AFP - For the first time, White House hopeful Barack Obama leads his Republican rival John McCain in three of the biggest battlegrounds of November's election, according to a new poll Wednesday.

AP - A defiant Barack Obama said Tuesday he would take no lectures from Republicans on which candidate would keep the U.S. safer, a sharp rebuke to John McCain's aides who said the Democrat had a naive, Sept. 10 mind-set toward terrorism.

AP - For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills.

Reuters - Republican candidate John McCain would pursue a strong U.S. dollar policy as president and would be prepared to consider the "strong medicine" of intervention if circumstances demanded, his top economic adviser Carly Fiorina told Reuters on Monday.

Time.com - The Republican nominee cannot compete with Obama's crowds or cash, so small-scale events where he excels are becoming central to his candidacy

Time.com - The Republican nominee cannot compete with Obama's crowds or cash, so small-scale events where he excels are becoming central to his candidacy

AP - House rank and file Republicans are tens of millions of dollars short of meeting fundraising targets set by their own campaign committee in advance of this fall's elections, according to figures circulating among the leadership, heightening concerns inside the party about major losses in November.

Bloomberg - June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Cindy McCain, the millionaire wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, may see her fortune increase with a proposed takeover of beermaker Anheuser- Busch Cos., financial disclosures show.