McCain, Obama plunge into 5-month general election
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Change is coming, that much Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree on as they plunge into a five-month campaign for the White House.

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Analysis: McCain, Obama polar opposites
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Heartily sick of the status quo, Americans will choose between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama this fall, two men who campaign as bipartisan reformers yet are polar opposites on virtually everything else, from ideology and biography to appearance and experience.

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POLITICS-US: On Middle East, McCain Vows to Stay the Course
By Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, Jun 2 (IPS) - In a major address on Middle East policy Monday, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, pledged to maintain the Bush administration's hard line against Iran and expressed strong scepticism about the ability of the current Palestinian leadership to reach a peace accord with Israel.

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POLITICS-US: Obama Draws Line on Cuba, Latin America Policy
By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, May 23 (IPS) - In a major policy address on U.S.-Latin American relations, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, pledged Friday to immediately roll back key sanctions imposed by President George W. Bush against Cuba over the last several years and called for a "new alliance of the Americas" in which Washington's southern neighbours would no longer be treated "as a junior partner".

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POLITICS-US: An Ocean Apart, Bush, McCain Play to Neo-Con Dreams
Analysis by Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, May 15 (IPS) - In separate speeches delivered an ocean apart, the two standard bearers of the Republican Party Thursday offered rosy visions of a future designed to gladden the hearts of Israel-centred neo-conservatives without offering any details about how their dreams will be achieved.

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POLITICS-US: Is Immigration Off the Table in Election 2008?
By Bill Berkowitz*

OAKLAND, California, May 6 (IPS) - These days, while you can still pick up a newspaper or turn on a radio or television gabfest and read, hear and see the issue of immigration batted around, it has become less of a hot-button political issue in the United States.

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Obama vs. The Lobby
No matter how much he grovels, it's never enough
by Justin Raimondo
Global Research, May 14, 2008
antiwar.com

Poor Obama. No matter how much he tries to placate the Israel lobby, they just won't take yes for an answer. The Lobby has been after him for months, trying to dig up "evidence" that someone with the middle name of "Hussein" is necessarily an enemy of Israel. The best they could come up with so far were the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's jeremiads, which didn't have much of an effect at the polls, as the North Carolina and Indiana primary results – and subsequent national polls – attest.