News

House Republicans rolled out their healthcare agenda Thursday, drawing contrasts with and taking aim at Democrats.

Though the plan is unlikely to be brought up this Congress, Republicans are touting the plan as the alternative they would pursue in the majority.

"Through this reform agenda and the other reforms Republicans have put forth, we

Germany and its capital Berlin are wrapped up in Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's visit to the city.

His visit gets around-the-clock coverage that includes a "live ticker" on some news outlets

John McCain has improved his standing in the latest Quinnipiac polls of key swing states, perhaps thanks to his support for more domestic offshore oil drilling.

McCain leads Barack Obama in Colorado 46 percent to 44 percent. Last month, Obama had led 49 percent to 44 percent.

Obama is still leading in Michigan and Minnesota, just as he had last month. McCain, however, has closed in.

In Michigan, Obama is up 46 percent to 44 percent. He was ahead 49 percent to 44 percent in June.

In Minnesota, Obama leads 46 percent to 44 percent, after being ahead 54 percent to 37 percent last month.

In Wisconsin, the Democrat leads 50 percent to 39 percent. Last month, Obama was up 52 percent to 39 percent.

Here's the analysis of the latest number by Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute:

"One reason for McCain's progress may be the energy issue. The results show increased support for additional drilling -- which McCain supports and Obama opposes. Roughly one in 10 voters say they have changed their minds and now favor drilling because of the jump in energy prices. They support Obama, but with voters saying that the energy issue is now more important to their presidential vote than is the war in Iraq, this group represents an opportunity for the Republican."

Perhaps reflecting the ascendance of gas prices as an issue, voters in Colorado see the candidates' energy policies as more important than their positions on the war in Iraq, 50 percent to 39 percent.

Barack Obama says he is "disappointed" that rival John McCain claimed he would rather "lose the war" in than lose his presidential campaign, calling the comment "unfortunate."

"John McCain and I disagree on policy. You know, we disagreed on going into the war in Iraq. We disagreed, until recently, about the need to get more troops into Afghanistan," Obama said during an interview on NBC that will air Thursday night.

"But I've never questioned that he wants to make America safer. And for him to suggest that I don't- for him to suggest that somehow I'm less concerned about the safety of my wife and daughter than he is I think was-- was unfortunate," Obama said.

"I was disappointed by that language."

Barack Obama topped John McCain in fundraising on the Arizona senator's own turf in June.

Obama raised $432,000 to McCain's $313,000 in Arizona for that month. Like in other states, Obama's money came in mostly small increments. The average contribution Obama received in the state was $115, according to the Arizona Republic. McCain's average contribution was $241.

Some may take Obama winning the state's June fundraising contest as a sign of momentum, but another possible explanation is that McCain has dried up most of his resources in the state. McCain has raised $4.3 million in the state this cycle, nearly triple any other candidate. Obama has raised a total of $1.2 million there.

Obama's swing in fundraising has not yet corresponded with a swing in the polls. McCain currently holds a 10 percent edge in the RealClearPolitics average, a lead that he has maintained for months.

A new advertisement by VoteVets, the group of veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, criticizes John McCain for opposing a U.S. troop withdrawal timetable that Iraqi leaders have expressed support for.

In the spot, which will air on national cable, veteran Brandon Woods says that while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki backs a pullout schedule, McCain does not.

"Sen. McCain would occupy Iraq indefinitely, against their wishes," Woods says into the camera. "That's not what freedom means."

Here's the script, followed by the video clip.

What did we fight for in Iraq? I have some idea. I fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And "freedom" means when the Iraqi people and their Prime Minister ask us to make a plan to leave, we do. But, Sen. McCain would occupy Iraq indefinitely, against their wishes. That

The national minimum wage went up 70 cents today, kicking in as part of three-step gradual increase mandated by Congress last year.

The minimum wage rose from $5.85 an hour to $6.55, as outlined in the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007, which was signed by a reluctant President Bush on May 25 of that year.

Before that legislation, America's lowest-paid workers earned $5.15 an hour. Their pay rose 70 cents two months after the bill was enacted, and it will leap up again to $7.25 a year from today. In all, the bill raised the minimum wage $2.10, at three 70-cent increases over three years.

The minimum wage increase was the first item congressional Democrats enacted from their much-promoted "100 hours agenda," forwarded when they first took a the majority in Congress in 2006.

A South Florida Barack Obama supporter points out this to The Huffington Post's Sam Stein. The Google generate ad has popped up on some web sites and blogs.

Nearly half of Americans believe the political system of the United States is broken beyond repair, so much so that just shy of one-in-five would support their state if it chose to secede, a new Zogby poll finds.

44 percent of respondents agreed with the notion that the American political system is "broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections." An addition 18 percent said they would support secessionist efforts in their home states and 22 percent of respondents believe in the right of any state to secede from the United States.

Zogby conducted the poll on behalf of the Middlebury Institute, which advertises itself as a think tank "for the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination" based in Cold Spring, New York.

Middlebury Institute Director Kirkpatrick Sale told The Hill that the results of the poll should not come as a surprise.

"A great majority of people think the country is headed in the wrong direction and is not capable of solving the problems we face," he said. "If you are disgusted with this empire, its corruption, and its inefficiency, but you don't want to leave the home that you love, the only way is secession.

While Republicans have complained that the U.S. media is all too friendly to Barack Obama, they're not likely to level that charge against Israeli reporters any time soon.

Obama fielded a tough question from an Israeli reporter at a news conference in Sderot, Israel today, defending his commitment to the Jewish state and his seemingly contradictory statements on Jerusalem as its undivided capital.

The reporter asked how Obama's pledges to support Israel could be credible, given that Obama had backpedaled from a statement about Jerusalem last month. Read more...