fresno elections 2008

The request befuddled Leah Daughtry. The experienced political hand in charge of planning next month's Democratic National Convention - a self-described "black chick from Brooklyn" and ordained Pentecostal minister who keeps a Bible in her purse - didn't know what to tell the atheists.

Just as Republican John McCain was unloading on his Democratic presidential rival Friday, he was offering warm, effusive words for once bitter foe Mitt Romney. And Romney, the mega-millionaire former Republican governor of Massachusetts, was pledging to help McCain's presidential campaign financially - and in any other way.

Faced with a spending cap for his fall campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is aggressively spending more money than he is raising during summer months and methodically reducing his cash reserves.

IN THE HEADLINES

How old is John McCain? So old, the jokes about it are getting old. So at a taping Friday night of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the host asked the Republican presidential candidate for some new material.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama intends to sit down with European leaders as well as King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a campaign-season trip that aides described Friday as substantive rather than political.

John McCain and Barack Obama vow to reform the nation's defense procurement if elected president, yet each is unwilling to take a firm stand against the skyrocketing cost of a plum White House perk: the new Marine One helicopter.

Phil Gramm, a top adviser to presidential candidate John McCain, is resigning from the role as campaign co-chairman after his comments that the United States had become a "nation of whiners" who constantly complain about the state of the economy.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain pledged Friday to help auto workers rebuild their industry and in the process jump-start the entire U.S. economy.

Republican John McCain launched a new television ad Friday that accuses presidential rival Barack Obama of switching positions on Iraq "to help himself become president" just as the Democratic candidate prepared to make a high profile trip to Baghdad.

John McCain is facing an excitement deficit.

There is a Baghdad that Sen. Barack Obama probably won't see.

Some comments from around Iraq on Sen. Barack Obama's expected visit:

Sen. Barack Obama 's trip to the Middle East and Europe marks his first high-profile step onto the international stage, a campaign-season audition of sorts for a presidential hopeful pledging a new era in diplomacy and an end to the U.S. combat role in Iraq.

An Associated Press-Yahoo News poll found differences in how engaged various groups of voters are in the presidential campaign.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman says the German leader will welcome U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama to her office in Berlin next Thursday.

John McCain's presidential campaign had a hard time Thursday with Barack Obama's upcoming overseas trip.

Though he's raking in the cash so far, Barack Obama's decision to forgo public funds for the fall campaign means he must keep up his torrid pace - a tall order that will tax his time, test his Internet support and require the help of Democratic donors who once wished for his defeat.

IN THE HEADLINES

The Democratic National Committee plans to target Republican John McCain and help Democrat Barack Obama with an independent ad campaign run by veteran Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince, Democrats familiar with the decision said Thursday.