American Mainstream

SFGate: Top News Stories: China quake death toll could rise to 50,000 2008-05-15

China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a public appeal Thursday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster. More than 72 hours after the quake rattled central China,...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Woman indicted in Missouri MySpace suicide case 2008-05-15

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a Missouri woman for her alleged role in perpetrating a MySpace online hoax on a 13-year-old neighbor girl who committed suicide. Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis was charged with one count of conspiracy and three...

SFGate: Top News Stories: CBS in $1.8B deal for online news, info site CNet 2008-05-15

CBS Corp. is acquiring a big online reach with its acquisition of CNet Networks Inc. but also a company that's faced heavy criticism from investors. Those concerns as well as the hefty $1.8 billion price tag helped send CBS's shares down after the deal was...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Obama welcomes Edwards endorsement, even if tardy 2008-05-15

It would have meant more in February or March, but John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination was welcomed nonetheless by a politician eager to turn the page. Edwards' surprise appearance at a rally Wednesday steered...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Myanmar approves new constitution while it reels 2008-05-15

Myanmar's junta announced Thursday that a pro-military constitution has won overwhelming support in a referendum, which was held despite widespread criticism and in the midst of a national tragedy _ a devastating cyclone that the Red Cross says may have...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: After String of Losses, Republicans Face Crisis 2008-05-15

House Republicans turned on themselves yesterday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Edwards Throws Support to Obama 2008-05-15

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 14 -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave his long-sought endorsement to Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday night, calling on Democrats to unite behind him and turn their attention to the fall campaign.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Polar Bear Is Named 'Threatened' Species 2008-05-15

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne listed polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act yesterday, saying the loss of Arctic sea ice in a warming climate could drive them to the brink of extinction in less than four decades.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Fla. to Consider Key Church-State Question 2008-05-15

The potential repeal of a century-old Florida law barring state funding for religiously affiliated organizations is to be put before the voters there this fall, at the end of a lobbying battle that has attracted the attention of President Bush and has engaged a coalition of liberal or secular...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Farm Bill Passes by Veto-Proof Margin 2008-05-15

The House yesterday passed a final version of a new five-year farm bill by a vote of 318 to 106, a margin large enough to override President Bush's promised veto of the nearly $300 billion measure.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Democrats' War Funding Bill Adds Surtax on the Wealthy 2008-05-15

House Democratic leaders yesterday embraced a surtax on the wealthy to pay for expanded education benefits for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, clearing the way for votes today on the last war funding bill of George W. Bush's presidency.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: McCain's Wife Sells Funds With Holdings in Sudan 2008-05-15

Cindy McCain, the wife of John McCain, sold $2 million in mutual funds yesterday after inquiries from a news organization about the funds' holdings in Sudan.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: AP NewsAlert 2008-05-15

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar government says military-backed constitution has been overwhelmingly approved by voters

NYT > Opinion: Letter: To End the Death Penalty 2008-05-15

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Improvements in New Orleans Schools 2008-05-15

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: We'll Have to Check, Sir 2008-05-15

A measure to ensure that correct information on the terrorist watch list is distributed across the government deserves swift approval as an act of travelers' mercy.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: No Rebates for You 2008-05-15

The polluted atmosphere of immigration politics has produced toxic byproducts so extreme that they make a recent rebate glitch seem like a mere annoyance.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Lebanon at the Edge 2008-05-15

If President Bush really wants to do more to help Lebanon, he will need to talk with Hezbollah's masters in Syria and Iran.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial Notebook: Saying Goodbye to Justine Henin 2008-05-15

It takes a great deal of courage to retire at the top of the game. In the end, I suspect Henin began to find something in herself that was larger than tennis.

SFGate: Top News Stories: Pregnant woman rescued from quake rubble in China 2008-05-14

A Chinese woman _ eight months pregnant _ was pulled to safety Wednesday after spending 50 hours trapped under earthquake rubble, setting off celebrations among beleaguered rescuers. Rescue workers pulled the pregnant woman's elderly mother to safety minutes...

