AP - Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee put the squeeze on a politician at the North Carolina Republican Party convention, but in a good way.

AP - President Bush is considering new measures to help stimulate the battered economy, the White House said Friday as unemployment and oil prices soared and Wall Street sank. White House counselor Ed Gillespie said Bush's advisers are constantly looking at options for new economic proposals.

AP - With his Democratic foe now certain, Republican John McCain is deploying dozens of staffers into battleground states, boasting of improved fundraising and expanding his advertising into some of the most competitive terrain of the general election.

AP - President Bush is considering new measures to help stimulate the battered economy, the White House said Friday as unemployment and oil prices soared and Wall Street sank. White House counselor Ed Gillespie said Bush's advisers are constantly looking at options for new economic proposals.

AP - Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a global warming bill that would have required major reductions in greenhouse gases, pushing debate over the world's biggest environmental concern to next year for a new Congress and president.

Reuters - Hillary Clinton distanced herself on Thursday from a push to convince former Democratic rival Barack Obama he should select her as his running mate and said the decision on a vice president was his alone to make.

AP - Barack Obama, now cast as the Democrats' standard-bearer, moved quickly to put his imprint on the national party Thursday, eager to reinforce its fundraising operation and pursue an aggressive general election campaign.

AP - Barack Obama reveled Thursday in his newfound status as the likely Democratic nominee and signaled that Republicans face a fierce fight over Virginia this fall, a state long-held by the GOP.

AP - Senate Republicans appeared ready to turn back an ambitious plan to reduce the risks of global warming after a week in which bipartisan bickering and political posturing seemed to drown out the environmental debate.

AP - Republican John McCain was confronted Thursday about why he opposed an Everglades restoration measure that had broad support from Florida officials, including Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and GOP Sen. Mel Martinez.

Reuters - Hillary Clinton will end her presidential bid and declare her support for Barack Obama, she said in a letter on Thursday, concluding a grueling 16-month nominating fight that split the Democratic Party.

AP - Acting swiftly as his party's presumed presidential nominee, Barack Obama is keeping Howard Dean at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party's operations.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama hopes Virginia, a former GOP stronghold with a legacy of slavery and segregation, is fertile ground as he seeks to crack the Republican bastion of the South and become the first black president.

AP - Barack Obama reveled Thursday in his newfound status as the likely Democratic nominee and signaled that Republicans face a fierce fight over Virginia this fall, a state long-held by the GOP.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed on Wednesday that Democrat Barack Obama join him in at least 10 face-to-face encounters at town hall meetings this summer.