AP - The "Straight Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak.

AP - Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife on Friday released a decade of their personal financial records, showing a veteran U.S. senator who earned less than many of his congressional colleagues.

AP - John McCain declined through an aide to say Friday whether he supports an $8 billion increase in highway funds heading for President Bush's approval, an issue that pits popular construction projects against his presidential campaign pledge to veto wasteful spending.

AP - Republican John McCain has taken a modest lead over Barack Obama entering the final seven weeks of their presidential contest, buoyed by decisive advantages among suburban and working-class whites and a huge edge in how people rate each candidate's experience, a poll showed Friday.

AP - The investigator looking into whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in trying to fire her former brother-in-law is asking state lawmakers for the power to subpoena Palin's husband, Todd.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday defended two debunked television ads attacking Democrat Barack Obama and claimed erroneously that running mate Sarah Palin never sought money for lawmakers' pet projects as Alaska governor. Palin has sought nearly $200 million in earmarks this year alone.

AP - The confident baritone of Dana Gioia sounded a little hoarse during a recent telephone interview, as it often has since he became chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a job that has exhilarated and exhausted him.

AP - Democratic leaders on Thursday selected the mayor of a suburban Cleveland town to replace the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones on the Nov. 4 ballot.

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin switched roles Thursday, shifting from Republican candidate for vice president to anxious mom sending her son off to war in Iraq.

AP - Previously unseen footage emerged Thursday showing Republican presidential candidate John McCain as a proud, stoic prisoner of war in Hanoi on the day his Vietnamese captors released him to the U.S. military.

AP - Sometimes, it pays to be pokey. Going slow has paid the state of New York about $27 million and counting. New Hampshire and Oklahoma, too, are sitting on a pile of federal money.