SFGate: Top News Stories: New storm head toward cyclone-devastated Myanmar 2008-05-14

Another powerful storm headed toward Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta on Wednesday and the U.N. warned that inadequate relief efforts could lead to a second wave of deaths among the estimated 2 million survivors. The country's junta told visiting Thai Prime...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Miss. Democrat wins House seat in special election 2008-05-14

It's becoming a disturbing trend for Republicans: losing traditional GOP strongholds to Democrats in some hard-fought congressional races. It happened again Tuesday, as Travis Childers beat Greg Davis in a special election to replace Republican Roger Wicker,...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Quake survivors scraping by / Death toll passes 13,000 as aid starts to reach victims 2008-05-14

China - The battle for survival here is as stark as anywhere in the earthquake zone. Wang Guofei and his younger brother drove Tuesday morning to look for their mother in the rugged county of Beichuan, where at least 5,000 people have died as a result of...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Clinton's West Virginia win highlights Obama's weakness 2008-05-14

Hillary Clinton's projected blowout win in today's West Virginia primary - by an expected 2-1 margin - may largely serve to highlight her opponent, Barack Obama, and his perceived political Achilles heel: a weakness with white voters. Clinton was immediately...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Burdened by the Weight of Inflation 2008-05-14

Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living, as concern has spiked higher in just the past five months, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Soaring consumer prices are a major challenge, with many people struggling under the weight of the risi...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: It's Finals Time For Student Superdelegates 2008-05-14

All that online pressure, all the instant messages on AIM and Gchat, all those YouTube comments and Facebook messages and wall posts added up to something: Two more delegates for Sen. Barack Obama.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Clinton Handily Defeats Obama in West Virginia 2008-05-14

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton routed Sen. Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary yesterday, scoring one of her most lopsided victories of the long campaign even as she continued to battle overwhelming odds in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Obama, McCain Aim to Curb '527s' 2008-05-14

Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Republicans Twist Obama's Words About Israel 2008-05-14

Did Barack Obama call Israel a "constant sore," as Republican leaders are saying? Both House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Deputy Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) have taken the Democratic presidential front-runner to task for allegedly saying that Israel is a "constant wound" in U.S....

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Democratic Victory May Be a Bellwether 2008-05-14

A Democrat won the race for a GOP-held congressional seat in northern Mississippi yesterday, leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Democrats Agree on Budget Plan That Avoids the Biggest Decisions 2008-05-14

Congressional Democratic leaders have reached agreement on a $3 trillion budget blueprint that would authorize a small increase for domestic priorities and spare millions of households from an unpopular tax. But it postpones most major budget decisions until after this fall's presidential election.

NYT > Opinion: Letters: Frank Talk About Obama and Islam 2008-05-14

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Education Aid for Veterans 2008-05-14

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: A New Wrinkle in College Admissions 2008-05-14

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: The Post-Bush Climate 2008-05-14

However this election turns out, the United States will have a president who supports mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Shame on the Junta 2008-05-14

China must use all its influence to press Myanmar's generals to open up to relief efforts, before there are no more victims left to save.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Saving Moynihan Station 2008-05-14

It is time to give the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey the lead role in rebuilding this major gateway.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial Observer: Loving v. Virginia and the Secret History of Race 2008-05-14

Mildred and Richard Loving had lived their whole lives in a community that had made an art form of evading Jim Crow restrictions on relationships.

NYT > Opinion: By Design: The Class Isn't Always Greener (but It Could Be) 2008-05-14

School design doesn't need to be numbingly institutional — it can be inspiring and, yes, green.

SFGate: Top News Stories: Myanmar cyclone victims getting low-quality supplies 2008-05-13

Many cyclone victims are getting spoiled food from Myanmar's junta instead of the high-quality supplies being delivered by foreign governments and charities, victims and aid workers said Tuesday. A longtime foreign resident of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon,...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Dozens of homes lost as Florida battles wildfires 2008-05-13

Relentless wildfires burned into the early morning Tuesday across Florida's Atlantic coast, taxing firefighters and overwhelming residents trying to save their homes with garden hoses. Firefighters in the Brevard County town of Palm Bay have spent more than...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Senate Talks Collapse On a Housing Bill 2008-05-13

Hope dimmed yesterday that Congress would act quickly to rescue homeowners at risk of foreclosure after key Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate said they could not reach agreement on a plan.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Cheney Makes Appearance for House Hopeful 2008-05-13

SOUTHAVEN, Miss., May 12 -- Vice President Cheney traveled to this Memphis suburb on Monday in an eleventh-hour effort by the Republican Party to hang on to a U.S. House seat that it has long held but that appears at risk of becoming the third Democratic gain this year.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: For Obama, the General Election Is Calling 2008-05-13

CHARLESTON, W.Va., May 12 -- Sen. Barack Obama will make it clear on Tuesday that he has turned his attention to the general election, traveling to the November battleground states of Missouri and Michigan.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: McCain Breaks With Bush on Climate Policy 2008-05-13

