by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both Washington-related stories.

Many Republicans oppose Sen. John McCain because of his tendency to buck conservative orthodoxy on a range of issues, but many of his critics in the party are likely to rally around him if he becomes the party's nominee.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, fought fiercely to win the Florida Primary on Tuesday as they looked to gain momentum heading into Super Tuesday next week.

The Democratic presidential candidates took their campaigns national as they tried to hit as many states as possible before Super Tuesday as they chased after convention delegates.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of today's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

The Congressional Budget Office said the nation's budget deficit will increase to $250 billion this fiscal year, after three years of decline, because of the slowing economy. And that was before at least $100 million from the economic stimulus package now being discussed by the President Bush and Congress.

U.S. financial markets continued to slide even after Tuesday's surprise interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve as recession fears continued to dog the markets.

Senior House leaders met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Wednesday morning as the Bush Administration and congressional leaders tried to work out the details on an economic stimulus plan.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-relared stories.

The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, surprising many observers by not waiting till its regular next week to make the move, and acting amid global worries that a recession in the U.S. economy could slow the world's economies, concerns that have sent the world's financial markets into a tailspin.

U.S. financial markets plunged sharply immediately upon opening this morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 400 points after opening, amid rising anxieties that the U.S. economy is either in or about to enter a recession.

The Democratic presidential candidates had their fiercest face-to-face exchange yet in a debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. in which both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama questioned each other's integrity as John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, tried to stay above the fray.

The Republican presidential prospects descended on Florida whose primary is just a week away and where a win would give a huge boost to any of several campaigns and a loss would likely doom at least one, that of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, who has staked his entire effort on winning that state.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

President Bush was expected to lay out an economic stimulus plan Friday which is likely to include tax rebates and other methods of getting cash into consumers' hands, a concept endorsed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who told lawmakers Thursday they needed to act quickly if they were to keep the wobbly economy from declining further.

For a state that likes to project an image of gentility and southern charm, South Carolina hosts some of the nastiest political campaigns in the U.S., especially among Republicans, with fliers and phone calls to voters that contain scurrilous rumors against the candidates, and charges and countercharges of responsibility.

A surge in citizenship applications has created a huge backlog, as immigration activists push to get more legal immigrants to become citizens in order to increase the pro-immigration voting block and applicants try to get in before rising application fees rise even more.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress he would support an economic stimulus to boost the ailing economy so long as it was temporary, putting him at odds with some Republicans who are using the current slowdown to argue for making President Bush's tax cuts permanent.

South Carolina's Republican voters were showing little enthusiasm for their field of candidates just before Saturday's primary with the three segments of the state's conservative voters—fiscal, social and national security conservatives—having different candidates who appeal to them.

Housing starts in 2007 fell to their lowest level in 27 years because of the crisis in the home mortgage sector and the slowing economy and many economists believed that the housing market had yet to reach bottom.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican Primary convincingly over Sen. John McCain and Mike Huckabee, giving Romney, who was born in the state his first big win and further scrambling the race for the presidential nomination.

The top three Democratic presidential candidates met for a mostly congenial debate in Las Vegas, the first time where only they were on the stage. They tried to put controversies over the use of race in the campaign behind them.

Saudi leaders rejected President Bush's plea that the oil kingdom produce more oil in order to ease price pressures, apparently turning a deaf ear to the president's argument that high oil prices threatened the world's economies.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Pakistan's top military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the Islamic militant groups it first assisted in the 1980s as proxies against India and in Afghanistan, according to some of its former officials and others who lament that the militants are now targeting the government that once aided them.

Iraq's foreign minister said his nation would need help to defend its sovereignty from outside aggressors for at least a decade, indicating the need for a U.S. military presence for significantly longer than U.S. or Iraqi officials had openly stated before.

About 3,200 Marines were told to prepare for a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan as the U.S. tries to increase its troop strength to counter Taliban efforts not and the anticipated spring offensive by the extremist Islamic group.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, President Bush criticized Iran and asked Arab states in the Persian Gulf region to stand with the U.S. against the Persian nation's nuclear aspirations and its interference in the region while promising that the U.S. understood the desire of peoples in the Mideast for Justice.

As the race for the presidential nomination has moved into states with more diverse population, like South Carolina, the issues of race, poverty and education have moved to the fore.

Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spent Sunday sparring over the comments made by the Clinton that seemed to many to dismiss the contributions of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and disagreeing over Obama's anti-war credentials.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Republican presidential candidates held a mostly polite debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in which the hottest action consisted of Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, hitting Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who has polled well in the important southern primary state, as Thompson tried to peel away Huckabee's conservative support.

With the presidential campaign moving to larger states like Michigan, gone are the living-room meet-and-greets as Republican candidates make quick stops on airport tarmacs around the state and rely on TV ads in the run-up to next week's Michigan primary.

Bank of America said it would buy, for $4 billion in stock Countrywide Financial, the troubled lender and nation's largest mortgage lender, buffeted by its heavy reliance on sub-prime mortgages and other unconventional home loan products.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of the some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Projections by the World Health Organization and Iraqi government place the civilian death toll in Iraq in the three years following the 2003 U.S. invasion at 151,000, far less than the 600,000 reported in a controversial study that appeared in 2006 in the Lancet medical journal.

