled the little-known governor from Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his vice presidential running mate.

CLEVELAND - Hundreds of mourners filed into a church Friday to pay their respects to the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is lukewarm on Palin, speaking to South Carolina radio, via The Page:

WASHINGTON - Two airliners were one minute from colliding when at least one of the planes turned away from the other over the Atlantic Ocean this week, federal authorities said Friday.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday.

WASHINGTON - Six major retailers are pulling from their shelves Simplicity bassinets linked to the deaths of two babies after a company refused to recall the infant beds.

WASHINGTON - It used to be, when Jack Abramoff needed something, he had an address book full of powerful Capitol Hill contacts to call on, people he plied with expensive meals, campaign contributions and golf junkets.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Thursday slapped new sanctions on the leader of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army rebel group as patience wears thin with the slow pace of peace talks with the African nation's government.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the European Union to ignore calls to punish Moscow over the Georgia conflict as Tbilisi appealed Saturday for targeted punishment of the Russian leadership.

UNITED NATIONS - Deploying all 26,000 members of a peacekeeping force in conflict-wracked Darfur will take many more months because of growing insecurity and logistical difficulties, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report circulated Friday.

BERLIN (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday called on the EU to be "truly objective" when the bloc gathers for an emergency summit next week over the conflict in Georgia, German media reported.

PARIS - The European Union is not expected to imposed sanctions on Russia at a summit next week but may name a special envoy to Georgia to ensure that a cease-fire there is observed, officials in Paris and Brussels said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is free to "insist" that the World Trade Organization hear a dispute over high-technology import duties after the European Union blocked its request for WTO arbitration.

CLEVELAND - A man who wrote hundreds of threatening letters over 20 years to black and mixed-race men — including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter — was sentenced Tuesday to three years and 10 months in prison.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Four Britons released from Guantanamo in 2004 after two years' detention, requested the US Supreme Court to rule on the right of prisoners "to worship and ... not to be tortured."

WASHINGTON - Top doctors at the helm of one of the nation's most influential medical journals are giving the Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to decide whether Exxon Mobil Corp. must pay interest on punitive damages awarded in the nation's worst oil spill.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Texas Thursday put to death a Honduran national after the US Supreme Court rejected a final attempt to halt his execution on grounds it violated a bilateral treaty.

WASHINGTON - There's no room at the Xcel Energy Center for maverick Ron Paul, so his acolytes have packed their cars, hitched rides on "Ronvoys" and will pitch tents at Ronstock '08 in Minneapolis in defiance of next week's GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.

JUNEAU, Alaska - In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's decision to pass up conventional candidates and pick little-known, first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket may appeal to undecided voters McCain needs to win. It also may blunt McCain's charges that Democrat Barack Obama isn't experienced enough for the White House.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - He's known as a doting, blue-collar husband who stands on the sidelines as his wife blazes a historic trail in politics.

RALEIGH, N.C. - In a return to the public stage, John Edwards has confirmed plans to talk politics a month after admitting to an extramarital affair. But his wife won't be at his side.