PORTLAND, Ore., May 12 -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a sharp break with President Bush on Monday, saying that the United States should adopt mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions as well as issue tradable emissions credits to polluters to spur technological innovation.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Special House Committee to Begin Hearing on 'Stolen' Vote in 2007 2008-05-13

Nine months after Democrats allegedly stole a parliamentary vote in the House, the long-running "Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007" will haul House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer to the witness stand today for what Republicans insist will be the Maryl ...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Johnson Switches Sides Again, Endorses Obama 2008-05-13

Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democratic convention delegate pledged to support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said yesterday that he thinks Sen. Barack Obama has "in a real sense" won the Democratic nomination and that he now plans to support Obama at the August convention.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: U.S. Outlook Is Worst Since '92, Poll Finds 2008-05-13

Americans are gloomier about the direction of the country than they have been at any point in 15 years, and Democrats hold their biggest advantage since early 1993 as the party better able to deal with the nation's main problems, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Help From City Council 2008-05-13

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Ensuring Access to Student Loans 2008-05-13

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: A Fundamental Right 2008-05-13

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: The Myth of Voter Fraud 2008-05-13

Requiring voters to prove their citizenship is not based on any evidence of voter fraud, but rather on Republicans' electoral calculations.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Saving Tejon Ranch 2008-05-13

The agreement to protect this much land so close to Los Angeles is a remarkable testament to the cooperative spirit in which this conservation plan was formed.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Not a Time for Rivalry 2008-05-13

Political leaders who have Pakistan's interests at heart should be able to find a compromise that restores its dismissed judges and promotes judicial reform.

NYT > Opinion: Appreciations: Nuala O'Faolain 2008-05-13

Nuala O'Faolain, the former Irish Times columnist who died last week, will be remembered for her fearless self-examination and her unflinching insights.

NYT > Opinion: Allison Arieff: The Class Isn't Always Greener (but It Could Be) 2008-05-13

School design doesn't need to be numbingly institutional — it can be inspiring and, yes, green.

SFGate: Top News Stories: Serbia begins postelection talks 2008-05-12

Serbia's nationalists brushed aside their pro-Western rivals' claim of victory in parliamentary elections and held talks Monday to see if they could muster support from other parties to form a government. Sunday's vote left the Balkan nation sharply split,...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Heavy fighting breaks out in north Lebanon 2008-05-12

Heavy fighting broke out Monday between government supporters and opponents in Lebanon's second-largest city, where the two sides battled with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and mortars, security officials and paramedics said. Residents said...

SFGate: Top News Stories: US airlifts aid to Myanmar, UN urges junta to cooperate 2008-05-12

The United States delivered its first relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday, as the U.N. urged the reclusive nation to open its doors to foreign experts who can help up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation. The military C-130 cargo plane,...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Families will make case for vaccine link to autism 2008-05-12

The Institute of Medicine said in 2004 there was no credible evidence to show that vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal led to autism in children. But thousands of families have a different take based on personal experience. Some of them are going...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Shooting death and injury in Oakland 2008-05-12

A man was killed and a woman critically injured during a shooting in East Oakland early this morning, police said. The victims of the 2:53 a.m. shooting on the 1800 block of 89th Avenue, who were each struck multiple times by bullets, were not immediately...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Power struggle between Serbia's nationalist, pro-West forces 2008-05-12

A pro-Western coalition determined to bring Serbia into the European Union made a surprisingly strong showing in parliamentary elections, but faced the specter of a protracted power struggle with rivals who vowed to join forces to form a government. The...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Environmental Stances Are Balancing Act For McCain 2008-05-12

In December 2005, Republicans were poised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, an achievement they had sought for decades. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had attached the provision to a must-pass defense spending bill and threatened to...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Education-Benefits Plan Could Face Math Test 2008-05-12

Three months after President Bush raised the idea of allowing U.S. troops to transfer education benefits to relatives, the White House has finally sent a formal proposal to Capitol Hill.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: A New G.I. Bill 2008-05-12

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: A Better Immigration Policy 2008-05-12

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: What Social Security Isn't Meant to Do 2008-05-12

Expanding E-Verify and forcing Social Security to take on the enormous burden of immigration enforcement would have frightening implications for millions of people.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Saying No to Everything 2008-05-12

When President Bush hasn't been busy saying no to worthy efforts, he has been endorsing programs that have failed to address foreclosures effectively.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: One More on the Road 2008-05-12

Most states do not just outlaw driving while drunk, but also drinking while driving. Not Connecticut, despite the recent rise in the state's drunken-driving fatalities.

