Ask AP: Candidates' salaries, Alaska's pricey gas
Jul 25, 2008 Associated Press Online
...senator has ever given back any of his, or her, Senate salary -- currently $169,300 a year -- while running for president, according to Senate historian Donal Ritchie. He said senators still run their offices and carry out many of their duties to constituents even when they are off on the presidential campaign trail. The 1996 Republican nominee took a different approach. Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., resigned as majority leader and gave up his Senate seat when he ran against

Campaigns strain Secret Service
Jul 25, 2008 Tennessean
Presidential candidates are traveling overseas with Secret Service protection more. Republican candidate John McCain has traveled to Canada, Colombia and Mexico under the agency's protection. Longest campaign ever The 2008 presidential campaign cycle is the longest in Secret Service history by about five months.

Ecuador assembly backs draft charter
Jul 25, 2008 CNN
The constituent assembly, elected to write a new constitution, backed the 444-article proposal by a vote of 94 to 32 in a late night ballot whose outcome had been expected. It does not specify when a new Congress would be elected, although a vote is expected early next year. The new charter would let Correa dissolve Congress within the first three years of a new four-year term, though he would have to call elections for his own post at the same time.

Obama beats McCain in Europe donations
Jul 25, 2008 Associated Press Online
A lot of people are putting emotional energy into this campaign." Only U.S. citizens are permitted to contribute to presidential campaigns. The European totals include contributions of $200 or more from each individual as election laws do not require campaigns to itemize lesser amounts.

Obama beats McCain in Europe donations
Jul 25, 2008 Birmingham News, Alabama
A lot of people are putting emotional energy into this campaign." Only U.S. citizens are permitted to contribute to presidential campaigns. The European totals include contributions of $200 or more from each individual as election laws do not require campaigns to itemize lesser amounts.

OPINION As Warner struggles on Iraq, so should we
Jul 25, 2008 The Virginian-Pilot
John McCain's open-ended commitment, which his surrogates suggest might be shorter than 16 months. Warner, campaigning against Jim Gilmore, is eager to bring U.S. troops home.

Political Memo: Hey, Obama: There?s Bratwurst in Ohio, Too (but No Cheering Masses)
Jul 25, 2008 New York Times
ELISABETH BUMILLER COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Senator John McCain?s presidential campaign recovered from a near-death experience almost exactly a year ago, and political candidates stumble in and out of troughs all the time. He was supposed to have a dramatic campaign stop on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. ?McCain is having a disastrous week,? said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who led Mike Huckabee?s presidential campaign this year.

Rice unconcerned by freelance campaign diplomacy
Jul 25, 2008 Birmingham News, Alabama
If Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is worried that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is complicating the Bush administration's foreign policy with freelance campaign diplomacy, she isn't showing it. The headline-making trip is also aimed at setting himself apart from Bush and McCain ahead of November's election. Obama has in some locations unabashedly made what have amounted to overseas campaign appearances.

Richard Wade, 87, Urban Historian, Dies
Jul 25, 2008 New York Times
Wade argued that cities like Pittsburgh, Louisville and Cincinnati were the catalysts for westward expansion. In the New York Senate race in 1964, he managed Robert F. Kennedy?s upstate campaign, and he was the chief strategist for Senator McGovern?s presidential campaign in the New York primary. ?There are hundreds of books on cities now, and in a sense he is their grandfather.

Sen. Pat Roberts leads second-quarter area fundraising
Jul 25, 2008 The Kansas City Star
House races -- and the U.S. Senate contest in Kansas -- talked donors out of almost $4 million since April Fools' Day. Leading the pack is Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who reported receipts of $971,992 from April 1 through July 16. Roberts' likely opponent, Democrat Jim Slattery, took in $624,155. Both campaigns said they were happy with their...

Today on the presidential campaign trail
Jul 25, 2008 Associated Press Online
...and Mexico under the agency's protection. The 2008 presidential campaign cycle is the longest in Secret Service history by about five months. The Secret Service budgeted $106.65 million for the 2008 campaign cycle, compared to $73.3 million in 2004. "I thought we had a very, very good plan in place for the campaign," Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week. "If past history was any type of an indicator, we anticipated...

America needs a porch revival
Jul 24, 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
As a youngster, my bed was on a screened sleeping porch, which I considered superior to the sleeping conditions in the house where it was more difficult to feel night breezes. Before we finally moved into a new house with air-conditioning and no front porch, the front porch of our old house had a swing on chains, a glider and several rocking chairs.

America's weak economy weighing heavily on minds
Jul 24, 2008 Allentown Morning Call
Southerners and rural residents were likelier to cite energy worries than Westerners and city dwellers.

Brunner will lend hand to Lucas County Board of Elections
Jul 24, 2008 The Blade
Brunner wrote. "However, with less than four months before a presidential election with predicted record turnout, neither Mr. Kriner that she intended to take a leave. The four-member board of elections swore in Ms. Pilrose who stepped down as elections director June 30, citing medical reasons. Ms.

CNN Student News Transcript Special: Leadership Unplugged
Jul 24, 2008 CNN
We're Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Race for the White House AZUZ: Four months from now, American voters will elect one of those two men president. It had to be about the election and how to make it interesting or relevant to 16-to-21 year olds.

New floor set for wages
Jul 24, 2008 Atlanta Journal Constitution
It is coming from somewhere." But that is a narrow view, argued Holly Sklar, director of Business for Shared Prosperity, a network of executives and businesses that support a higher minimum wage. And while studies do not show dramatic job loss because of the wage, even advocates acknowledge that, for a business at the edge of profitability, higher costs do hurt.

Double-digit health insurance hikes
Jul 21, 2008 The Oregonian
...businesses at a tremendous disadvantage in trying to attract quality employees," Roach says. . " Confronting rising health care costs tops the agenda of the National Federations of Independent Businesses in Oregon and nationwide, says Harlan Levy, the Oregon director. "I'm hearing from my members that the increases are becoming unsustainable," he says. Insurers say they are being forced to raise rates, often dramatically, to keep pace with rising health care costs and a...

Oil prices, slow economy hurt entrepreneurs in Athens, Ga.
Jul 21, 2008 Athens Banner-Herald
Those day-to-day costs coupled with ever soaring food prices, puts a hit on consumer pocketbooks and in turn on small businesses. At the time, the restaurant was struggling and on the verge of closing, but Rick Roberts had a knack of reviving failing businesses. The Robertses last year started a delivery business and marketing efforts have helped those sales grow 40 percent since it started.

Small businesses try to find ways to cut costs and avoid price hikes
Jul 21, 2008 Omaha World Herald
Inflation is the top concern of small-business owners for the first time since January 1981, according to a June survey of the National Federation of Independent Business. In June, 20 percent of small-business owners cited inflation as their top concern, compared with 8 percent in February, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. Flexibility is better than losing business, he said.

The Orange County Register, Calif., It's Your Business column
Jul 21, 2008 The Orange County Register
The National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes the bill, has calculated that the mandate would eliminate 370,000 jobs and cost companies $4.6 billion in direct expenses and $59.3 billion in lost sales over the first five years. However, the Women's Policy Research Institute said paid sick leave would cause more workers to stay with their employers, saving up to $1 billion annually for costs associated with worker turnover. NFIB-California director John Kabateck...