U.S. military and civilian officials are increasingly giving the Iraqis the space to come up with Iraqi solutions to their problems instead of U.S.-imposed answers with some observers saying it reflected a new realism in the U.S. while critics said it actually was a cynical way of saying that the U.S. was willing to allow what previously wasn't tolerated like sectarianism and corruption.

As U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an operation to flush al Qaeda insurgents from new strongholds, six U.S. soldiers were killed when a booby trapped house exploded, the worst single-day loss of American servicemembers in two months.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Senator Hillary Clinton won the Democratic New Hampshire Primary, reviving her campaign, upending the polls which forecast her losing badly and apparently stopping the momentum of Sen. Barack Obama who won the Iowa caucuses only days before.

Sen. John McCain won the Republican New Hamphire Primary, a reprise of his 2000 victory which resurrected a campaign many experts had given up for dead last year and handing Mitt Romney a defeat in a state neighboring Massachusetts where Romney had been governor.

While the polls done of New Hampshire voters accurately captured the state of the Republican presidential race in the Granite State, their marked inaccuracy on the Democratic side is likely to refuel a debate over the how accurate polls can be in political races that pit an African-American against a white candidate.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to be setting the stage for a defeat in New Hampshire, saying that Sen. John McCain had won the Republican primary handily in that state eight years ago and had a great in-state network. But Romney seemed bent on underplaying the great investment he made in the state and the advantages he had as the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

As Sen. Barack Obama's maintained momentum and a double-digit lead in the polls with New Hampshire voters, Sen. Hillary Clinton drew attention for a rare public display of emotion at one campaign stop, then lit into her Illinois rival for the Democratic nomination at another, later appearance, seeking to contrast her experience with his.

The campaigns were looking beyond New Hampshire as they sensed that Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 when numerous states, including New York and California, hold their primaries would be the critical day that decides the nominations.

by Frank James

A quick quided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both Washington-related stories.

The previous frontrunners in New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. Hillary Clinton, are asking voters there to decide with their heads, not their hearts, in the hopes of stemming the surges of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.

Former President Bill Clinton remains popular in New Hampshire and is campaigning hard on his wife's behalf there but the state has changed since his legendary second-place showing in the Granite State.

Romney and McCain heatedly disagreed during a Sunday debate in which McCain essentially called Romney a liar for describing as amnesty the senator's immigration position.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Democrat Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, won their respective Iowa caucuses by decisive margins, riding the desire for change and dealing significant blows to Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney who were expected to do much better.

Obama's victory was a vindication of his strategy to keep pushing his message of change, even when some in his own camp were advocating that he follow conventional political strategy and go negative in an effort to close the distance between himself and the front runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton. It was also showed the success in his effort to energize young and independent voters.

Mike Huckabee won as many Republican Iowa caucus goers rejected the presumptive power of big money and a large political operation represented by Mitt Romney though the discomfort of evangelical Christians appeared to play a significant role too.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Hundreds of Kenyans died in continuing violence following the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki while the nation's attorney general called for a probe by an independent body to examine the vote tally, Meanwhile, the opposition called off a planned protest march.

The U.S. presidential candidates traveled throughout Iowa making last minute appeals for Iowans to caucus for them tonight in the contest that kicks off the primary season as the candidates vie for their parties' nominations.

Domestic issues now occupy a greater place in voters' minds than the Iraq War, as economic anxieties have grown in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the credit crunch and signs of a slowing economy.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

A Pakistani official said his nation's parliamentary elections which had been scheduled for next week will be delayed to February because of the chaos uncertainty and disorder in the aftermath of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's murder last week.

The rules of the Iowa caucuses are so exacting, that many would-be voters, like deployed soldiers or workers with early evening shifts are unable to vote because of the lack of absentee balloting.

The Iowa caucuses are loved and hated by politicians because of the odd requirements that come with it, like finding babysitting for voters or getting agreeable snacks for those who turn out.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

The presidential candidates spent the last weekend before Thursday's Iowa caucuses criss-crossing the state making their closing arguments to voters as they tried to position themselves to either win or come close in the first vote that actually matters.

The presidential candidates on both sides are talking a lot about their personal religious faith to an unprecedented degree, sensing that voters, especially in Iowa where the electorate is particularly religious, want to hear candidates talk about how God factors in their lives.

The Pakistani government appeared set to delay national elections by several weeks following last week's murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto although opposition parties said they wanted the vote to occur on Jan. 8 as scheduled. Meanwhile, her 19-year old college student son Bilawal was named chairman of her party but her husband will effectively lead the party.

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Violent protests spread throughout Pakistan as the body of Benazir Bhutto, the slain popular opposition leader and former prime minister was laid to rest after her assassination Thursday and the government maintained that elections would still be held Jan. 8.

Bhutto's death leaves the Bush Administration with very limited policy options on how to move forward with a nation that has become its key ally in the fight against terrorism, leaving President Pervez Musharraf as perhaps the only hope to maintain any remaining stability.

Bhutto was a Western-schooled leader who carried herself like royalty but was extremely accessible, pressing the flesh with her supporters and making herself readily available to the media because she recognized its importance in getting out her message.

by Frank James

A quick, guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Christmas retail sales fell short of expectations, meaning post-Christmas shoppers would be greeted with excellent discounts but adding to worries about what slowing consumer spending could mean for the economy.

The housing market's woes and slowing economy have led state and local governments to reduce their budgets for next year.

The ethanol boom has been a mixed blessing, providing high incomes to farmers in the cornbelt but have also contributed to high consumer prices there and elsewhere and the nation's obesity problem.