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Columnist: Party Like It's 2008 2008-05-12

Almost every wrong prediction about this election has come from those trying to force the round peg of this year's campaign into the square holes of past political wars.

NYT > Opinion: Measure for Measure: It Takes Two, Baby 2008-05-12

The Grammy-award-winning songwriter explains how being an incurable "people person" lies at the heart of his creative process.

SFGate: Top News Stories: Gas prices knock bicycle sales, repairs into higher gear 2008-05-11

Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business _ if you run a bike shop. Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers _ or buying new ones _ to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say. "Everyone that comes in the shop is...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Indy 500 qualifying canceled due to rain 2008-05-11

Qualifying and practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been canceled for the day due to rain. Qualifying for positions 12-22 for drivers at the May 25 Indianapolis 500 was to be decided Sunday. Now those slots will be added to next Saturday's...

SFGate: Top News Stories: SD scientists say bacteria could be a red tide killer 2008-05-11

Scientists believe they've found a red tide killer. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego has discovered that RCA bacteria _ a natural marine microbe _ can attack and kill the single-cell plankton that produce red tide algae. The blooms often...

SFGate: Top News Stories: Boat carrying Myanmar aid sinks; toll climbs beyond 28,000 2008-05-11

A Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for cyclone victims sank Sunday, while the death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and aid groups warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. The boat was carrying supplies for more than 1,000 people and was the first...

SFGate: Top News Stories: S.F. settles excessive force suit for $235,000 2008-05-11

Kelly Medora, a petite preschool teacher who weighed about 118 pounds, went out with a friend in North Beach one Saturday night in 2005 for some fun. Instead, San Francisco police officer Christopher Damonte, who weighed about 250 pounds, arrested her for...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: In W.Va., Clinton's Disciples Persevere 2008-05-11

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- They traveled here from New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana last week to stand in the rain on a rural street corner, at a four-way intersection of winding mountain roads. One woman, a doctor, took vacation time from her job to make the trip. Another, a mother of three, hired a...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: The Talk Shows 2008-05-11

Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:

washingtonpost.com - Politics: So, Candidates, Who's It Going to Be? 2008-05-11

Sen. Barack Obama's victory in North Carolina and near-miss in Indiana last week remove much of the doubt about whether he will win the Democratic nomination for president. With Obama the likely Democratic nominee and Sen. John McCain long his party's presumptive nominee, the search for their vice...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: In Oregon's Embrace, Obama Strikes a Victor's Pose 2008-05-11

BEND, Ore. -- Sen. Barack Obama probably did not need to make a surprise appearance Friday at the Twilight Meet at the University of Oregon. The liberal college town of Eugene is already his territory, and the subset of fleece-clad runners' families that filled the grandstand is probably even more...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror 2008-05-11

Since losing 30 seats and their 12-year stranglehold on power in 2006, House Republicans have kept asking themselves the same question: Can it get any worse?

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Convention Chief Resigns Over His Firm's Work for Burma 2008-05-11

The veteran political operative chosen by Sen. John McCain to run the Republican National Convention this summer abruptly resigned yesterday after Newsweek reported that the lobbying and public relations firm he heads once represented the Burmese government.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Public Defender System 2008-05-11

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Profit, Ego and Iraq 2008-05-11

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Killing Deer in New Jersey 2008-05-11

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: 24-Hour TV News 2008-05-11

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: The Suffering of Soldiers 2008-05-11

The alarming rates of trauma and suicide among war veterans cannot be neglected any further, especially when the solutions are so clear.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Rethinking Ethanol 2008-05-11

Congress should realign its tax and subsidy programs to encourage the biofuels that will not compete for the world's food supply.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Governor Paterson's Forgotten Agenda 2008-05-11

Since he became New York's governor, David Paterson has lost his zeal for the reform that Albany desperately needs.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Good Times at Sotheby's 2008-05-11

The art world's ever rising valuations are a symptom of the unprecedented concentration of the spoils of growth at the very top.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Wright Controversy Deepens Voter Divide 2008-05-10

Religious voters in Indiana and North Carolina held to familiar patterns in Democratic primary balloting Tuesday, with the controversy over Sen. Barack Obama's relationship with his former pastor deepening the divide.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Obama Now Focusing Mostly on McCain 2008-05-10

ALBANY, Ore., May 9 -- As Sen. Barack Obama matched her in endorsements from the party leaders who are likely to decide the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's struggling campaign dismissed suggestions that she is close to dropping out of the race.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Black Community Is Increasingly Protective of Obama 2008-05-10

In black America, oh, how the mighty have fallen. Bill Clinton is no longer revered as the "first black president." Tavis Smiley's rapid-fire commentaries on a popular radio show have been silenced. And the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., self-described defender of the black church, has been derided by...

