AP - John McCain toured Mexico's holiest Roman Catholic site and received a blessing from its monsignor Thursday, the final day of a three-day Latin America tour.

AP - They're the most fickle voters, and potentially the most powerful. Thus, with party nominations secure, John McCain and Barack Obama now are pushing toward the center to win them over.

AP - It will be a red-state Fourth of July for Barack Obama, who hopes to find votes as well as fireworks in places that blue-state Democrats often bypass in presidential elections.

AP - John McCain denied a Republican colleague's claim that he roughed up an associate of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on a diplomatic mission in 1987, saying the allegation was "simply not true."

AP - Republicans deemed it beyond the pale when Sen. John McCain crossed the Capitol, set up shop in an office belonging to House Democrats and lobbied wavering lawmakers on legislation to reduce the role of money in politics.

AP - An independent arm of the Republican National Committee plans to spend $3 million on an ad campaign contrasting GOP presidential candidate John McCain to Democrat Barack Obama on energy security.

AP - Barack Obama urged people Wednesday to look past the "bustle and busyness" of their everyday lives this Fourth of July weekend to find a way to help make the American dream real not just for themselves, but for all.

AP - John McCain put a top adviser in control of day-to-day campaign operations Wednesday after weeks of private concerns among Republicans that the GOP presidential campaign had not made the transition for the general election.

AP - John McCain has insisted that his trip through Mexico and Colombia was not supposed to be campaign-related. But there have been plenty of political overtones throughout.

AFP - The government must rein its public deficit to meet an EU limit by the end of the fiscal year ending in March 2010, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

U.S. News & World Report - Republican strategists trying to game Sen. Barack Obama's choice for a running mate are focusing more and more on the possibility that he might pick former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, a friend of labor and blue-collar workers. "Gephardt is the one we're most afraid of," said a key GOP strategist and Bush ally.