News

Barack Obama was scheduled to give a landmark speech at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday outlining his plan for a 16-month phased redeployment of troops out of Iraq and refocusing the war on terror on the unstable border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Well, that was plan anyway, until he got bumped by President Bush.

The Obama campaign announced the speech Monday afternoon, heralding it as "a major speech on the war in Iraq and America

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, in the latest Quinnipiac poll.

Obama wins among women voters, 55 percent to 36 percent, and among black voters by a whopping 94 percent to 1 percent. Independent voters are evenly split between the two candidates, with both receiving 44 percent.

"Obama's national lead is solid -- but it's not monolithic," said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Interestingly, Obama wins among voters who cite the Iraq war as their top concern, 65 percent to 27 percent, but voters support McCain's plan to keep U.S. troops there without a fixed timetable, 51 percent to 43 percent.

Barack Obama will announce today that he is co-sponsoring legislation with Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that would triple non-military U.S. aid to Pakistan.

Obama will highlight his support for the bill, which will be unveiled this morning, in a speech today on national security.

"We must expect more of the Pakistani government, but we must offer more than a blank check to a General who has lost the confidence of his people," Obama states in excerpts pre-released by the campaign. "It Read more...

John McCain campaign announced Tuesday that Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) will serve as its Missouri chair.

The announcement follows a report that Barack Obama's campaign far exceeds the McCain campaign in the number of field offices opened in key swing states such as Missouri and Iowa.

The RealClearPolitics average shows McCain leading Obama by 2.5 percent in the state.

- Jordan Fabian

Merriam-Webster added "netroots" to its collegiate dictionary this year.

Here's the definition: "The grassroots political activists who communicate via the Internet especially by blogs."

Other new entries, announced last week, include "fanboy" ("an enthusiastic devotee"), "malware" ("software designed to interfere"), and "webinar" ("a live online educational presentation").

Cindy McCain says she first learned to fly because a "small private plane" is the only way to get around in Arizona.

"My husband was running for the Senate in Arizona and in Arizona the only way to get around the state is by small private plane," McCain said during an interview on CNN Monday.

"I was scared to death to fly. So I decided I would take ground school and learn a little bit about it so that I could then maybe then not be so frightened, and I wound up loving."

McCain said she then decided to buy a plane because "it was just something that caught my interest and my passion. "

"I didn

Senate leaders skirmished late Monday over an AIDS funding bill, dismissing a stalling tactic by South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint that had briefly paralyzed the chamber.

The impasse, which shut down the chamber for several hours, arose when DeMint tried to push an amendment trimming the program from $50 billion to $35 billion and threatened an agreement made last Friday between the GOP and Democratic leaders to allow votes on 10 GOP amendments.

Although DeMint's amendment was among the 10 that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had agreed to, DeMint attempted a "second-degree amendment" that would have cut off U.S. funds to countries that force women to have abortions.

Reid called DeMint's move "a sucker punch" because it violated Friday's agreement but worked out a second agreement Monday with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would break the impasse without giving in to DeMint's tactic.

"Unless there's something that I don't understand that comes up, we're going to have all those 10 amendments debated and voted upon," Reid said.

McConnell returned the favor by saying the agreement was "a good way to go forward."

"This consent agreement was rather painfully achieved last week," he said.

Shortly thereafter, DeMint took the floor to say he initially voted for the AIDS program in 2003 and acknowledged it was "a worthy cause."

"But we cannot afford every worthy cause around the world," he said. "This is not generosity. I'm afraid it's thievery."

Reid said he planned to table DeMint's amendment Tuesday morning, which would end up killing it. The squabbling was over the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, a five-year program aimed at providing anti-retroviral medication to those infected with the disease, largely in Third World countries. The program is a top priority of President Bush.

- J. Taylor Rushing and Manu Raju

Barack Obama has taken a ten-point lead over John McCain in Iowa, according to Rasmussen's July poll for the state, indicating his largest advantage in a single major poll there since February.

The poll comes on the same day as news that Obama is out-organizing McCain in the state, with 15 campaign offices running, while McCain's camp is still working to open six.

The last major poll for the state, conducted by SurveyUSA in June, showed Obama leading McCain by four percentage points. Rasmussen reported Obama leading by seven percentage points that same month.

Obama has consistently led McCain in Iowa throughout the campaign, though his lead has varied drastically by different reports. Several firms reported his head-to-head lead in the double digits between December and February, and Obama last held a double-digit lead in a major Iowa poll in February, when the Des Moines Register reported him up 17 percentage points. Since then, different polls have reported Obama's lead between two and nine percentage points.

Barack Obama will lay out his priorities for U.S. national security tomorrow in a speech in Washington, DC.

Obama will outline strategies for withdrawing from Iraq, "finishing the fight" in Afghanistan, and "pursuing our broader strategic objectives in the world," the campaign announced today.

The Illinois senator has recently taken heat from critics who have alleged a flip-flop on Iraq, after Obama said he may withdraw troops at a slower pace, depending on safety concerns for U.S. soldiers, than the 16-month timeline he has forwarded throughout the campaign. The Obama campaign denied the flip-flop, arguing the senator had always said he would listen to U.S. military commanders in implementing his withdrawal policy.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said Monday that he has "no interest" in being Barack Obama's vice presidential pick.

"There are people that are spending a lot of time, one, looking for candidates, and...trying to promote themselves as candidates," Reed told the AP. "And I'm in neither category."

Reed said the Obama campaign has not contacted him to be vetted.

Reed, along with fellow frequent veep mention Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), will accompany Obama on a coming trip to Iraq and Afghanistan.

- Michael O'Brien