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Columnist: Seeds of Destruction 2008-05-10

The Clintons should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately trying to wreck the presidential prospects of their party's likely nominee.

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Columnist: Mother's Day Scandal 2008-05-10

The people of Staten Island seemed prepared to forgive Vito Fossella for the drunken driving, but the second family threw them for a loop.

NYT > Opinion: Letters: Stared at in China 2008-05-10

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letters: Snapshots of a Frenetic Campaign 2008-05-10

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Letter: Ignoring the Rule of Law 2008-05-10

To the Editor:.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Gambling Is Never Enough 2008-05-10

New York State would be better off finding a source of revenue that doesn't prey upon its own people.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial Observer: Paris on the Anniversary of the 1968 Protests 2008-05-10

Not surprisingly, May '68 and Nicolas Sarkozy's first year as president of France are being treated quite differently.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer 2008-05-09

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidenti...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: 39 Republicans Join Democrats As Mortgage Bill Passes House 2008-05-09

The House yesterday approved an ambitious plan to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them trade exotic loans with rapidly rising monthly payments for more affordable mortgages backed by the federal government.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Obama Seeks To Unify Party For November 2008-05-09

Sen. Barack Obama began taking the first steps to unify the fractured Democratic Party for a general-election battle against Sen. John McCain, even as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continued to insist that she has the backing of a broader coalition that could carry the party to victory in November.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Don't Expect Clinton to Quit Before Superdelegates Decide 2008-05-09

How will the Democratic nomination battle end? At a time when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton faces ever longer odds in her quest to deny Sen. Barack Obama the nomination, that question has become increasingly important to the candidates and the party. Will it end happily or unhappily? Will the loser go...

washingtonpost.com - Politics: 'Blue Dog' Democrats Join GOP in Opposing War Bill 2008-05-09

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday postponed consideration of a bill that would continue funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a bloc of conservative Democrats balked at the high cost of including several of Pelosi's favored domestic spending programs.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Panel Clears La. Senator In Call-Girl Complaint 2008-05-09

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) was cleared yesterday of any ethical misconduct for his association with prostitutes from the escort service run by the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called "D.C. Madam" who was convicted of running a call-girl ring.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: N.Y. Congressman Acknowledges Affair, Child 2008-05-09

Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) yesterday admitted to a long-running extramarital affair with a retired Air Force officer and said he has a 3-year-old daughter with her.

washingtonpost.com - Politics: Negotiators Agree on Farm Bill, but Bush Vows to Veto It 2008-05-09

House and Senate negotiators yesterday reached final agreement on a new farm bill that will spend close to $300 billion on nutrition, conservation, energy and farm subsidy programs over the next five years, but administration officials immediately announced that President Bush will veto it.

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Contributor: The Fight Stuff 2008-05-09

When a woman does ascend through the glass ceiling into the White House, it will be, in part, because of the race of 2008, when Hillary Clinton got down with the boys.

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Columnist: Thinking About November 2008-05-09

Barack Obama has an extraordinary opportunity in this year's election. He should do everything possible to avoid squandering it.

NYT > Opinion: Op-Ed Columnist: The Conservative Revival 2008-05-09

It used to be that American conservatives shaped British political thinking. Now the influence is going the other way.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: The Lucrative Art of War 2008-05-09

Companies enriched by taxpayers in the war boom should not be able to compound their profits by not paying their fair share of taxes.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Sen. Clinton and the Campaign 2008-05-09

We believe it is Senator Hillary Clinton's right to stay in the fight and challenge Senator Barack Obama as long as she has the desire and the means to do so.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Mr. Mugabe's Cynical Plan 2008-05-09

After years of enabling Robert Mugabe, it is time for South Africa and all of Zimbabwe's neighbors to enable democracy.

NYT > Opinion: Editorial: Down and Out in Connecticut 2008-05-09

The loss of manufacturing jobs, coupled with an achievement gap, is a recipe for perpetually worsening poverty.

NYT > Opinion: Campaign Stops: The Widening Gap 2008-05-09

Although voters nationwide lean Democratic, older voters could reverse that trend this fall.