Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel ran out of options in her efforts to form a government and decided her only choice would be to press for early elections, now likely to be scheduled for February, party officials said Saturday night. ...more

October 26, 2008

NEW YORK - Scott McClellan, President Bush's former press secretary who angered old colleagues with a tell-all book earlier this year, said Thursday he is backing Barack Obama for president. McClellan is the second former administration official to back the Democratic candidate this week. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell came out Sunday for Obama. ...more

October 24, 2008

With a timely endorsement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, there's new life to the idea of Congress returning to Washington next month to pass a second round of measures aimed at injecting life into the economy. ...more

October 21, 2008

Momentum is building for a fresh dose of economic stimulants to boost the country out of the doldrums - perhaps by putting more money in Americans' pockets. The White House said Monday that President Bush was open to some sort of action after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned the slump could drag on without the extra bracing tonic. ...more

October 21, 2008

•WHERE: Tacoma, Wash. •MESSAGE: A Barack Obama administration would help the middle class by cutting its taxes, answering Republican claims that Obama's plan represented redistribution of wealth. He repeatedly linked McCain to President Bush's tax policies, saying that the wealthy and big corporations have received millions of dollars in tax cuts that could have gone to the middle class and small businesses. ...more

October 20, 2008

Florida Democrats now have a more than 600,000-person advantage in registered voters over Republicans, nearly double the gap between the two parties' registered voters since the last presidential election. ...more

October 19, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama wants to raise taxes on high-income workers to ease Social Security's looming cash crunch. Sen. John McCain favors voluntary private accounts for younger wage earners, saying they can't count on the same government benefits as today's retirees. ...more

October 19, 2008

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of favoring a socialistic economic approach by supporting tax cuts and tax credits McCain says would merely shuffle wealth rather than creating it. ...more

October 18, 2008

Construction of new homes plunged by a bigger-than-expected amount in September as builders slashed production yet again, putting the country on track to build the fewest homes this year in more than six decades. ...more

October 18, 2008

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama opened the final leg of the presidential campaign by returning to a familiar strategy on Thursday: Linking Republican opponent John McCain to the unpopular incumbent. ...more

October 17, 2008