AP - McCain spends $32 million, Obama $55 million in July; most of the money pays for advertising ... Biden's emergence as front-runner in VP race is indication of challenges facing Obama ... Obama sharpens tone amid tightening White House race, McCain calls him testy

AFP - Surging Republican John McCain has narrowed the White House race to a statistical dead-heat, halving Barack Obama's opinion poll leads as the Democrat gears up for his nominating convention next week.

AP - Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress and a strong critic of the Iraq war, died Wednesday after a brain hemorrhage, a hospital spokeswoman said.

AP - The week before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, John Kerry drafted his presidential nomination speech and then set off on a cross-country trip that brought him home to thousands of delegates waiting in Boston.

AFP - John McCain has grabbed the lead in a new opinion poll over rival Barack Obama, in the latest sign of accelerating momentum for the Republican as the key phase dawns in their White House battle.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens cannot move his corruption trial from Washington to his home state of Alaska, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a decision that could hamstring the powerful Republican's re-election bid.

AP - A doctor says U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio is in critical condition and has limited brain function following a hemorrhage.

AFP - The US presidential race gathered momentum Wednesday, with Barack Obama set to announce his running mate at any moment, ahead of his coronation as the Democrats' standard-bearer.

AP - If Sen. Ted Stevens has his way, he'll soon be spending his days on trial for corruption charges and his evenings and weekends campaigning for re-election.

AP - FBI scientists early on had — but destroyed — the unique strain of anthrax used in the deadly 2001 attacks that years later would lead them to Dr. Bruce Ivins, the government's top suspect in the nation's biggest bioterror case.

AP - Rep. Steve Kagen's congressional campaign claims in a fundraising e-mail that former White House political adviser Karl Rove called him the top target this year — but Rove says he has no recollection of ever saying that.